#also this legit did help me with midterm stress so thank you
Note
How about Toff and the fathers of Lin and Suyin?
Send me a character and I’ll write 10 headcanons for them! Or a lengthy not-fic about what happens to them after canon, I guess that works too, brain, thanks ever so for your contribution.
So I… haven’t actually watched Korra yet. I kept meaning to, and it just never happened. Oops. How about some Toph headcanons that are completely unrelated to anything from LoK? Most of them under the cut bc this got away from me in a BIG way.
Toph used to dream about telling her parents she was the best bender in Gaoling. That was why she started joining underground bending tournaments, actually: so she could show them her champion belt and say, See? See how much your daughter can do?
That’s not actually why she joined the tournaments. She knew from the beginning that it would never work. She just wanted to feel, for a little while, the freedom and strength she had felt with the badger moles. After every tournament, she’d tell herself, One more. One more, and then I’ll tell them. One more, and it’ll be enough.
Toph wasn’t surprised by her parents’ reaction to her bending. She was furious, she was heartbroken, but she wasn’t surprised.
Toph loves junk food. (We all know this in our hearts.) As a daughter of the house of Bei Fong, she’d never had a potato chip in her life, and the first time they have some time to kill at a street market, Toph makes Aang take her round to every fast food stall in the place and buy her one of everything. She feels queasy and uncomfortable the rest of the day, but she refuses to regret it. (Sokka nearly faints when he hears how much money they’ve spent, and Toph regrets that a bit.)
She discovers that she really likes Fire Nation cuisine in general, with its tendency toward dramatic use of spices. They buy a kebab or something at a Fire Nation village, and it sets Toph’s entire mouth on fire. She falls instantly in love.
“It’s food that hates you, Katara! I’ve been punched in the face by a kebab!”
After the war, she decides she wants to learn how to cook. If you ask Toph how it went, she picked up a valuable skill. If you ask any of the string of harried chefs she leaves in her wake, they will turn very pale and beg you never to bring her back. It’s not that she isn’t enthusiastic to learn, and the blindness isn’t even that much of a hindrance because there’s a lot you can tell about your ingredients from smell and touch alone. But Toph’s very proud of her new metalbending abilities, and she practices at every opportunity. Do you know how much metal is in a kitchen, these chefs will ask you. Do you know how much damage that metal can do when it’s flying through the air into the hands of a young girl who wants to show you how fast she can whisk this egg. Do you know what she did to the stove.
Toph is really uncomfortable around Suki. You know those girls who are charming and smart and effortlessly graceful, a couple years older than you and always so kind, warm and friendly and infinitely cool, like the badass older sister you always dreamed of having? That’s Suki. Toph only knows how to be elegant in the context of high-society parties, and no matter how badass a fighter she knows she is, she has never in her life been effortlessly cool. She never knows how to talk to Suki about anything other than fighting. Suki thinks Toph just doesn’t like her much, and gives Toph her space. Toph absolutely hates this, but she doesn’t know how to fix it.
Taking down a fleet of war blimps together helps a little.
A lot of people want to learn bending from Toph after the war – metalbending, especially, but also earthbending in general. This twelve-year-old girl is one of the best earthbenders in the entire world, after all. She has people showing up every day, begging for the privilege of being her student. At first she’s pretty into the idea – she taught the Avatar, and he saved the world with it. Clearly she’s a fantastic teacher. She holds auditions and takes the most dedicated, the most impressive. She starts teaching them.
It’s awful. She hates it. Turns out teaching Aang how to understand the earth is very, very different from teaching a bunch of people more than twice her age how to stand, how to move their arms, how to breathe. She’d never realized before how much of bending was instinctual for Aang – he’s the Avatar, he’s not learning bending so much as remembering it from a past life. She’d never realized, either, how much of bending was instinctual for her. She struggles to explain how she moves to make the earth do what she wants, or how her students should move to do the same. More than one lesson ends with Toph getting so frustrated that she stomps her feet hard enough to knock over a wall, then storms off before she can cry actual tears of rage in front of these people.
She closes the school after a month. People keep showing up, though, asking her to teach them. She’s equal parts angry and ashamed every time she turns them away. She’d thought this was something she could do.
(Later, when she is older and more confident, when she’s had long conversations with benders who’ve been perfecting their craft for decades, she tries again. She finds a few promising students – young this time, almost as young as she is – and shows them how to feel the earth. She tells them to close their eyes and doesn’t worry if it means she’s forcing them to ignore their most important sense. She dumps mud on them and tells them to feel every speck of it on their skin, and get it off with nothing but bending. She tells them to move their hands and feet however feels right, so long as they’re strong and in tune with the earth. In short, she doesn’t bother adhering to any rules about how you’re supposed to teach bending.
This time, people leave her school with confidence and skill. Toph takes on more and more students. The best ones learn how to metalbend. Toph watches with her feet as her students learn how to listen to the earth, and finds that she’s proud of them. It’s a warm glow in her chest, and it never leaves her, the rest of her life.)
She leaves, to avoid the constant barrage of would-be students, and goes to stay with Sokka for a bit. He’s at the Fire Nation’s premier engineering university, and he has a huge apartment that the city gave him. (All of them get gifts wherever they go, these days. Some of them are more comfortable about this than others. Sokka never seems to mind it at all.) There’s more than enough room for Toph to move in with him, and he’s happy to have her. Every day he comes home from his classes bursting with information about machinery and thermodynamics. He sketches a dozen new inventions a week, and describes them all to Toph in convoluted detail. She understands about a quarter of what he says, but she makes a valiant effort to poke holes in all his ideas anyway.
Sokka gets letters from the others all the time, and always reads them out to Toph. When he answers, he reads that aloud too, and Toph calls out jokes and additions. He puts them all in, and letters from the two of them are a jumbled mess.
After one particularly memorable letter from Suki, the opening lines of which are, unfortunately, seared into Toph’s mind forever, Sokka started reading the ones from his girlfriend in private first, and giving Toph an abridged version.
Sometimes they talk about the war. Mostly when they do, it’s lighthearted, “Remember that camp by the town with the weird fish statue, where Aang tried to turn a waterfall into a water slide?” Sometimes it’s… not.
I was gonna write something angsty here about their darker conversations but honestly, I’m not sure I have the skill to pull that off in a single bullet point, and anyway we all know what conversations they were having. These were children who saved the world from an oppressive invader. Every day they walked through war-torn places and they never stopped to help for long. Every night they went to sleep wondering if they’d wake up to Azula fireballing them in the face. Now they’re heroes, and the world is rebuilding, and they’ve never lived in a world that isn’t at war.
After a while Toph gets restless, walking aimlessly day after day through this Fire Nation city while Sokka’s in school, and she goes to visit Zuko. Zuko greets her warmly, hugs her close, thanks her for coming, and gives her rooms in his palace, but he’s horribly busy. She’s invited to the daily dinner banquets, where Zuko sits at the head of a huge hall and the whole court watches him for weaknesses. She slips back into her cultured elegance like putting on clothes several sizes too small. Zuko sits her at his right hand and they talk, but it’s stilted and strange, each of them smiling stiffly through masks they don’t know how to wear well. She stops going to the banquets.
They hadn’t grown especially close, the two of them, back when they were fighting and fleeing together, not like they had with the others. But they’d understood each other, in their approach to bending and to ending the war. They’d understood each other, too, in ways neither of them was really comfortable admitting – both of them highborn children who would never be what their parents wanted, both of them used to luxury and quietly amazed by all the unexpected things involved in living off the land, both of them secretly proud of themselves for handling it so well. Both of them dedicated to winning the war because of their ideals, because of what they knew to be wrong, not due to personal loss. Both of them sitting awkwardly as Katara and Sokka, and later Suki, reminisced about struggling to find enough food for the winter, about passing clothing down through so many generations that it was patched beyond recognition, about learning to fight when they were barely old enough to hold a weapon.
They talked about it so glibly, laughing about the horrible taste of boiled seaweed for the fiftieth day in a row, showing off scars from when they’d stabbed themselves with knives they were too small to wield properly. Aang had laughed at their jokes and been horrified at their scars. Zuko hadn’t laughed, and Toph had heard the shame thick in his voice as he offered scars of his own, from firebending duels with his sister. (He never talked about the one on his face. Toph realized, later, that he assumed they knew how he’d gotten it. They never asked him about it
Toph always figured he had more to be ashamed of than she did – her nation, her family, hadn’t started the war, after all – but she’d been warm and fed and pampered while her friends had been starving, and she didn’t even have scars to show for it.
Now Zuko’s a king and Toph is his honored guest, and she wanders the hollow wooden halls of his palace – Zuko’s palace, her friend’s palace, her friend is a king and he lives in a palace – with one hand trailing on the painted walls. People bow and move out of her way wherever she walks. Generals try to talk to her about battles and tactics, about how a tiny group of violently powerful children evaded an entire army for nearly a year. Their voices are awed and condescending all at once, laced with suspicion and derision and oily flattery. Toph smiles the polite, unassuming smile of a daughter of the house of Bei Fong, and tells them that really it was Sokka who handled the tactics and strategy, she was mostly there to save everyone’s hide when things went wrong.
Then she remembers herself, remembers that she saved the world and she doesn’t have to be anyone’s daughter now. She starts telling them to fuck off.
She thinks, walking through the peaceful palace gardens, feeling the life that wriggles and squirms and breathes through the soil, that if her parents could see her now, friends with a king, they’d — well, actually, they’d probably want to arrange a marriage. At the thought, Toph starts to laugh, and she laughs so hard she has to sit down by one of the elegantly sculpted fountains and rock back and forth, gasping for breath. She hasn’t thought about marriage in so long – over a year, though it feels like so much longer. It used to be such a certainty, looming over her future, that her parents would arrange a marriage with some nice, malleable member of the middle aristocracy, who didn’t mind having a useless blind girl for a wife if it meant marrying into the Bei Fong family. But she’s no one’s daughter now. She resolves, there in an ornamental garden, laughing loud enough to scare the turtleducks, that she will never marry.
Zuko, almost to her surprise, steals time to hang out with her when he can. The first time he showed up in her rooms unannounced, it was in the middle of the afternoon, and he stood and cleared his throat the moment Toph walked in. Her room was tiled in stone – a small consideration that she’d been unreasonably pleased about, when she first saw it – so the moment Zuko put his feet on the floor, Toph recognized him. “Hey,” he started to say, nervous and stilted, “I hope you’re—”
Toph didn’t think about it. She barreled forward to give him a hug, catching him round the waist and almost knocking him back into the couch. She was almost instantly embarrassed, and started to draw back, but before she could, Zuko wrapped his arms hesitantly around her, and then he was hugging her as tight as she was hugging him.
Zuko doesn’t have much free time, but every few days he shows up in her rooms with a plate of delightfully spicy food and a bottle of something that she’s probably too young to be drinking and bitches to her about his advisors, the nobility, the merchant guilds, and the treasury officials constantly shoving new expense reports under his nose. Toph mocks all of them and offers to catapult people out of a window for him.
“No really, I won’t even need bending, these aristocrats are almost as bad as Aang about keeping their feet planted. I’ll just sneak up on them and grab them by the ankle. They’ll never expect it, come on Zuko, it’ll be hilarious!”
They talk, too, about the war. When they do, Toph tells him about the things she’d seen, wandering the subjugated Earth Kingdom. Zuko listens, without interrupting, and Toph thinks that maybe the silence is from shame, and she almost stops. But when he does talk, Zuko asks questions, probes for details. The conversation always turns to how to fix it. The two of them spitball ideas back and forth for how to start healing a shattered world.
They feel acutely the absence of their friends. Aang would be so much better at peacemaking, Zuko laments. Katara would be so much better at understanding what the deeper problems really are. Sokka would have so many ideas for improving access to isolated villages or distributing food and aid efficiently over all the vast expanse of the ravaged Earth Kingdom.
“So why don’t you ask him?” Toph says. “All he does all day is come up with weird new inventions anyway. He might as well come up with something useful.”
Zuko’s letters to the others have always been few and far between, and slightly reserved. He’s been very busy, and a part of him sort of assumed that now they weren’t stuck traveling with him anymore, they wouldn’t want anything to do with him. At Toph’s urging, he asks Sokka about a couple of his mechanical dilemmas, and is startled at how quickly he gets an enthusiastically rambling answer, complete with several pages of blueprints.
Toph tries to get him to do the same with Aang and Katara, but this he won’t do.
“They don’t have time to solve my problems,” Zuko tells her.
“Isn’t solving people’s problems pretty much Aang’s whole job now? He can just put you on the list.”
Zuko bows his head, like he’s looking into his drink, and says quietly, “If the Avatar is solving the Fire Lord’s problems, then either the Avatar works for the Fire Lord, or the Fire Lord is too weak to rule on his own. Either way, it just causes more problems.”
Toph, who grew up surrounded by the petty intrigues of politics and knows the weight of rumor and reputation, doesn’t contest this. She does say, “You should write them more anyway. Real letters. I bet they miss you.”
Zuko huffs out a laugh, and takes a swig of his drink, and doesn’t answer.
