Better than last time I commented on this thread! My gastritis has taken a turn for the better which has had a huge positive effect on my mood. I got some extra hours in work too, after working part time for ages due to being sick. I’m hoping to pick up some private students for online lessons after the summer to earn some more money so I can move out of my house which has been the plan since 2020 but it’s been delayed at every turn 😭 2025 is going to be my year… Possibly

The gastritis is… bad. And I’m tired of working through the pain. But my friend made me dinner this evening which was amazing because I’m so tired of making food that’s suitable for me to eat.

Never take ibuprofen on an empty stomach.

I teach English as a foreign language and if any of my students wrote the same way you do I’d cry with joy. You have no problems with accuracy but if you’re having trouble speaking then it’s fluency you need a hand with. Conversation classes would be a good place to start or as someone mentioned just chatting to someone over the phone or zoom.

Also if you really want to expand your vocabulary, try learning lists of phrasal verbs. Even my most advanced students find them difficult, but native speakers use them all the time so it helps with understanding and will make your English sound more natural.

Girl, no. Our Alabama is most definitely Roscommon.

What’s GGG in this context? Good guy Greg??

Edit: it means Good, Giving and Game!

I just dived into some Linklater too! I watched Before Sunrise and Me and Orson Welles. I love Linklater’s portrayals of youthful optimism. They make me excited for the future.

Just over 5 months sober. I struggled a little this weekend. I was meant to meet my partners’ friends for drinks (I’ve been usually OK in social settings, happy to just get a non alcoholic beer and chill) however this weekend I just couldn’t face talking to new people AT ALL. I got incredibly anxious at the thought of the whole situation and started crying and genuinely couldn’t stop. I even put on my going out clothes and stepped outside my front door but I still couldn’t stop and I had to go back inside.

And it made me reflect on how often I used to be able to rely on alcohol as a crutch for these kinds of situations. Obviously that set off some catastrophic thinking about never being able to interact with new people in a social situation ever again.

Having slept on it (I stayed in and watched movies instead) I have to cut myself some slack. I was quite sick all last week and had very little energy, so I didn’t go to the gym at all which usually helps my moods. I also didn’t do anything social even with people I know and felt really lonely. And last of all I also took some pretty strong medication to help with another infection I had and I wonder if everything altogether made me feel like shit.

So I have that to reflect on today. I texted a friend of mine this morning about one of the films I watched last night and we had a really good conversation about it which was really nice. And I didn’t have to leave my house to have it :))

Thanks for these!

You know it’s funny, I live in a place with no extreme temperatures but that’s really wet and I’ve realised that we don’t have shoes to match our climate at all. Lots of people have recommended boots to me (which is a great shout, don’t get me wrong!) but I already have a lovely pair of waterproof winter boots that I have already gotten resoled once by a brilliant cobbler. I’m specifically looking for sneakers that are waterproof because boots are too warm and life’s too short to hang around all day in a pair of wet canvas shoes (remember it doesn’t have to be raining for feet to get wet - one step in long grass or a puddle will do it).

It’s why I love my eccos and have bought so many pairs (now on my fifth). It just seems so wasteful to drop them in the bin when the stitching goes on them.

These are great! Thanks superkret :)

I haven’t used calm in a long time but my favourite ones to start were the body scans because they’re so simple. I used to set the timer to something really short like 3-4 minutes to start and I did them on my break in work in a call centre job.

Sometimes it helped, and sometimes it was frustrating, but it acted like a temperature check on my emotions. If it was frustrating I knew I was more sleep deprived or stressed so it let me know I needed some more self care, like an early night or some time to myself.

I’d like to echo another commenter’s advice of looking into therapy if you can afford it. At the same time as I was getting into meditation I also got CBT therapy from a fantastic therapist and it was one of the best things I ever did. If you have any questions about it feel free to ask.

Best of luck OP 💕

There’s a reason why so many British people live on the Costa del Sol!

Also “Here comes the sun” by the Beatles makes a lot more sense when you realise that it was written by four guys from Northern England.

Browse tumblr. Haven’t found my niche yet on lemmy. I’m also learning a new language on Duolingo and am halfway through Ulysses!

The Blindboy Podcast brought up this problem (adult children living with their parents because of the housing crisis) on one of his recent podcasts, but he framed it from the point of view of the adult children. I’m interested to hear what kind of struggles you face on the opposite side, apart from what you’ve just mentioned here. How did you picture your life when you got to this stage and how has that changed?

Not only that but they seem to be the last place considered for tech updates which would make the system faster and better at helping people.

Once I visited their office where I told them my name and they looked me up on a printed out Excel spreadsheet while sitting in front of a computer 😭 like girl, that list is on a searchable database right in front of you. Why are you looking for my name with a pencil.

All words are made up, friend ☺️

I love esponjitas! May I ask which country this is used in??

Not exactly as a customer, but trying to access welfare when I was off work long term sick was a fucking nightmare. I don’t mind filling in forms but dealing with the people in that government department was the most demoralising experience of my life. I cried on the phone once because of how rude one of the agents was to me. They’re being rude and unhelpful to people who are sick and out of work. What a way to kick the most vulnerable people in society when they’re down.

I finally got what I was owed and I’ve delayed filing a complaint about them because I just never wanted to deal with them again but it’s about time I bring out my inner Karen because they’re probably still traumatising people that need financial help.

I have a few pairs like this but some are newer than others and I hate matching an older one with a newer one bc I can feel the difference in stretchiness 🫠

So weird that you mention the iron deficiency because a friend of mine literally just suggested that too. I follow a mostly plant based diet and I’m low on iron to begin with. Not only that but being sober means I don’t get as many meaty takeaways as hungover treats, I wonder if that has affected my nutrition. Will put myself on some iron tablets and report back!

I don’t mind cleaning that much but the laundry really gets my goat because I can’t just DO it. You get me?

Like, the dishes for example. I do those, or I put them in a dishwasher where they’re cleaned and dried and it’s just one thing.

With the laundry I have to separate everything so I can’t even wash stuff all at the same time. Then it takes two hours for the washing machine to be done and then they’re wet. And if I leave them too long in the washing machine they get that mouldy damp smell so I have to wash again. And then there’s the drying. Hanging up socks should be illegal, it takes so long and for what?? One wear and then they’re back in the laundry basket? Kill me.

Oh now your stuff is dry? Now you have to take it to a secret third place (your wardrobe). It takes so much time and energy to get the washing and drying done that the last part often doesn’t get done.

And. It. Never. Ends.

Someone PLEASE invent a wardrobe that does mini loads of laundry and also hangs your clothes to dry but also that doesn’t make your home mouldy.

Or even just. A smaller washing machine that operates with a crank and only takes a few turns to wash your clothes so that I don’t have to leave it for two hours in a washing machine and forget about it.

I don’t think I’m being articulate at all here but whatever. Laundry needs to get its shit together. We live in the future and it still SUCKS.