She goes to find Aang and Katara next. They’re wandering the world again, flying from city to town to village, and Toph thinks maybe it’ll be like old times. It even is, when they’re in the sky and Toph’s whole world is air, empty space, nothing but the rustling of the wind in Appa’s fur and the warm round weight of Momo sleeping on her belly. The three of them tease each other, tell jokes, share stories from the months they’ve spent apart, and it feels like home.
There’s no looming threat anymore. It’s strange, still, even after so many months. Toph used to spend the first few minutes after they landed anywhere stretching her senses as far as she could, looking for any signs of people. Now, the first time they land, she feels hundreds of people, and there are a good ten to twenty of them headed right for them, and she panics. She shouts for the others to run and pulls a wall of stone up between them and the oncoming force, eight feet tall and as wide as she can make it, and she’s bracing for the call to topple the wall onto the enemy and run for Appa while Aang and Katara cover their retreat, only instead she hears them yelling at her to stand down. That there’s no threat, that they’re safe, that she’s going to hurt someone.
They sleep in the cities, not in makeshift campsites. Village elders give over their homes to the Avatar and his friends. City mayors offer them luxurious quarters. Aang spends a few hours talking to the people in charge of each new place, then goes out into the streets and spends the rest of the day there, looking for the people he’s not supposed to be talking to. Katara and Toph flank him, and at the formal meetings Toph finds herself once again slipping into formal elegance, while on the streets she tries to keep track of all the people around them, whether they’re threats, whether there’s something Aang should be seeing that’s being kept from them. It’s impossible to track so many moving bodies, and it gives her a headache to try. She tries anyway, because a headache is no price to pay for keeping Aang safe, for helping him heal the world. Several times she stumbles or nearly walks into something, so focused on how everyone’s reacting to Aang that she doesn’t notice the obstacles in her own path. After a while Katara moves to her side, puts an arm around her shoulders as they walk. Toph leans into her, relieved.
Katara is still the nearest thing she has to a mom. Katara makes sure the three of them are getting enough food and sleep and aren’t wearing themselves out. Katara keeps track of their provisions now that Sokka’s gone, and she and Aang work together to figure out their route. Katara makes sure Toph doesn’t get into fights with city officials. (Sometimes Katara gets into fights with city officials, at which point Toph cheers her on and Aang tries desperately to mediate.) Katara makes sure they don’t lose heart at the sheer daunting size of the task ahead of them. Katara sees Toph sitting alone one night against Appa’s side, knees pulled up to her chest and tears running silent down her face, and comes to sit next to her.
Eventually Toph says, “We’re only a few days away from Gaoling.”
Katara nods. “We’ve been wondering whether we should stop there,” she says softly.
Toph shrugs. “Gaoling was mostly untouched by the war. Not a lot of scars there for the Avatar to heal. It’s got some solid political clout in the whole region, though – probably worth making some connections there.”
“It’s up to you,” Katara says. “We’ll go if you want to go.”
Toph pulls her knees closer to her chest. After a moment she leans into Katara, and Katara puts an arm around her shoulders and pulls her close. Toph falls asleep like that, with Appa snoring gently behind her and Katara murmuring a lullaby into her hair.
They go to Gaoling. They talk to the city’s ruling council, as they do in every city, and Toph braces herself for it but her parents aren’t there. Close to the start of the meeting, one of her cousins – she has a lot of cousins, most of them in her parents’ generation, none of them close – turns to her and says, “Your family has been worried by your long absence, Toph Bei Fong. We are relieved to see you well.”
She should bow politely before answering, she knows – but he didn’t bow to her. Maybe he technically outranks her, maybe she owes him deference as an older cousin – but she’s at the Avatar’s left hand, and she’s grown used to being no one’s daughter. She doesn’t bow, and she doesn’t smile. She just says, “I notice my parents are absent from the council.”
“They rarely attend,” her cousin says. “They were much grieved by your loss.”
Toph stands abruptly, jarring the table with a clatter of cups and plates. She does not say, “Oh were they.” She does not say, “My loss?” She does not say, “I’m not fucking dead, I’m right here, the war’s been over for two years and they never so much as sent a note—”
She does not say any of this. She turns to Aang and Katara and says, “I’ll meet you in the city once you’re done here.” Then she turns and leaves.
The gate to her family estate is closed. She puts a hand on the wrought iron and knows that she could twist it out of shape, could wrench a hole out of it and step through. Instead she kicks at the earth and launches herself up and over the gate, landing in a neat roll on the manicured lawns. She walks unimpeded to the front door, marveling at the lack of security – there used to always be guards on the walls, where did they go? was it always this easy to get in, or to get out? – and goes looking for her parents.
She’s not surprised, when she finds them, by their reaction. Furious, yes. Heartbroken. But not surprised.
They go to Omashu and King Bumi greets them by siccing Flopsy on them. A giant goat-gorilla comes bounding at them before they’ve even landed and knocks Aang flat as soon as he hits the ground, looking for treats. Appa gives a disgruntled roar, probably jealous, and the huge thing keens in fear and starts running around in circles. Aang’s feet have gotten caught in its collar and he goes flying through the air, trying to get himself free without hurting Flopsy, screaming all the while for Katara and Toph to do something. Katara and Toph are too busy laughing themselves silly. When Bumi finally comes out to meet them, Toph giggles out, “I like your rabbit.” Bumi tells her solemnly, “You’re not the only one. Flopsy’s more popular than I am, so I’ve made him king of Omashu. We all pay our taxes in carrots now.”
Toph and Bumi play so many pranks together. So many. Bumi’s court is actually pretty used to it by this point, but Aang and Katara aren’t. One night at dinner, Bumi sticks all of the furniture and himself to the ceiling with his bending, and screeches in horror when he sees the three of them walking in “upside down.” Katara freezes in shock, and Aang starts airbending a shield above his head before he realizes what’s happening. Toph, who saw it coming from out in the hallway, laughs so hard she cries.
She talks to Bumi a lot about earthbending, about the feel of dirt hardening between your fingers, about the shift and grind of stone as you pull boulders from the ground. She tells him about the sand raiders taking Appa, and the next day he takes her to a sand-filled arena and they duel there for three hours. She gets her ass handed to her, and she gets sand everywhere, but it’s the most fun she’s had in ages. They duel every day, and after leaving Omashu Toph makes a point of practicing wherever she can, until she can bend sand almost as well as she can bend solid ground.
She’s never met anyone else who bends, not just with his whole body, but with his whole being. Bumi’s fascinated by the way she uses bending to see, and she tries to explain it to him as thoroughly as she can, because she’s finally found someone who understands.
Toph travels a long time with Aang and Katara, roaming the world from top to bottom and all the way around.
They stop for a while on Kyoshi Island and she realizes, when she sees Suki running forward to greet them, that her old awkward embarrassment is gone. Suki’s just as flawlessly cool as she always was, but somehow Toph’s not intimidated by it any more. The two of them become friends in a way they never had a chance to before, and it actually does feel a lot like having a badass older sister.
Eventually, almost by coincidence, they find Zuko and Sokka visiting a coastal city that caught the brunt of the attack on the day of Sozin’s Comet. Sokka and Katara rush into a hug, and are teasing each other about their hair and clothes in five seconds flat. Sokka only lets go of his sister long enough to sweep Aang and Toph into hugs of their own, then he starts tugging on Katara’s arm and urging them all to come see the structural supports they’re building for the new docks.
By then Zuko’s reached them, trailed by his gaggle of advisors and attendants. He bows deeply to Aang, who returns the gesture, and says, “We welcome you, Avatar, to these shores.” Aang thanks him, just as formally – he’s learned how to be formal, these days. Toph listens to how their hearts are pounding nervous in their chests and can’t believe she’s friends with such idiots.
“Now kiss!” she hollers. Everyone stares. Sokka’s the first to start laughing, then Katara and Aang and finally Zuko’s laughing too, and Sokka drags Zuko into a group hug, and after that everything is – it’s not perfect, it’s not simple, but it’s okay. After that, it’s okay.
#toph beifong#atla#finx writes#finx has friends on the internet#this was a lot of fun to do#you guys should send me more so I can procrastinate homework in fun and creative ways#also this legit did help me with midterm stress so thank you#I have iroh lined up to do next#and loki for when I watch ragnarok - hopefully this weekend#I'm gonna try to keep it shorter than this for the sake of my sanity but either way it should be fun#also the iroh one is probably not gonna be that much shorter than this it's already getting away from me and I'm only a few bullet points in
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121U! - jeon wonwoo // seventeen au
❖ soulmate: you are able to communicate with your soulmate via a special chat room but you are both unaware of who you are due to the username
❖ a/n: hi everyone, so if you been here since the beginning of my blog you know that i used to write bts text au and that I also have skz au writing account. well since im in my 3rd year of uni i started to write to relieve stress and it’s really fun. so enjoy this idea i had that was og for my skz blog. if you haven’t figured it out yet I took inspiration from Day6 song 121U (aka a bop) as well as A Cinderella Story (you know the one with Hillary Duff, a CLASSIC). It is unsure how much i will write on this blog since again i only write when i am relieving stress so until next time enjoy :)
❖ word count: 1.6k (legit one word away from 1.7k)
❖ paring: jeon wonwoo x gn reader
❖: high school au, soulmate au
Ah, high school, a time where smarts and social status do not mix well together. You are either lucky enough to be a part of the popular crowd, being invited to all of the hottest parties, and dating the hottest people. Or get a normal student focusing on their studies and not giving a crap about any social status that one may obtain. Walking down the hallway with your earbuds in your ear you didn’t care about the people around you. You were just at school to study and graduate knowing that you were destined for greatness after high school.
“Excuse me,” you heard a voice coming from behind you. Pulling out your airpods you were faced with Mina and her group of followers. “Can I help you?” you questioned her as you had no idea what she wanted from you. You have never even said two words to her before this moment so you were highly confused about what was happening. “You are walking slowly and my locker is right there so can you please use your two legs and move faster please,” Mina motioned for her hands to move. Rolling your eyes you did just that and proceed to walk into class.
“Hey y/n you look, not good,” your best friend Joshua as he saw you sit down at your desk. Setting your head down a small sigh left your month “I hate Myoui Mina with a passion, I get it she is popular but does that give her a reason to freakin pick on everyone like come freakin on”. Joshua extended his arm and gently pat you on the back “there their y/n, rant to your best friend,”. Raising your head up you saw Mina walking into class with her boyfriend Wonwoo as his arm was around her. “Great this is going to be a long day,” you set your head back down and moped.
As time passed by you started to get bored in class as you finished all of your assignments. You opened a new tab on your laptop and entered into a chatroom. A smile grew on your face as you got excited seeing your friend mrbookworm was online. A bit of backstory mrbookworm is actually your soulmate but you felt really awkward calling him your soulmate since you had no idea who he was.
ouasunshine: hey i see that you are alive
mrbookworm: yeah i finished my classwork a bit early so i wanted to see if you were on or not
mrbookworm: and just like i expected here you are :)
ouasunshine: i am highly convinced that you are just on this chat room 24/7 waiting for me to come online
mrbookworm: you would be disappointed if that was false ;)
ouasunshine: dont get cheesy with me.
A chuckle left your mouth knowing how much mrbookworm made you feel. But it sucked that you did not know him in person cause you really did believe that if you did your whole world would be different. He seems like the type of person who really did not care about social status or what others think of him.
mrbookworm: how are your classes today?
ouasunshine: the normally but I did have a lovely run-in with one of the ‘popular’ at my school
ouasunshine: let’s just say it was not really the highlight of my day
mrbookworm: :( im sorry you had a rough day I wish there to make you feel better
ouasunshine: i have to go, the bell just rang
Packing up your backpack and quickly walked out of the classroom trying your best to avoid any more interactions with that clique. Which for once was in your favor as you didn’t run into any of that crowd for the rest of the school day. Your absolute favorite time of the day was when the last bell rang and you were able to go to the library. It was quiet and wasn’t too crowded unless it was midterm or final season. The librarians were also very appreciative that you came during your free time and helped out. “Y/n, I just wanted to let you know that we are going to close up a bit early so don’t be alarmed okay,”. “I won’t Mrs. Park,” you said with a smile on your face and then returned to your book.
As time passed you were getting lost in your book. “Excuse me,” looking up from your book you say Wonwoo standing in front of you “Um can I check out a laptop?”. “Sure but the library is closing early so you have at least 30 minutes before I have to ask for it back. ID please,” you held out your hand. He handed it to you and once you scanned everything you handed it back to him. You watched as he walked away and returned to your book. Looking over at the desk that was in front of you you saw your phone buzzing. You moved forwards to see if anyone was in your line of sight and if anyone could see you, let’s just say you were in the clear.
mrbookworm: if you were picking out a book for me, what book would you recommend?
ouasunshine: what makes you say that I am a reader?
mrbookworm: well for one thing your soulmate is a bookworm aka i am a bookworm
mrbookworm: i kinda hope that my soulmate is one too
ouasunshine: Are We There Yet? by David Levithan. It is about two brothers who go to Italy and they end up falling for the same girl but neither of them knows. It is pretty good. I give it a solid ⅘ but it definitely breaks the love standards that we are used to.
mrbookworm: wow i can’t imagine a system without soulmates
ouasunshine: i feel like the system of soulmates will still exist but people won’t know see the signs unless they are truly in love
mrbookworm: do you think there will be a possibility that we would be soulmates without this whole soulmate system.
ouasunshine: that is really hard to say
The clock hit 15:30 and you had to leave. So you logged out and looked around for Wonwoo to get everything back. “Um hey so,” you said walking up to where he was sitting out. “Oh is it time already?,” he said looking at his watch and then back at you. “Yeah, sorry for kicking you out I guess? I mean I know we are open later than this but you know closing hours aren’t my rules to make,” you said looking at him. “No no I understand, do you think I can check out a book or will it be easier to get it tomorrow morning?”. “Probably come tomorrow morning then you have more time to actually look for your book if you have no idea where it is located,”. “Yeah I think that will be my best bet. Thanks for the help y/n,”.
You were taken aback by him saying your name was this was one of the first time that you have ever had a conversation with him. “No problem, Wonwoo,: smiling back at him as you walked him out before locking up.
As the night was drawing to an end you were laying in bed finishing up an homework assignment. It was a simple reading so it was nothing heavy but you did wish that time would pass faster. A ding from your computer and you saw the lovely notification from your soulmate.
mrbookworm: two truths and one lie?
ouasunshine: hello to you too,
ouasunshine: what are you doing lol
mrbookworm: i’m bored and I don't feel like bothering my friends
ouasunshine: so you wanted to bother me?
mrbookworm: you’re my soulmate ;)
mrbookworm: you are kinda stuck with me forever
ouasunshine: i mean i guess i can spare a minute or two
ouasunshine: ummm
ouasunshine: my favorite cake is red velvet, i played soccer as a kid and i’m 75% certain i was a butterfly in my kindergarten school play.
mrbookworm: oh that is an easy one
mrbookworm: it's the butterfly one
ouasunshine: i wish you can hear me laugh
ouasunshine: it is actually the cake one
mrbookworm: you’re lying
ouasunshine: no i believe that i have a picture somewhere.
ouasunshine: i was either a butterfly or a flower but i have a picture somewhere
mrbookworm: well when i meet you in person you will have to show me
mrbookworm: but what is the lie?
ouasunshine: i really don't like red velvet cake
For the rest of the night, you were talking to your soulmate. And just like you wished for at the beginning of the night the hours did fly by when you were talking to him.
Arriving at school early you walked straight to the library. You unlocked the door and headed to the main deck and pulled out the book that you were reading last night. And to your surprise the first person who entered was Wonwoo.
“Good Morning,” he said, walking up to the desk with a smile on his face. The soft curls from his hair lightly hit the top of his glasses. And the grey sweatshirt that he wasn’t helping his case and we really did look nice. “Hey morning, are you here to look for that book from yesterday?”. “Yeah I am looking for Are We There Yet? by David Levithan,”. Your head lifted from the computer and stopped typing mid-sentence. “No there is no way,” you thought to yourself. “Is there something wrong? Is it checked out?”. “No it’s not that, it’s just I recommended that book to someone yesterday, it is one of my favorites,” you said looking away. “Oh same, well not me recommended but it was recommended to me,” Wonwoo said looking down at the ground.
“This is a very out of the blue question but are you mrbookworm? Again totally random questions and if you aren’t that this is highly embarrassing,”. Wonwoo just looked at you and smiled. “Hi ouasunshine, I’m expecting to see that picture of you as a butterfly one day, maybe over coffee?”. “I would really like that,”.
#seventeen#seventeen kpop#seventeen imagines#seventeen fluff#svt imagines#svt kpop#svt#svt scenarios#svt fluff#wonwoo seventeen#jeon wonwoo#wonwoo scenarios#seventeen jeon wonwoo#seventeen wonwoo#svt wonwo#svt jeon wonwoo#wonwoo x reader#wonwoo x you#jeon wonwoo x reader#jeon wonwoo x you#seventeen au#svt au#jeon wonwoo scenarios
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#22: Season 3, Episode 17 - “Snow Job”
In order to get out of an Algebra midterm, Louis fakes a snow day outside of Principal Wexler's house and gets himself suspended from school. Meanwhile, Ren has one week to master Pole Vaulting after accidentally injuring LJH’s best athlete. Phyllis Diller guest stars!
This one opens with the gang in Mr. Lopez’s algebra class. We’ve never seen or heard of Mr. Lopez before, but he seems pretty cool imo. Like one of those teachers who genuinely cares about his students. I really like his character. This first scene is a montage of Twitty, Tawny and Louis up at the board. Twitty and Tawny are solving their equations at the speed of light, whereas Louis is constantly getting tripped up. I’m already relating to Louis so bad. When it’s time for them to share their answers, Twitty and Tawny seem like Einstein’s spawn in comparison to Louis, who drew a map of Utah:
Louis attempts to explain how he worked out the equation, but obviously.. he has no idea. He glances at the clock and sees there’s only, like.. 30 seconds until the bell rings. So he stalls in the most glorious way possible: “I got 2x + 7x to the 5th times Y........ to which I say.... why not? Why do fools fall in love? These are all very big questions.” I love this quote so much. Of course, the bell rings and he successfully dodges answering.
Mr. Lopez knows that Louis is struggling and really wants him to ask for help on his own. He subtly extends that invitation by asking if anyone has any questions because “the only stupid questions are the ones you ask yourself on the bus ride home” -- Which is incredibly true and another quote I really like. Louis seems as if he’s genuinely gonna ask a question but then says “...If a chicken had lips, could it whistle? I’ll ask myself on the bus ride home.” -- It’s funny, but also really really upsetting. Mr. Lopez is super disappointed and so am I. There’s also this girl in the classroom who really hates Louis or something. She dramatically shakes her head all annoyed and complains to the kid behind her whenever Louis says anything. It���s actually a little distracting, lol. Keep an eye out for her next time you watch this episode.
The disappointment is palpable.
Then it cuts to the subplot where Ren is interviewing some of LJH’s athletes for the Wombat Report. Including some girl Olga who’s “the best 9th grade pole vaulter in Sacramento” -- Which confirms that Lawrence Jr. High goes up to 9th grade!! I think that’s the only time in the entire series they actually say the words “ninth grade”! Ren also calls the upcoming competition they’re preparing for “the big meet.” I’m sure Louis would object to this.
Ren interviews the fantastic Artie Ryan, who makes an appearance as a shot putter lol. He’s apathetic and deadpan as usual (”Buzz off, I’m training.”) which is great. Ren gets the bright idea to try heaving the ball herself... and breaks Olga’s foot. Ouch. Phyllis Diller makes her brilliant cameo as Coach Corns here! Something that always annoyed me is that IMDb lists the character’s last name as “Korns” but the inscription on her jacket is “Corns” lol. I’m assuming the jacket is the legit spelling. I also saw on Twitter a while ago that Phyllis’ cameo happened because Jim Wise was absent and working at MADTV at the time. Anyway, Ren decides to fill in for Olga at the competition even though she has no idea how to pole vault. Coach Corns is skeptical but says “if you’re anything like your brother Donnie, maybe you can learn by Friday!” Donnie is seriously the be-all end-all in the Even Stevens-verse.
We get few scattered scenes throughout the episode of Ren practicing pole vaulting over and over again, failing at making it over the bar every time. Including one where “Coach Corns” demonstrates how it’s done, which is hilarious and obviously a stunt double of course.
Much like last week’s episode, they put zero effort into trying to avoid showing the face of the stunt double lol. It honestly makes it funnier.
After countless failed attempts, Artie walks over and says “You know that you’re supposed to go over the bar, right?” And Ren bites back sarcastically “Really, Artie?! Thanks for that helpful hint.” I can’t help but laugh every time. Ren insists she’ll be ready for competition and Artie mumbles to himself “Yeah, and I’ll be the king of Norway.” It’s so good.
Louis’ plot continues with this scene, which I love:
It’s not included in this set, but in between the second and third photos Twitty says “And like, she was not a very good babysitter...” LOL. Yeah, I doubt she’d have stellar reviews on Care.com today.
Twitty and Tawny go on to talk about how Mr. Lopez’s class is so fun and he makes learning algebra so easy and they’re totally gonna ace the midterm!! YAY! ....You just know Louis is feeling like an outsider right about now. Tawny tries to set up a study session, but Louis bails to work incredibly hard on a way to not take the test. We’ve been over this before. If Louis spent a fraction of the amount of time and effort he spends on avoiding schoolwork, he would be an honors student. It’s ridiculous because half of the inventions he comes up with must involve some serious math skills! He’s putting in the work where it doesn’t count lol. And he really goes to extremes this time. He gets Beans to help him with this super elaborate prank to fake a snow day... in Sacramento California... outside of Principal Wexler’s house. He even did that thing where you can override a vacant radio station and recited a whole fake news story on the historic “blizzard.” The craziest part about this, is that he was 99% successful! Wexler totally bought that the storm was legit. And I don’t blame him:
Imagine not wanting to take a midterm that bad.
There’s some great miscommunication here when Wexler calls LJH to cancel school. The secretary is all “may I ask why?” lol. Seriously. Gotta love miscommunication. Louis almost sorta gets away with everything, until Ren jogs by the house and starts yelling at him and Wexler hears it through the radio. I never used to understand why Ren was out jogging though? It always felt like a biiiit of a forced plot device to me. I used to think “She’d already be at school or at home getting ready!” ...but today, I just realized -- she’s preparing for pole vaulting. Oh my god. I’m such an idiot. It’s funny because I thought I was catching onto some bad writing.. but no. Even Stevens is actually that good.
This “snow scam” leads to Principal Wexler suspending Louis from school. I love how it’s only a one week suspension, yet Wexler acts like Louis is leaving forever and has his locker cleaned out as if it’s a gateway to The Upside Down:
Eileen takes off work to homeschool Louis for the week, which is really nice to see. We get a montage of them covering just about every subject and Louis is breezing through the day with flying colors! They even did Theater, where Louis played both Romeo and Juliet. The one-man show costume is a sight to behold:
“It’s very constraining and I’d like to change now.”
Everything’s going well until Eileen drops the bomb “Okay! We’ve covered everything but Algebra!” and the dramatic, dark orchestra kicks in. Louis tries to get out it, but Eileen’s not letting him off the hook. She writes out an equation on the board and leaves him alone for awhile to complete it. When she returns, he’s asleep:
I RELATE TO THIS MORE THAN YOU’LL EVER KNOW. Louis is literally falling asleep during homework to avoid doing it. I did this so many times throughout my academic career and I doubt I’m the only one. It was always with math, too! It was so overwhelming for my little brain... I’d just drift off to sleep and think “Well, if I fall asleep... that’s an excuse for not finishing it!” lol. And I bet you anything that was Louis’ thought process as well. Eileen gives Louis an ultimatum (finish his homework or be grounded for the weekend) to motivate him to finish the equation, so he attempts to do it and pretty much pulls an answer out of his butt. I did this all the time. You sort of convince yourself that you got it right, even though deep down you know it’s totally wrong. “You got it, baby!!” Louis compliments himself. And right about then, Ren enters the room and verbalizes what Louis most likely already knows: “You got it totally wrong, Louis.” This leads to a really nice brother/sister moment.
Ren wants to know why he put so much effort into skipping one day of school, and he confesses that it’s because he doesn’t understand Algebra. “I’ll try to understand it, but I can’t. I’m the only kid in the class who doesn’t know what’s going on.” I’ve said those exact sentences a million times growing up. This whole scene is honestly so heart-wrenching imo. It further develops Louis’ character and adds to his endearingness. (Don’t even know if that’s a word, but I’m using it.) Ren can’t understand why he doesn’t just go to Mr. Lopez for help. “What’s the worst that could happen?” she asks, and Louis imagines a life of ridicule:
This is too real. You really do feel like you’ll be a total idiot if you ask for help during class. Even though the chances of your teacher and principal publicly mocking you are zero... you still feel like everyone will be secretly judging you.
I just can’t stress enough how much I relate to Louis here. His attitude towards struggling with academics is exactly how I felt. Like, no matter how hard you try... You're still the dumbest kid in class. He snaps out of his daydream and tells her “No, I can’t do it. People are gonna think I’m stupid.” And Ren says “Stupid? You may do some really stupid things sometimes but that doesn’t mean that YOU are stupid.” THIS IS SO FREAKING NICE I WANNA CRY LOL. She then empathizes with him by sharing her struggle with pole vaulting. It’s sweet.
When Louis returns to school, he’s determined to pay extra attention in Algebra class and really focus. But the second Mr. Lopez starts explaining, all Louis can hear is “blah, blah, blah... blah, blah..... blah, blah, blah.................. blah.” It’s hilarious because it’s TRUE. Mr. Lopez opens up the floor for any questions, and I swear to god. I get so emotional every time here. Louis raises his hand and takes a few seconds to muster up the confidence to say “I don’t understand.” .....*sheds a single tear.* Mr. Lopez says to catch up with him after school and Louis is so proud of himself for asking. Ahhhhhh!
Look at dat content face. Awww. Shia’s so great.
After school, Mr. Lopez explains that there’s usually a gap in the knowledge somewhere when it comes to struggling with Math. This is very accurate. I’ve learned that missing just one little building block of information (with anything in life) can mess you up entirely. So we get a montage of them working for what seems like hours on the basics (1 + 1 = 2) all the way through to Algebra and Louis does soooo well. It’s one of the sweetest, most self-reflecting moments in the series. Louis takes a look at all of the equations he successfully completed and mutters “Good job, Buddy” to himself and I just wanna weep. On top of that.. Mr. Lopez is super nice, calling Louis a genius and such. I just love it. It’s kinda funny how they tried to make the scene look all trippy like the equations were floating all around him just by writing on glass with a marker though, haha:
I also have to gif this because it reminds me of the confused math lady meme:
Seriously, can we make “Shia LaBeouf doing Algebra” a thing? Even Stevens is ripe with memes that never see the light of day.
Meanwhile, Ren is at the pole vaulting competition and, well... failing miserably. Just then Louis, Eileen and Steve show up and start running next to her during her very last try. Louis is gushing about being able to do Algebra and Eileen and Steve are just cheering her on haha. Louis shouts the advice “You might wanna put the stick thingy in the ground, Ren!” and then she miraculously makes it over the bar. I NEVER UNDERSTOOD THIS??? Um, where else could she have been putting it this whole time? And it’s not like that alone would help her get over the bar.
Clearly, the pole is meant to go in the metal space (”ground”)! You’re telling me she’s been practicing for a week and never put it there?!?! Come on.
Anyway, everyone celebrates and it’s a happy moment. Coach Corns also snatches her own wig and Louis puts it on:
Even Stevens was seriously ahead of the meme trend. Wigs were flyin’ on Disney Channel in 2002.
The episode ends with one of the greatest “last minute” bits ever. Ren made it over the bar... So, Artie Ryan becomes the king of Norway:
“I AM THE KING!” -- This show’s humor is unparalleled.
And that’s it! This is just an awesome episode. Obviously, I love this Louis plot. It’s seriously so great and one of the most relatable topics ever. (Well, for me at least.) Like I said, I feel like this episode is a really great one for Louis Stevens and his character development. Ren’s plot is pretty similar actually. Both plots work together in a “conceive it, achieve it” sort of way. I just really love it. Mr. Lopez is cool. Phyllis Diller is great. Artie Ryan is the best. It’s just good all around ok. This is definitely one of my personal favorites, but I objectively feel like there are some stronger episodes. So, #22 is where it sits.
Thanks for reading!
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( i’m sobbing she’s precious )
hi guys, i’m jules and i’m so excited to be a part of this rp !! i just saw that my app was in all caps by mistake bc my phone likes to fuck with me like that and i’m cringing omg. so i applied a few days ago but life got super hectic and i only just reapplied now that i’ve come up for air rip. but this is my eternally fucked, lowkey honey girl kiran who thinks she’s stoic and intimidating af but more often than not has the smallest of smiles at the v least on her face. here’s some basic — & extensive, sorry lmao — info about her ( TW: death, self-destructive behaviour, adjustment disorder/situational depression ) :
born seong kiran/kiran diana seong on march 12, 1997
scarborough, canada born and raised to first-gen korean-canadian parents
the epitome of a bitter smol™ that’s prepared to fight over everything (stubborn brat )
has twin five year old siblings that she fucking adores, which is a big deal since she doesn’t care intensely for many people
her parents were both only kids that ventured into science-based careers; her mom was a pharmacist at her late grandparents’ small clinic and her dad was a neurosurgeon at toronto gen hospital, so they were upper-middle class you could say
s u c k e d at making friends in her formative years and when she did, they didn’t stay for v long
plenty of chances for her to find new friends though since the gta is huge and has a ton of other kids around so it wasn’t all in vain
also her vanity when she was a kid was prob a turn off for others lol
smart af, like english? a’s. math? a’s french? a+
eventually didn’t suck at the whole friend thing and had a small group of people she grew rather fond of
she ended up graduating as valedictorian and was accepted to mcgill to study pre-med and become a neurosurgeon just like papa seong
always wanted to follow in his footsteps, so it came as no surprise to her parents
( TW: DEATH ) during her midterm break in her first sem, her parents decided to take the family to their cabin near muskoka for a weekend away from the city/suburbs
they were a little over halfway there when her dad tried to veer the suv away from a moose in the middle of their lane, but wasn’t successful
kiran was conscious during the whole thing, though she sustained a concussion and the twins were unharmed in their carseats; however their mother died on impact and their father suffered from a cranial injury ( .. i only just realized how ironic and morbid this is after working with this muse for a while oh my g o d )
she went with the twins to the hospital and was inconsolable over the loss of her mother alone, while her father was in critical condition and the outlook was promising, though not certain
he was put in a medically induced coma after being operated on and she and her godparents ( who advised her on the whole thing since they were docs themselves ) decided to hold out hope for a recovery
the twins were put in her care and she was left to deal with the burden of their loss, her education and the obvious, her brother and sister’s newfound dependency on her
she withdrew from the few people she became close to over the years, her grades began to slip as well, and she was always weighed down by grief and anxiety
she tried to stay in school while taking care of the twins, but it was becoming more and more difficult to do so. she just managed to keep her head above water throughout the rest of the first sem though
moved out of res, into an apartment and relocated the twins for the time being to see if she could pull it off
( TW: SELF-DESTRUCTIVE BEHAVIOUR ) add the fact that a part of her began to question if she could really follow in her dad’s footsteps, and that she let further anxiety from the pressures of making her parents proud get to her and she was soon on a downward spiral
she slipped away from her academics and was slowly becoming a poor guardian; soon, kiran was partying too hard and winding up in the hospital or a stranger’s dorm, skipping labs, and was generally a lost cause when the twins were under the care of a sitter
failed a couple of courses by the end of the second semester and had her godparents flying out to crack down on her dumb ass
felt hopeless and lost, but especially so when she posed the risk of losing the only family that she had left, realizing how selfish her actions were and trying to amend her mistakes
dropped out of mcgill for the time being and took up a job as a retail clerk to provide for the three of them ( despite inheriting their mom’s estate and all, as she put the money that came from it into the kids’ savings )
was soon in the clear in her godparents’ opinion and has tried to do right by her parents and siblings since then
after losing herself for a while, she found that she was right back to where she started with friend-making, but rather than it being her just not knowing how, it was that she didn’t want to let people in after everything that had happened
she didn’t remain a loner, but she didn’t have a ride or die by any means
for the sake of her a.d and bc of the bad memories that t.o and mtl held, she found herself relocating to greenville of all places
but deep down she knows mama seong would be happy about the kids growing up in a smaller town than near dt toronto
about four months after settling in, she began attending a nearby college in what would have been her fourth semester and has since maintained a high gpa after retaking the courses she fucked up in
her dad has since woken up, but he’s going through extensive forms of therapy to restore his motor, neurological, etc functions
she’d be back in t.o if her godparents hadn’t advised against it since it was still rly overwhelming for him and his three kids ( two of whom wouldn’t rly know him either ) coming back prob wouldn’t help ??
still has nightmares from the accident, the girl’s scarred for life and is thankful that the twins were too young to remember
sees a psychiatrist at the behest of her godmother bc she rly can’t cope by herself in all of this but she doesn’t like to burden others with her problems ( doesn’t like people knowing much about her regardless but )
now to her personality and extra facts ig ??? this has gotten so out of hand already, sTOP ME
the most stubborn chick alive, will never admit she’s wrong unless you weasel it out of her with some heavy guilt-tripping
she used to be a fucking NIGHTMARE to most people before everything went awry, still can be but it’s more or less an act with a little bit of it also being herself
a true instagram addict, which makes sense bc she can be p vain at times
rather intuitive tbh
can be insightful as well
feigns annoyance and boredom with people/their antics
some weird ass detachment method on her part that she didn’t shake, but question her on it and she’ll shut it tf down
but is still genuinely, easily irritated all the same ?? not even i understand this chick
curses like a sailor is she isn’t too curt in her responses
has a problem with trusting others, feels like she can only truly rely on herself so if you break through that barrier then congrats ig
she won’t make it obvious though, she’s a sociable being and will actually take to you if you pique her interest with free booze or a wild story
just don’t expect her to surrender much of her life story, but she’ll also get a bit offended if you don’t offer a bit of your own ??
the most annoying internalizer of emotions ever if you’re actually friends with her, 110% will not confide in you if you’re not one of four or five people in her life
also fears loss more than anything, so she isn’t close to many people for BOTH the trusting aspect, as well as wanting to spare herself the pain of watching more loved ones die or leave
but if you’re one of the v select few people she’s let in completely, she’ll never let you go. she’s the definition of loyal and will legit die for you
so so devoted to her little brother and sister, like she loves them more than anything and does everything so that they can succeed when they’re older
all of the sports acceptable for kindergarteners, music lessons, ballet, you name it, she’s got them registered
puts them before herself all the fucking time, her mom wouldn’t be impressed with her putting herself last as opposed to finding equilibrium
anyways, point is, you’ll never see her be more affectionate and joyful than with her family, godparents included
her being good with other kids though ?? she’s been working on it and she’s coming around
still can’t stand screaming brats though lmao
will be super polite to even her enemy’s parents mostly bc fuck that person.. unless their parents aren’t pleasant people either, then she’ll be unpleasant right back lmao
trust me when i say that she has a heart of gold and will do what’s morally right, is so so soft but will forever be in denial like i cannOT STRESS ENOUGH
defensive pessimism at its finest
fluent in french and korean
memes are lowkey the way to her heart
well, memes and food ofc
such a poutine hoe™
sci fi junkie
here for aesthetically pleasing everything
her place is almost never in disorder, oddly enough
quite the party girl, though not the same as when she was a frosh, is able to control herself when there aren’t too many stressors plaguing her
queer af, doesn’t know what her sexuality is but she knows she isn’t straight ( but for all intents and purposes, she’s pansexual )
she just needs someone else to take care of her honestly, she still doesn’t know what she’s doing with herself lmao
trying her best™ to be better in general but change doesn’t happen overnight so she’s not rushing into it, aka she’s still comfortable with being a bit of an asshole for as long as possible
you sometimes won’t know who she is from one day to the next, kind of the personification of a wild ride
so that’s kiran, if you’d like to plot just hmu or like this and i’ll come to you !! i’ll link some possible connections later bc my laptop’s about to die and i can’t find the charger anywhere ? @my mom, pls stop moving my stuff, it’s giving me more heart palpitations than my econ final last month
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Trump Is Ruining My Teeth
It shouldn’t have been a shock when my tooth broke off, but of course, it was.
For months, my jaw and teeth have been in a constant state of clenching and grinding. Now, a molar had broken in half, pushed over the edge by one bite of a salted caramel cookie and a steady diet of political news-induced stress.
Research shows that as much as 70 percent of bruxism (the medical term for jaw and tooth grinding) occurs as a result of stress and anxiety. For me, the issue started after November’s election, when, like millions of other Americans (or to be exact, 57 percent, according to the American Psychological Association) my anxiety level ratcheted up to an all-time high and stayed that way, thanks to the relentless stream of Trump and Republican-related nightmares we’ve been bombarded with ever since.
In 2017, there is no escaping the news or the stress that it can bring. All we can do is try to find a balance between staying informed and staying sane — and I, for one, am failing. Like a lab rat hitting a feeder bar, I tap every mobile news alert. I refresh the same news outlets multiple times a day, then text stories to my friends to share in the outrage. I read Twitter after I go to bed. Then, apparently, I grind my teeth to their studs in my sleep.
After my tooth broke, I knew I needed to do more than just get it fixed. I had to stop my teeth from grinding in the first place.
Searching the internet for solutions, I almost immediately hit pay dirt in the form of a tweet by model and national treasure Chrissy Teigen. It seemed that she— along with many of her followers — was having the same Trump-induced jaw clenching problem I was. Now I knew I wasn’t alone, and even better, she had a solution.
I also had Botox in my jaw muscle to relieve tension from constantly clinching. I was not like this before. Pay my bill, POS POTUS
— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) May 4, 2017
Botox! I always knew there would be a day when it would come to my aid.
Perhaps less news and stress were not the only way to save my teeth. Thanks to modern medicine, there was a way to maintain my ill-advised lifestyle by throwing money at the problem ― and neurotoxins into my jaw. I was into it.
While I waited for my dentist appointment to inquire about Botox, I decided to explore other options. With two weeks to go, my mouth was killing me.
In the course of my highly unscientific research, I came across other random internet sources suggesting herbal tinctures to reduce stress. While I don’t generally go for natural healing, there’s an herbal remedies store less than a block from my apartment. I figured I’d give it a try.
I reviewed my situation with an exceedingly calm and sympathetic salesperson who explained the many stress-reducing herbs she herself took each day. We landed on something called motherwort, a tincture that apparently, “calms the heart.” It sounded legit, in a Shakespearean sort of way. The quiet loveliness of the store and how good it smelled in there was making me rethink my entire position on herbal remedies. Perhaps just hanging around this place would be enough to solve the problem.
It wasn’t until we reached the register that my herbal expert confessed she clenched her own jaw so much her front teeth needed to be replaced — and not for the first time. This did not inspire confidence. Credit card already in hand, I bought the stuff anyway. As I left, I couldn’t help but think how bad things have gotten that a person who works in the most relaxing store in New York is literally snapping her teeth off from stress.
The motherwort experiment ended about as quickly as it began. The tincture’s absolutely horrible taste (the solution is mostly cane alcohol), combined with the saleswoman’s confidence-busting admission meant that I wasn’t even getting a placebo effect. I’m sure this stuff works wonders for some people, but I would have been better off doing a shot of whiskey.
Still in search of a solution, I moved on to a magnesium supplement, which I read can calm nerves and relieve muscle tension. I must have stopped reading before the part that explains that magnesium is sometimes used as a sleep aid, resulting in a very long and confusing day of nearly falling asleep at my desk. A switch to taking it before bed yielded better results. I felt like I slept a little better and woke up feeling less tense, but it did nothing to aid in my daytime grinding. I still needed a real cure.
Finally, it was time to see the dentist. After getting my tooth repaired, I gave him the rundown of the grinding situation, the stress and the remedies I’d tried, casually suggesting that Botox, or perhaps even Xanax, was the next logical step he could kindly help me out with.
He was quiet for a moment, then replied, “Have you watched that show ‘The Night Of’ on HBO?”
“Yes, why?” I asked, confused.
“You remind me of John Turturro’s character, the lawyer with the foot eczema, trying a million different things to fix it.”
This was not the response I was looking for.
He continued. “I think you’re kidding about the Xanax,” (I wasn’t) “and the Botox is really just for people with extreme cases of TMD. What you need is a custom night guard to protect your teeth. And maybe get away from your computer every couple of hours. Try to relax a little bit.”
Ugh. So sensible. Why don’t I have a cool dentist, like Chrissy Teigen?
In a way, he was right. I was trying to avoid dealing with the real problem by treating the symptoms. But there’s a good reason I was looking for quick fixes: If I stopped reading the news right now, it wouldn’t make me stop worrying about all the people who stand to get hurt over the next four years. I wouldn’t be less freaked out by how divided our country has become. And of course, I’d miss mocking Trump and Co’s astounding daily displays of incompetence with my friends.
But I am trying to dial back the insanity. I’m doing yoga when I can and reading books on paper instead of being glued to my phone. I’ve even banned Twitter from my bed. And I’m going to get the stupid night guard. Hopefully it holds my teeth together until the midterms.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
Trump Is Ruining My Teeth published first on http://ift.tt/2lnpciY
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Text
Trump Is Ruining My Teeth
It shouldn’t have been a shock when my tooth broke off, but of course, it was.
For months, my jaw and teeth have been in a constant state of clenching and grinding. Now, a molar had broken in half, pushed over the edge by one bite of a salted caramel cookie and a steady diet of political news-induced stress.
Research shows that as much as 70 percent of bruxism (the medical term for jaw and tooth grinding) occurs as a result of stress and anxiety. For me, the issue started after November’s election, when, like millions of other Americans (or to be exact, 57 percent, according to the American Psychological Association) my anxiety level ratcheted up to an all-time high and stayed that way, thanks to the relentless stream of Trump and Republican-related nightmares we’ve been bombarded with ever since.
In 2017, there is no escaping the news or the stress that it can bring. All we can do is try to find a balance between staying informed and staying sane — and I, for one, am failing. Like a lab rat hitting a feeder bar, I tap every mobile news alert. I refresh the same news outlets multiple times a day, then text stories to my friends to share in the outrage. I read Twitter after I go to bed. Then, apparently, I grind my teeth to their studs in my sleep.
After my tooth broke, I knew I needed to do more than just get it fixed. I had to stop my teeth from grinding in the first place.
Searching the internet for solutions, I almost immediately hit pay dirt in the form of a tweet by model and national treasure Chrissy Teigen. It seemed that she— along with many of her followers — was having the same Trump-induced jaw clenching problem I was. Now I knew I wasn’t alone, and even better, she had a solution.
I also had Botox in my jaw muscle to relieve tension from constantly clinching. I was not like this before. Pay my bill, POS POTUS
— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) May 4, 2017
Botox! I always knew there would be a day when it would come to my aid.
Perhaps less news and stress were not the only way to save my teeth. Thanks to modern medicine, there was a way to maintain my ill-advised lifestyle by throwing money at the problem ― and neurotoxins into my jaw. I was into it.
While I waited for my dentist appointment to inquire about Botox, I decided to explore other options. With two weeks to go, my mouth was killing me.
In the course of my highly unscientific research, I came across other random internet sources suggesting herbal tinctures to reduce stress. While I don’t generally go for natural healing, there’s an herbal remedies store less than a block from my apartment. I figured I’d give it a try.
I reviewed my situation with an exceedingly calm and sympathetic salesperson who explained the many stress-reducing herbs she herself took each day. We landed on something called motherwort, a tincture that apparently, “calms the heart.” It sounded legit, in a Shakespearean sort of way. The quiet loveliness of the store and how good it smelled in there was making me rethink my entire position on herbal remedies. Perhaps just hanging around this place would be enough to solve the problem.
It wasn’t until we reached the register that my herbal expert confessed she clenched her own jaw so much her front teeth needed to be replaced — and not for the first time. This did not inspire confidence. Credit card already in hand, I bought the stuff anyway. As I left, I couldn’t help but think how bad things have gotten that a person who works in the most relaxing store in New York is literally snapping her teeth off from stress.
The motherwort experiment ended about as quickly as it began. The tincture’s absolutely horrible taste (the solution is mostly cane alcohol), combined with the saleswoman’s confidence-busting admission meant that I wasn’t even getting a placebo effect. I’m sure this stuff works wonders for some people, but I would have been better off doing a shot of whiskey.
Still in search of a solution, I moved on to a magnesium supplement, which I read can calm nerves and relieve muscle tension. I must have stopped reading before the part that explains that magnesium is sometimes used as a sleep aid, resulting in a very long and confusing day of nearly falling asleep at my desk. A switch to taking it before bed yielded better results. I felt like I slept a little better and woke up feeling less tense, but it did nothing to aid in my daytime grinding. I still needed a real cure.
Finally, it was time to see the dentist. After getting my tooth repaired, I gave him the rundown of the grinding situation, the stress and the remedies I’d tried, casually suggesting that Botox, or perhaps even Xanax, was the next logical step he could kindly help me out with.
He was quiet for a moment, then replied, “Have you watched that show ‘The Night Of’ on HBO?”
“Yes, why?” I asked, confused.
“You remind me of John Turturro’s character, the lawyer with the foot eczema, trying a million different things to fix it.”
This was not the response I was looking for.
He continued. “I think you’re kidding about the Xanax,” (I wasn’t) “and the Botox is really just for people with extreme cases of TMD. What you need is a custom night guard to protect your teeth. And maybe get away from your computer every couple of hours. Try to relax a little bit.”
Ugh. So sensible. Why don’t I have a cool dentist, like Chrissy Teigen?
In a way, he was right. I was trying to avoid dealing with the real problem by treating the symptoms. But there’s a good reason I was looking for quick fixes: If I stopped reading the news right now, it wouldn’t make me stop worrying about all the people who stand to get hurt over the next four years. I wouldn’t be less freaked out by how divided our country has become. And of course, I’d miss mocking Trump and Co’s astounding daily displays of incompetence with my friends.
But I am trying to dial back the insanity. I’m doing yoga when I can and reading books on paper instead of being glued to my phone. I’ve even banned Twitter from my bed. And I’m going to get the stupid night guard. Hopefully it holds my teeth together until the midterms.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
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Text
Trump Is Ruining My Teeth
It shouldn’t have been a shock when my tooth broke off, but of course, it was.
For months, my jaw and teeth have been in a constant state of clenching and grinding. Now, a molar had broken in half, pushed over the edge by one bite of a salted caramel cookie and a steady diet of political news-induced stress.
Research shows that as much as 70 percent of bruxism (the medical term for jaw and tooth grinding) occurs as a result of stress and anxiety. For me, the issue started after November’s election, when, like millions of other Americans (or to be exact, 57 percent, according to the American Psychological Association) my anxiety level ratcheted up to an all-time high and stayed that way, thanks to the relentless stream of Trump and Republican-related nightmares we’ve been bombarded with ever since.
In 2017, there is no escaping the news or the stress that it can bring. All we can do is try to find a balance between staying informed and staying sane — and I, for one, am failing. Like a lab rat hitting a feeder bar, I tap every mobile news alert. I refresh the same news outlets multiple times a day, then text stories to my friends to share in the outrage. I read Twitter after I go to bed. Then, apparently, I grind my teeth to their studs in my sleep.
After my tooth broke, I knew I needed to do more than just get it fixed. I had to stop my teeth from grinding in the first place.
Searching the internet for solutions, I almost immediately hit pay dirt in the form of a tweet by model and national treasure Chrissy Teigen. It seemed that she— along with many of her followers — was having the same Trump-induced jaw clenching problem I was. Now I knew I wasn’t alone, and even better, she had a solution.
I also had Botox in my jaw muscle to relieve tension from constantly clinching. I was not like this before. Pay my bill, POS POTUS
— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) May 4, 2017
Botox! I always knew there would be a day when it would come to my aid.
Perhaps less news and stress were not the only way to save my teeth. Thanks to modern medicine, there was a way to maintain my ill-advised lifestyle by throwing money at the problem ― and neurotoxins into my jaw. I was into it.
While I waited for my dentist appointment to inquire about Botox, I decided to explore other options. With two weeks to go, my mouth was killing me.
In the course of my highly unscientific research, I came across other random internet sources suggesting herbal tinctures to reduce stress. While I don’t generally go for natural healing, there’s an herbal remedies store less than a block from my apartment. I figured I’d give it a try.
I reviewed my situation with an exceedingly calm and sympathetic salesperson who explained the many stress-reducing herbs she herself took each day. We landed on something called motherwort, a tincture that apparently, “calms the heart.” It sounded legit, in a Shakespearean sort of way. The quiet loveliness of the store and how good it smelled in there was making me rethink my entire position on herbal remedies. Perhaps just hanging around this place would be enough to solve the problem.
It wasn’t until we reached the register that my herbal expert confessed she clenched her own jaw so much her front teeth needed to be replaced — and not for the first time. This did not inspire confidence. Credit card already in hand, I bought the stuff anyway. As I left, I couldn’t help but think how bad things have gotten that a person who works in the most relaxing store in New York is literally snapping her teeth off from stress.
The motherwort experiment ended about as quickly as it began. The tincture’s absolutely horrible taste (the solution is mostly cane alcohol), combined with the saleswoman’s confidence-busting admission meant that I wasn’t even getting a placebo effect. I’m sure this stuff works wonders for some people, but I would have been better off doing a shot of whiskey.
Still in search of a solution, I moved on to a magnesium supplement, which I read can calm nerves and relieve muscle tension. I must have stopped reading before the part that explains that magnesium is sometimes used as a sleep aid, resulting in a very long and confusing day of nearly falling asleep at my desk. A switch to taking it before bed yielded better results. I felt like I slept a little better and woke up feeling less tense, but it did nothing to aid in my daytime grinding. I still needed a real cure.
Finally, it was time to see the dentist. After getting my tooth repaired, I gave him the rundown of the grinding situation, the stress and the remedies I’d tried, casually suggesting that Botox, or perhaps even Xanax, was the next logical step he could kindly help me out with.
He was quiet for a moment, then replied, “Have you watched that show ‘The Night Of’ on HBO?”
“Yes, why?” I asked, confused.
“You remind me of John Turturro’s character, the lawyer with the foot eczema, trying a million different things to fix it.”
This was not the response I was looking for.
He continued. “I think you’re kidding about the Xanax,” (I wasn’t) “and the Botox is really just for people with extreme cases of TMD. What you need is a custom night guard to protect your teeth. And maybe get away from your computer every couple of hours. Try to relax a little bit.”
Ugh. So sensible. Why don’t I have a cool dentist, like Chrissy Teigen?
In a way, he was right. I was trying to avoid dealing with the real problem by treating the symptoms. But there’s a good reason I was looking for quick fixes: If I stopped reading the news right now, it wouldn’t make me stop worrying about all the people who stand to get hurt over the next four years. I wouldn’t be less freaked out by how divided our country has become. And of course, I’d miss mocking Trump and Co’s astounding daily displays of incompetence with my friends.
But I am trying to dial back the insanity. I’m doing yoga when I can and reading books on paper instead of being glued to my phone. I’ve even banned Twitter from my bed. And I’m going to get the stupid night guard. Hopefully it holds my teeth together until the midterms.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
from Healthy Living - The Huffington Post http://bit.ly/2s9asLF
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Text
Trump Is Ruining My Teeth
It shouldn’t have been a shock when my tooth broke off, but of course, it was.
For months, my jaw and teeth have been in a constant state of clenching and grinding. Now, a molar had broken in half, pushed over the edge by one bite of a salted caramel cookie and a steady diet of political news-induced stress.
Research shows that as much as 70 percent of bruxism (the medical term for jaw and tooth grinding) occurs as a result of stress and anxiety. For me, the issue started after November’s election, when, like millions of other Americans (or to be exact, 57 percent, according to the American Psychological Association) my anxiety level ratcheted up to an all-time high and stayed that way, thanks to the relentless stream of Trump and Republican-related nightmares we’ve been bombarded with ever since.
In 2017, there is no escaping the news or the stress that it can bring. All we can do is try to find a balance between staying informed and staying sane — and I, for one, am failing. Like a lab rat hitting a feeder bar, I tap every mobile news alert. I refresh the same news outlets multiple times a day, then text stories to my friends to share in the outrage. I read Twitter after I go to bed. Then, apparently, I grind my teeth to their studs in my sleep.
After my tooth broke, I knew I needed to do more than just get it fixed. I had to stop my teeth from grinding in the first place.
Searching the internet for solutions, I almost immediately hit pay dirt in the form of a tweet by model and national treasure Chrissy Teigen. It seemed that she— along with many of her followers — was having the same Trump-induced jaw clenching problem I was. Now I knew I wasn’t alone, and even better, she had a solution.
I also had Botox in my jaw muscle to relieve tension from constantly clinching. I was not like this before. Pay my bill, POS POTUS
— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) May 4, 2017
Botox! I always knew there would be a day when it would come to my aid.
Perhaps less news and stress were not the only way to save my teeth. Thanks to modern medicine, there was a way to maintain my ill-advised lifestyle by throwing money at the problem ― and neurotoxins into my jaw. I was into it.
While I waited for my dentist appointment to inquire about Botox, I decided to explore other options. With two weeks to go, my mouth was killing me.
In the course of my highly unscientific research, I came across other random internet sources suggesting herbal tinctures to reduce stress. While I don’t generally go for natural healing, there’s an herbal remedies store less than a block from my apartment. I figured I’d give it a try.
I reviewed my situation with an exceedingly calm and sympathetic salesperson who explained the many stress-reducing herbs she herself took each day. We landed on something called motherwort, a tincture that apparently, “calms the heart.” It sounded legit, in a Shakespearean sort of way. The quiet loveliness of the store and how good it smelled in there was making me rethink my entire position on herbal remedies. Perhaps just hanging around this place would be enough to solve the problem.
It wasn’t until we reached the register that my herbal expert confessed she clenched her own jaw so much her front teeth needed to be replaced — and not for the first time. This did not inspire confidence. Credit card already in hand, I bought the stuff anyway. As I left, I couldn’t help but think how bad things have gotten that a person who works in the most relaxing store in New York is literally snapping her teeth off from stress.
The motherwort experiment ended about as quickly as it began. The tincture’s absolutely horrible taste (the solution is mostly cane alcohol), combined with the saleswoman’s confidence-busting admission meant that I wasn’t even getting a placebo effect. I’m sure this stuff works wonders for some people, but I would have been better off doing a shot of whiskey.
Still in search of a solution, I moved on to a magnesium supplement, which I read can calm nerves and relieve muscle tension. I must have stopped reading before the part that explains that magnesium is sometimes used as a sleep aid, resulting in a very long and confusing day of nearly falling asleep at my desk. A switch to taking it before bed yielded better results. I felt like I slept a little better and woke up feeling less tense, but it did nothing to aid in my daytime grinding. I still needed a real cure.
Finally, it was time to see the dentist. After getting my tooth repaired, I gave him the rundown of the grinding situation, the stress and the remedies I’d tried, casually suggesting that Botox, or perhaps even Xanax, was the next logical step he could kindly help me out with.
He was quiet for a moment, then replied, “Have you watched that show ‘The Night Of’ on HBO?”
“Yes, why?” I asked, confused.
“You remind me of John Turturro’s character, the lawyer with the foot eczema, trying a million different things to fix it.”
This was not the response I was looking for.
He continued. “I think you’re kidding about the Xanax,” (I wasn’t) “and the Botox is really just for people with extreme cases of TMD. What you need is a custom night guard to protect your teeth. And maybe get away from your computer every couple of hours. Try to relax a little bit.”
Ugh. So sensible. Why don’t I have a cool dentist, like Chrissy Teigen?
In a way, he was right. I was trying to avoid dealing with the real problem by treating the symptoms. But there’s a good reason I was looking for quick fixes: If I stopped reading the news right now, it wouldn’t make me stop worrying about all the people who stand to get hurt over the next four years. I wouldn’t be less freaked out by how divided our country has become. And of course, I’d miss mocking Trump and Co’s astounding daily displays of incompetence with my friends.
But I am trying to dial back the insanity. I’m doing yoga when I can and reading books on paper instead of being glued to my phone. I’ve even banned Twitter from my bed. And I’m going to get the stupid night guard. Hopefully it holds my teeth together until the midterms.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
from DIYS http://ift.tt/2rW1ou6
0 notes
Text
Trump Is Ruining My Teeth
It shouldn’t have been a shock when my tooth broke off, but of course, it was.
For months, my jaw and teeth have been in a constant state of clenching and grinding. Now, a molar had broken in half, pushed over the edge by one bite of a salted caramel cookie and a steady diet of political news-induced stress.
Research shows that as much as 70 percent of bruxism (the medical term for jaw and tooth grinding) occurs as a result of stress and anxiety. For me, the issue started after November’s election, when, like millions of other Americans (or to be exact, 57 percent, according to the American Psychological Association) my anxiety level ratcheted up to an all-time high and stayed that way, thanks to the relentless stream of Trump and Republican-related nightmares we’ve been bombarded with ever since.
In 2017, there is no escaping the news or the stress that it can bring. All we can do is try to find a balance between staying informed and staying sane — and I, for one, am failing. Like a lab rat hitting a feeder bar, I tap every mobile news alert. I refresh the same news outlets multiple times a day, then text stories to my friends to share in the outrage. I read Twitter after I go to bed. Then, apparently, I grind my teeth to their studs in my sleep.
After my tooth broke, I knew I needed to do more than just get it fixed. I had to stop my teeth from grinding in the first place.
Searching the internet for solutions, I almost immediately hit pay dirt in the form of a tweet by model and national treasure Chrissy Teigen. It seemed that she— along with many of her followers — was having the same Trump-induced jaw clenching problem I was. Now I knew I wasn’t alone, and even better, she had a solution.
I also had Botox in my jaw muscle to relieve tension from constantly clinching. I was not like this before. Pay my bill, POS POTUS
— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) May 4, 2017
Botox! I always knew there would be a day when it would come to my aid.
Perhaps less news and stress were not the only way to save my teeth. Thanks to modern medicine, there was a way to maintain my ill-advised lifestyle by throwing money at the problem ― and neurotoxins into my jaw. I was into it.
While I waited for my dentist appointment to inquire about Botox, I decided to explore other options. With two weeks to go, my mouth was killing me.
In the course of my highly unscientific research, I came across other random internet sources suggesting herbal tinctures to reduce stress. While I don’t generally go for natural healing, there’s an herbal remedies store less than a block from my apartment. I figured I’d give it a try.
I reviewed my situation with an exceedingly calm and sympathetic salesperson who explained the many stress-reducing herbs she herself took each day. We landed on something called motherwort, a tincture that apparently, “calms the heart.” It sounded legit, in a Shakespearean sort of way. The quiet loveliness of the store and how good it smelled in there was making me rethink my entire position on herbal remedies. Perhaps just hanging around this place would be enough to solve the problem.
It wasn’t until we reached the register that my herbal expert confessed she clenched her own jaw so much her front teeth needed to be replaced — and not for the first time. This did not inspire confidence. Credit card already in hand, I bought the stuff anyway. As I left, I couldn’t help but think how bad things have gotten that a person who works in the most relaxing store in New York is literally snapping her teeth off from stress.
The motherwort experiment ended about as quickly as it began. The tincture’s absolutely horrible taste (the solution is mostly cane alcohol), combined with the saleswoman’s confidence-busting admission meant that I wasn’t even getting a placebo effect. I’m sure this stuff works wonders for some people, but I would have been better off doing a shot of whiskey.
Still in search of a solution, I moved on to a magnesium supplement, which I read can calm nerves and relieve muscle tension. I must have stopped reading before the part that explains that magnesium is sometimes used as a sleep aid, resulting in a very long and confusing day of nearly falling asleep at my desk. A switch to taking it before bed yielded better results. I felt like I slept a little better and woke up feeling less tense, but it did nothing to aid in my daytime grinding. I still needed a real cure.
Finally, it was time to see the dentist. After getting my tooth repaired, I gave him the rundown of the grinding situation, the stress and the remedies I’d tried, casually suggesting that Botox, or perhaps even Xanax, was the next logical step he could kindly help me out with.
He was quiet for a moment, then replied, “Have you watched that show ‘The Night Of’ on HBO?”
“Yes, why?” I asked, confused.
“You remind me of John Turturro’s character, the lawyer with the foot eczema, trying a million different things to fix it.”
This was not the response I was looking for.
He continued. “I think you’re kidding about the Xanax,” (I wasn’t) “and the Botox is really just for people with extreme cases of TMD. What you need is a custom night guard to protect your teeth. And maybe get away from your computer every couple of hours. Try to relax a little bit.”
Ugh. So sensible. Why don’t I have a cool dentist, like Chrissy Teigen?
In a way, he was right. I was trying to avoid dealing with the real problem by treating the symptoms. But there’s a good reason I was looking for quick fixes: If I stopped reading the news right now, it wouldn’t make me stop worrying about all the people who stand to get hurt over the next four years. I wouldn’t be less freaked out by how divided our country has become. And of course, I’d miss mocking Trump and Co’s astounding daily displays of incompetence with my friends.
But I am trying to dial back the insanity. I’m doing yoga when I can and reading books on paper instead of being glued to my phone. I’ve even banned Twitter from my bed. And I’m going to get the stupid night guard. Hopefully it holds my teeth together until the midterms.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
from DIYS http://ift.tt/2rW1ou6
0 notes
Text
Trump Is Ruining My Teeth
It shouldn’t have been a shock when my tooth broke off, but of course, it was.
For months, my jaw and teeth have been in a constant state of clenching and grinding. Now, a molar had broken in half, pushed over the edge by one bite of a salted caramel cookie and a steady diet of political news-induced stress.
Research shows that as much as 70 percent of bruxism (the medical term for jaw and tooth grinding) occurs as a result of stress and anxiety. For me, the issue started after November’s election, when, like millions of other Americans (or to be exact, 57 percent, according to the American Psychological Association) my anxiety level ratcheted up to an all-time high and stayed that way, thanks to the relentless stream of Trump and Republican-related nightmares we’ve been bombarded with ever since.
In 2017, there is no escaping the news or the stress that it can bring. All we can do is try to find a balance between staying informed and staying sane — and I, for one, am failing. Like a lab rat hitting a feeder bar, I tap every mobile news alert. I refresh the same news outlets multiple times a day, then text stories to my friends to share in the outrage. I read Twitter after I go to bed. Then, apparently, I grind my teeth to their studs in my sleep.
After my tooth broke, I knew I needed to do more than just get it fixed. I had to stop my teeth from grinding in the first place.
Searching the internet for solutions, I almost immediately hit pay dirt in the form of a tweet by model and national treasure Chrissy Teigen. It seemed that she— along with many of her followers — was having the same Trump-induced jaw clenching problem I was. Now I knew I wasn’t alone, and even better, she had a solution.
I also had Botox in my jaw muscle to relieve tension from constantly clinching. I was not like this before. Pay my bill, POS POTUS
— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) May 4, 2017
Botox! I always knew there would be a day when it would come to my aid.
Perhaps less news and stress were not the only way to save my teeth. Thanks to modern medicine, there was a way to maintain my ill-advised lifestyle by throwing money at the problem ― and neurotoxins into my jaw. I was into it.
While I waited for my dentist appointment to inquire about Botox, I decided to explore other options. With two weeks to go, my mouth was killing me.
In the course of my highly unscientific research, I came across other random internet sources suggesting herbal tinctures to reduce stress. While I don’t generally go for natural healing, there’s an herbal remedies store less than a block from my apartment. I figured I’d give it a try.
I reviewed my situation with an exceedingly calm and sympathetic salesperson who explained the many stress-reducing herbs she herself took each day. We landed on something called motherwort, a tincture that apparently, “calms the heart.” It sounded legit, in a Shakespearean sort of way. The quiet loveliness of the store and how good it smelled in there was making me rethink my entire position on herbal remedies. Perhaps just hanging around this place would be enough to solve the problem.
It wasn’t until we reached the register that my herbal expert confessed she clenched her own jaw so much her front teeth needed to be replaced — and not for the first time. This did not inspire confidence. Credit card already in hand, I bought the stuff anyway. As I left, I couldn’t help but think how bad things have gotten that a person who works in the most relaxing store in New York is literally snapping her teeth off from stress.
The motherwort experiment ended about as quickly as it began. The tincture’s absolutely horrible taste (the solution is mostly cane alcohol), combined with the saleswoman’s confidence-busting admission meant that I wasn’t even getting a placebo effect. I’m sure this stuff works wonders for some people, but I would have been better off doing a shot of whiskey.
Still in search of a solution, I moved on to a magnesium supplement, which I read can calm nerves and relieve muscle tension. I must have stopped reading before the part that explains that magnesium is sometimes used as a sleep aid, resulting in a very long and confusing day of nearly falling asleep at my desk. A switch to taking it before bed yielded better results. I felt like I slept a little better and woke up feeling less tense, but it did nothing to aid in my daytime grinding. I still needed a real cure.
Finally, it was time to see the dentist. After getting my tooth repaired, I gave him the rundown of the grinding situation, the stress and the remedies I’d tried, casually suggesting that Botox, or perhaps even Xanax, was the next logical step he could kindly help me out with.
He was quiet for a moment, then replied, “Have you watched that show ‘The Night Of’ on HBO?”
“Yes, why?” I asked, confused.
“You remind me of John Turturro’s character, the lawyer with the foot eczema, trying a million different things to fix it.”
This was not the response I was looking for.
He continued. “I think you’re kidding about the Xanax,” (I wasn’t) “and the Botox is really just for people with extreme cases of TMD. What you need is a custom night guard to protect your teeth. And maybe get away from your computer every couple of hours. Try to relax a little bit.”
Ugh. So sensible. Why don’t I have a cool dentist, like Chrissy Teigen?
In a way, he was right. I was trying to avoid dealing with the real problem by treating the symptoms. But there’s a good reason I was looking for quick fixes: If I stopped reading the news right now, it wouldn’t make me stop worrying about all the people who stand to get hurt over the next four years. I wouldn’t be less freaked out by how divided our country has become. And of course, I’d miss mocking Trump and Co’s astounding daily displays of incompetence with my friends.
But I am trying to dial back the insanity. I’m doing yoga when I can and reading books on paper instead of being glued to my phone. I’ve even banned Twitter from my bed. And I’m going to get the stupid night guard. Hopefully it holds my teeth together until the midterms.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
from DIYS http://ift.tt/2rW1ou6
0 notes
Text
Trump Is Ruining My Teeth
It shouldn’t have been a shock when my tooth broke off, but of course, it was.
For months, my jaw and teeth have been in a constant state of clenching and grinding. Now, a molar had broken in half, pushed over the edge by one bite of a salted caramel cookie and a steady diet of political news-induced stress.
Research shows that as much as 70 percent of bruxism (the medical term for jaw and tooth grinding) occurs as a result of stress and anxiety. For me, the issue started after November’s election, when, like millions of other Americans (or to be exact, 57 percent, according to the American Psychological Association) my anxiety level ratcheted up to an all-time high and stayed that way, thanks to the relentless stream of Trump and Republican-related nightmares we’ve been bombarded with ever since.
In 2017, there is no escaping the news or the stress that it can bring. All we can do is try to find a balance between staying informed and staying sane — and I, for one, am failing. Like a lab rat hitting a feeder bar, I tap every mobile news alert. I refresh the same news outlets multiple times a day, then text stories to my friends to share in the outrage. I read Twitter after I go to bed. Then, apparently, I grind my teeth to their studs in my sleep.
After my tooth broke, I knew I needed to do more than just get it fixed. I had to stop my teeth from grinding in the first place.
Searching the internet for solutions, I almost immediately hit pay dirt in the form of a tweet by model and national treasure Chrissy Teigen. It seemed that she— along with many of her followers — was having the same Trump-induced jaw clenching problem I was. Now I knew I wasn’t alone, and even better, she had a solution.
I also had Botox in my jaw muscle to relieve tension from constantly clinching. I was not like this before. Pay my bill, POS POTUS
— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) May 4, 2017
Botox! I always knew there would be a day when it would come to my aid.
Perhaps less news and stress were not the only way to save my teeth. Thanks to modern medicine, there was a way to maintain my ill-advised lifestyle by throwing money at the problem ― and neurotoxins into my jaw. I was into it.
While I waited for my dentist appointment to inquire about Botox, I decided to explore other options. With two weeks to go, my mouth was killing me.
In the course of my highly unscientific research, I came across other random internet sources suggesting herbal tinctures to reduce stress. While I don’t generally go for natural healing, there’s an herbal remedies store less than a block from my apartment. I figured I’d give it a try.
I reviewed my situation with an exceedingly calm and sympathetic salesperson who explained the many stress-reducing herbs she herself took each day. We landed on something called motherwort, a tincture that apparently, “calms the heart.” It sounded legit, in a Shakespearean sort of way. The quiet loveliness of the store and how good it smelled in there was making me rethink my entire position on herbal remedies. Perhaps just hanging around this place would be enough to solve the problem.
It wasn’t until we reached the register that my herbal expert confessed she clenched her own jaw so much her front teeth needed to be replaced — and not for the first time. This did not inspire confidence. Credit card already in hand, I bought the stuff anyway. As I left, I couldn’t help but think how bad things have gotten that a person who works in the most relaxing store in New York is literally snapping her teeth off from stress.
The motherwort experiment ended about as quickly as it began. The tincture’s absolutely horrible taste (the solution is mostly cane alcohol), combined with the saleswoman’s confidence-busting admission meant that I wasn’t even getting a placebo effect. I’m sure this stuff works wonders for some people, but I would have been better off doing a shot of whiskey.
Still in search of a solution, I moved on to a magnesium supplement, which I read can calm nerves and relieve muscle tension. I must have stopped reading before the part that explains that magnesium is sometimes used as a sleep aid, resulting in a very long and confusing day of nearly falling asleep at my desk. A switch to taking it before bed yielded better results. I felt like I slept a little better and woke up feeling less tense, but it did nothing to aid in my daytime grinding. I still needed a real cure.
Finally, it was time to see the dentist. After getting my tooth repaired, I gave him the rundown of the grinding situation, the stress and the remedies I’d tried, casually suggesting that Botox, or perhaps even Xanax, was the next logical step he could kindly help me out with.
He was quiet for a moment, then replied, “Have you watched that show ‘The Night Of’ on HBO?”
“Yes, why?” I asked, confused.
“You remind me of John Turturro’s character, the lawyer with the foot eczema, trying a million different things to fix it.”
This was not the response I was looking for.
He continued. “I think you’re kidding about the Xanax,” (I wasn’t) “and the Botox is really just for people with extreme cases of TMD. What you need is a custom night guard to protect your teeth. And maybe get away from your computer every couple of hours. Try to relax a little bit.”
Ugh. So sensible. Why don’t I have a cool dentist, like Chrissy Teigen?
In a way, he was right. I was trying to avoid dealing with the real problem by treating the symptoms. But there’s a good reason I was looking for quick fixes: If I stopped reading the news right now, it wouldn’t make me stop worrying about all the people who stand to get hurt over the next four years. I wouldn’t be less freaked out by how divided our country has become. And of course, I’d miss mocking Trump and Co’s astounding daily displays of incompetence with my friends.
But I am trying to dial back the insanity. I’m doing yoga when I can and reading books on paper instead of being glued to my phone. I’ve even banned Twitter from my bed. And I’m going to get the stupid night guard. Hopefully it holds my teeth together until the midterms.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
from DIYS http://ift.tt/2rW1ou6
0 notes
Text
Trump Is Ruining My Teeth
It shouldn’t have been a shock when my tooth broke off, but of course, it was.
For months, my jaw and teeth have been in a constant state of clenching and grinding. Now, a molar had broken in half, pushed over the edge by one bite of a salted caramel cookie and a steady diet of political news-induced stress.
Research shows that as much as 70 percent of bruxism (the medical term for jaw and tooth grinding) occurs as a result of stress and anxiety. For me, the issue started after November’s election, when, like millions of other Americans (or to be exact, 57 percent, according to the American Psychological Association) my anxiety level ratcheted up to an all-time high and stayed that way, thanks to the relentless stream of Trump and Republican-related nightmares we’ve been bombarded with ever since.
In 2017, there is no escaping the news or the stress that it can bring. All we can do is try to find a balance between staying informed and staying sane — and I, for one, am failing. Like a lab rat hitting a feeder bar, I tap every mobile news alert. I refresh the same news outlets multiple times a day, then text stories to my friends to share in the outrage. I read Twitter after I go to bed. Then, apparently, I grind my teeth to their studs in my sleep.
After my tooth broke, I knew I needed to do more than just get it fixed. I had to stop my teeth from grinding in the first place.
Searching the internet for solutions, I almost immediately hit pay dirt in the form of a tweet by model and national treasure Chrissy Teigen. It seemed that she— along with many of her followers — was having the same Trump-induced jaw clenching problem I was. Now I knew I wasn’t alone, and even better, she had a solution.
I also had Botox in my jaw muscle to relieve tension from constantly clinching. I was not like this before. Pay my bill, POS POTUS
— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) May 4, 2017
Botox! I always knew there would be a day when it would come to my aid.
Perhaps less news and stress were not the only way to save my teeth. Thanks to modern medicine, there was a way to maintain my ill-advised lifestyle by throwing money at the problem ― and neurotoxins into my jaw. I was into it.
While I waited for my dentist appointment to inquire about Botox, I decided to explore other options. With two weeks to go, my mouth was killing me.
In the course of my highly unscientific research, I came across other random internet sources suggesting herbal tinctures to reduce stress. While I don’t generally go for natural healing, there’s an herbal remedies store less than a block from my apartment. I figured I’d give it a try.
I reviewed my situation with an exceedingly calm and sympathetic salesperson who explained the many stress-reducing herbs she herself took each day. We landed on something called motherwort, a tincture that apparently, “calms the heart.” It sounded legit, in a Shakespearean sort of way. The quiet loveliness of the store and how good it smelled in there was making me rethink my entire position on herbal remedies. Perhaps just hanging around this place would be enough to solve the problem.
It wasn’t until we reached the register that my herbal expert confessed she clenched her own jaw so much her front teeth needed to be replaced — and not for the first time. This did not inspire confidence. Credit card already in hand, I bought the stuff anyway. As I left, I couldn’t help but think how bad things have gotten that a person who works in the most relaxing store in New York is literally snapping her teeth off from stress.
The motherwort experiment ended about as quickly as it began. The tincture’s absolutely horrible taste (the solution is mostly cane alcohol), combined with the saleswoman’s confidence-busting admission meant that I wasn’t even getting a placebo effect. I’m sure this stuff works wonders for some people, but I would have been better off doing a shot of whiskey.
Still in search of a solution, I moved on to a magnesium supplement, which I read can calm nerves and relieve muscle tension. I must have stopped reading before the part that explains that magnesium is sometimes used as a sleep aid, resulting in a very long and confusing day of nearly falling asleep at my desk. A switch to taking it before bed yielded better results. I felt like I slept a little better and woke up feeling less tense, but it did nothing to aid in my daytime grinding. I still needed a real cure.
Finally, it was time to see the dentist. After getting my tooth repaired, I gave him the rundown of the grinding situation, the stress and the remedies I’d tried, casually suggesting that Botox, or perhaps even Xanax, was the next logical step he could kindly help me out with.
He was quiet for a moment, then replied, “Have you watched that show ‘The Night Of’ on HBO?”
“Yes, why?” I asked, confused.
“You remind me of John Turturro’s character, the lawyer with the foot eczema, trying a million different things to fix it.”
This was not the response I was looking for.
He continued. “I think you’re kidding about the Xanax,” (I wasn’t) “and the Botox is really just for people with extreme cases of TMD. What you need is a custom night guard to protect your teeth. And maybe get away from your computer every couple of hours. Try to relax a little bit.”
Ugh. So sensible. Why don’t I have a cool dentist, like Chrissy Teigen?
In a way, he was right. I was trying to avoid dealing with the real problem by treating the symptoms. But there’s a good reason I was looking for quick fixes: If I stopped reading the news right now, it wouldn’t make me stop worrying about all the people who stand to get hurt over the next four years. I wouldn’t be less freaked out by how divided our country has become. And of course, I’d miss mocking Trump and Co’s astounding daily displays of incompetence with my friends.
But I am trying to dial back the insanity. I’m doing yoga when I can and reading books on paper instead of being glued to my phone. I’ve even banned Twitter from my bed. And I’m going to get the stupid night guard. Hopefully it holds my teeth together until the midterms.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
from DIYS http://ift.tt/2rW1ou6
0 notes
Text
Trump Is Ruining My Teeth
It shouldn’t have been a shock when my tooth broke off, but of course, it was.
For months, my jaw and teeth have been in a constant state of clenching and grinding. Now, a molar had broken in half, pushed over the edge by one bite of a salted caramel cookie and a steady diet of political news-induced stress.
Research shows that as much as 70 percent of bruxism (the medical term for jaw and tooth grinding) occurs as a result of stress and anxiety. For me, the issue started after November’s election, when, like millions of other Americans (or to be exact, 57 percent, according to the American Psychological Association) my anxiety level ratcheted up to an all-time high and stayed that way, thanks to the relentless stream of Trump and Republican-related nightmares we’ve been bombarded with ever since.
In 2017, there is no escaping the news or the stress that it can bring. All we can do is try to find a balance between staying informed and staying sane — and I, for one, am failing. Like a lab rat hitting a feeder bar, I tap every mobile news alert. I refresh the same news outlets multiple times a day, then text stories to my friends to share in the outrage. I read Twitter after I go to bed. Then, apparently, I grind my teeth to their studs in my sleep.
After my tooth broke, I knew I needed to do more than just get it fixed. I had to stop my teeth from grinding in the first place.
Searching the internet for solutions, I almost immediately hit pay dirt in the form of a tweet by model and national treasure Chrissy Teigen. It seemed that she— along with many of her followers — was having the same Trump-induced jaw clenching problem I was. Now I knew I wasn’t alone, and even better, she had a solution.
I also had Botox in my jaw muscle to relieve tension from constantly clinching. I was not like this before. Pay my bill, POS POTUS
— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) May 4, 2017
Botox! I always knew there would be a day when it would come to my aid.
Perhaps less news and stress were not the only way to save my teeth. Thanks to modern medicine, there was a way to maintain my ill-advised lifestyle by throwing money at the problem ― and neurotoxins into my jaw. I was into it.
While I waited for my dentist appointment to inquire about Botox, I decided to explore other options. With two weeks to go, my mouth was killing me.
In the course of my highly unscientific research, I came across other random internet sources suggesting herbal tinctures to reduce stress. While I don’t generally go for natural healing, there’s an herbal remedies store less than a block from my apartment. I figured I’d give it a try.
I reviewed my situation with an exceedingly calm and sympathetic salesperson who explained the many stress-reducing herbs she herself took each day. We landed on something called motherwort, a tincture that apparently, “calms the heart.” It sounded legit, in a Shakespearean sort of way. The quiet loveliness of the store and how good it smelled in there was making me rethink my entire position on herbal remedies. Perhaps just hanging around this place would be enough to solve the problem.
It wasn’t until we reached the register that my herbal expert confessed she clenched her own jaw so much her front teeth needed to be replaced — and not for the first time. This did not inspire confidence. Credit card already in hand, I bought the stuff anyway. As I left, I couldn’t help but think how bad things have gotten that a person who works in the most relaxing store in New York is literally snapping her teeth off from stress.
The motherwort experiment ended about as quickly as it began. The tincture’s absolutely horrible taste (the solution is mostly cane alcohol), combined with the saleswoman’s confidence-busting admission meant that I wasn’t even getting a placebo effect. I’m sure this stuff works wonders for some people, but I would have been better off doing a shot of whiskey.
Still in search of a solution, I moved on to a magnesium supplement, which I read can calm nerves and relieve muscle tension. I must have stopped reading before the part that explains that magnesium is sometimes used as a sleep aid, resulting in a very long and confusing day of nearly falling asleep at my desk. A switch to taking it before bed yielded better results. I felt like I slept a little better and woke up feeling less tense, but it did nothing to aid in my daytime grinding. I still needed a real cure.
Finally, it was time to see the dentist. After getting my tooth repaired, I gave him the rundown of the grinding situation, the stress and the remedies I’d tried, casually suggesting that Botox, or perhaps even Xanax, was the next logical step he could kindly help me out with.
He was quiet for a moment, then replied, “Have you watched that show ‘The Night Of’ on HBO?”
“Yes, why?” I asked, confused.
“You remind me of John Turturro’s character, the lawyer with the foot eczema, trying a million different things to fix it.”
This was not the response I was looking for.
He continued. “I think you’re kidding about the Xanax,” (I wasn’t) “and the Botox is really just for people with extreme cases of TMD. What you need is a custom night guard to protect your teeth. And maybe get away from your computer every couple of hours. Try to relax a little bit.”
Ugh. So sensible. Why don’t I have a cool dentist, like Chrissy Teigen?
In a way, he was right. I was trying to avoid dealing with the real problem by treating the symptoms. But there’s a good reason I was looking for quick fixes: If I stopped reading the news right now, it wouldn’t make me stop worrying about all the people who stand to get hurt over the next four years. I wouldn’t be less freaked out by how divided our country has become. And of course, I’d miss mocking Trump and Co’s astounding daily displays of incompetence with my friends.
But I am trying to dial back the insanity. I’m doing yoga when I can and reading books on paper instead of being glued to my phone. I’ve even banned Twitter from my bed. And I’m going to get the stupid night guard. Hopefully it holds my teeth together until the midterms.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
from DIYS http://ift.tt/2rW1ou6
0 notes
Text
Trump Is Ruining My Teeth
It shouldn’t have been a shock when my tooth broke off, but of course, it was.
For months, my jaw and teeth have been in a constant state of clenching and grinding. Now, a molar had broken in half, pushed over the edge by one bite of a salted caramel cookie and a steady diet of political news-induced stress.
Research shows that as much as 70 percent of bruxism (the medical term for jaw and tooth grinding) occurs as a result of stress and anxiety. For me, the issue started after November’s election, when, like millions of other Americans (or to be exact, 57 percent, according to the American Psychological Association) my anxiety level ratcheted up to an all-time high and stayed that way, thanks to the relentless stream of Trump and Republican-related nightmares we’ve been bombarded with ever since.
In 2017, there is no escaping the news or the stress that it can bring. All we can do is try to find a balance between staying informed and staying sane — and I, for one, am failing. Like a lab rat hitting a feeder bar, I tap every mobile news alert. I refresh the same news outlets multiple times a day, then text stories to my friends to share in the outrage. I read Twitter after I go to bed. Then, apparently, I grind my teeth to their studs in my sleep.
After my tooth broke, I knew I needed to do more than just get it fixed. I had to stop my teeth from grinding in the first place.
Searching the internet for solutions, I almost immediately hit pay dirt in the form of a tweet by model and national treasure Chrissy Teigen. It seemed that she— along with many of her followers — was having the same Trump-induced jaw clenching problem I was. Now I knew I wasn’t alone, and even better, she had a solution.
I also had Botox in my jaw muscle to relieve tension from constantly clinching. I was not like this before. Pay my bill, POS POTUS
— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) May 4, 2017
Botox! I always knew there would be a day when it would come to my aid.
Perhaps less news and stress were not the only way to save my teeth. Thanks to modern medicine, there was a way to maintain my ill-advised lifestyle by throwing money at the problem ― and neurotoxins into my jaw. I was into it.
While I waited for my dentist appointment to inquire about Botox, I decided to explore other options. With two weeks to go, my mouth was killing me.
In the course of my highly unscientific research, I came across other random internet sources suggesting herbal tinctures to reduce stress. While I don’t generally go for natural healing, there’s an herbal remedies store less than a block from my apartment. I figured I’d give it a try.
I reviewed my situation with an exceedingly calm and sympathetic salesperson who explained the many stress-reducing herbs she herself took each day. We landed on something called motherwort, a tincture that apparently, “calms the heart.” It sounded legit, in a Shakespearean sort of way. The quiet loveliness of the store and how good it smelled in there was making me rethink my entire position on herbal remedies. Perhaps just hanging around this place would be enough to solve the problem.
It wasn’t until we reached the register that my herbal expert confessed she clenched her own jaw so much her front teeth needed to be replaced — and not for the first time. This did not inspire confidence. Credit card already in hand, I bought the stuff anyway. As I left, I couldn’t help but think how bad things have gotten that a person who works in the most relaxing store in New York is literally snapping her teeth off from stress.
The motherwort experiment ended about as quickly as it began. The tincture’s absolutely horrible taste (the solution is mostly cane alcohol), combined with the saleswoman’s confidence-busting admission meant that I wasn’t even getting a placebo effect. I’m sure this stuff works wonders for some people, but I would have been better off doing a shot of whiskey.
Still in search of a solution, I moved on to a magnesium supplement, which I read can calm nerves and relieve muscle tension. I must have stopped reading before the part that explains that magnesium is sometimes used as a sleep aid, resulting in a very long and confusing day of nearly falling asleep at my desk. A switch to taking it before bed yielded better results. I felt like I slept a little better and woke up feeling less tense, but it did nothing to aid in my daytime grinding. I still needed a real cure.
Finally, it was time to see the dentist. After getting my tooth repaired, I gave him the rundown of the grinding situation, the stress and the remedies I’d tried, casually suggesting that Botox, or perhaps even Xanax, was the next logical step he could kindly help me out with.
He was quiet for a moment, then replied, “Have you watched that show ‘The Night Of’ on HBO?”
“Yes, why?” I asked, confused.
“You remind me of John Turturro’s character, the lawyer with the foot eczema, trying a million different things to fix it.”
This was not the response I was looking for.
He continued. “I think you’re kidding about the Xanax,” (I wasn’t) “and the Botox is really just for people with extreme cases of TMD. What you need is a custom night guard to protect your teeth. And maybe get away from your computer every couple of hours. Try to relax a little bit.”
Ugh. So sensible. Why don’t I have a cool dentist, like Chrissy Teigen?
In a way, he was right. I was trying to avoid dealing with the real problem by treating the symptoms. But there’s a good reason I was looking for quick fixes: If I stopped reading the news right now, it wouldn’t make me stop worrying about all the people who stand to get hurt over the next four years. I wouldn’t be less freaked out by how divided our country has become. And of course, I’d miss mocking Trump and Co’s astounding daily displays of incompetence with my friends.
But I am trying to dial back the insanity. I’m doing yoga when I can and reading books on paper instead of being glued to my phone. I’ve even banned Twitter from my bed. And I’m going to get the stupid night guard. Hopefully it holds my teeth together until the midterms.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
from DIYS http://ift.tt/2rW1ou6
0 notes
Text
Trump Is Ruining My Teeth
It shouldn’t have been a shock when my tooth broke off, but of course, it was.
For months, my jaw and teeth have been in a constant state of clenching and grinding. Now, a molar had broken in half, pushed over the edge by one bite of a salted caramel cookie and a steady diet of political news-induced stress.
Research shows that as much as 70 percent of bruxism (the medical term for jaw and tooth grinding) occurs as a result of stress and anxiety. For me, the issue started after November’s election, when, like millions of other Americans (or to be exact, 57 percent, according to the American Psychological Association) my anxiety level ratcheted up to an all-time high and stayed that way, thanks to the relentless stream of Trump and Republican-related nightmares we’ve been bombarded with ever since.
In 2017, there is no escaping the news or the stress that it can bring. All we can do is try to find a balance between staying informed and staying sane — and I, for one, am failing. Like a lab rat hitting a feeder bar, I tap every mobile news alert. I refresh the same news outlets multiple times a day, then text stories to my friends to share in the outrage. I read Twitter after I go to bed. Then, apparently, I grind my teeth to their studs in my sleep.
After my tooth broke, I knew I needed to do more than just get it fixed. I had to stop my teeth from grinding in the first place.
Searching the internet for solutions, I almost immediately hit pay dirt in the form of a tweet by model and national treasure Chrissy Teigen. It seemed that she— along with many of her followers — was having the same Trump-induced jaw clenching problem I was. Now I knew I wasn’t alone, and even better, she had a solution.
I also had Botox in my jaw muscle to relieve tension from constantly clinching. I was not like this before. Pay my bill, POS POTUS
— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) May 4, 2017
Botox! I always knew there would be a day when it would come to my aid.
Perhaps less news and stress were not the only way to save my teeth. Thanks to modern medicine, there was a way to maintain my ill-advised lifestyle by throwing money at the problem ― and neurotoxins into my jaw. I was into it.
While I waited for my dentist appointment to inquire about Botox, I decided to explore other options. With two weeks to go, my mouth was killing me.
In the course of my highly unscientific research, I came across other random internet sources suggesting herbal tinctures to reduce stress. While I don’t generally go for natural healing, there’s an herbal remedies store less than a block from my apartment. I figured I’d give it a try.
I reviewed my situation with an exceedingly calm and sympathetic salesperson who explained the many stress-reducing herbs she herself took each day. We landed on something called motherwort, a tincture that apparently, “calms the heart.” It sounded legit, in a Shakespearean sort of way. The quiet loveliness of the store and how good it smelled in there was making me rethink my entire position on herbal remedies. Perhaps just hanging around this place would be enough to solve the problem.
It wasn’t until we reached the register that my herbal expert confessed she clenched her own jaw so much her front teeth needed to be replaced — and not for the first time. This did not inspire confidence. Credit card already in hand, I bought the stuff anyway. As I left, I couldn’t help but think how bad things have gotten that a person who works in the most relaxing store in New York is literally snapping her teeth off from stress.
The motherwort experiment ended about as quickly as it began. The tincture’s absolutely horrible taste (the solution is mostly cane alcohol), combined with the saleswoman’s confidence-busting admission meant that I wasn’t even getting a placebo effect. I’m sure this stuff works wonders for some people, but I would have been better off doing a shot of whiskey.
Still in search of a solution, I moved on to a magnesium supplement, which I read can calm nerves and relieve muscle tension. I must have stopped reading before the part that explains that magnesium is sometimes used as a sleep aid, resulting in a very long and confusing day of nearly falling asleep at my desk. A switch to taking it before bed yielded better results. I felt like I slept a little better and woke up feeling less tense, but it did nothing to aid in my daytime grinding. I still needed a real cure.
Finally, it was time to see the dentist. After getting my tooth repaired, I gave him the rundown of the grinding situation, the stress and the remedies I’d tried, casually suggesting that Botox, or perhaps even Xanax, was the next logical step he could kindly help me out with.
He was quiet for a moment, then replied, “Have you watched that show ‘The Night Of’ on HBO?”
“Yes, why?” I asked, confused.
“You remind me of John Turturro’s character, the lawyer with the foot eczema, trying a million different things to fix it.”
This was not the response I was looking for.
He continued. “I think you’re kidding about the Xanax,” (I wasn’t) “and the Botox is really just for people with extreme cases of TMD. What you need is a custom night guard to protect your teeth. And maybe get away from your computer every couple of hours. Try to relax a little bit.”
Ugh. So sensible. Why don’t I have a cool dentist, like Chrissy Teigen?
In a way, he was right. I was trying to avoid dealing with the real problem by treating the symptoms. But there’s a good reason I was looking for quick fixes: If I stopped reading the news right now, it wouldn’t make me stop worrying about all the people who stand to get hurt over the next four years. I wouldn’t be less freaked out by how divided our country has become. And of course, I’d miss mocking Trump and Co’s astounding daily displays of incompetence with my friends.
But I am trying to dial back the insanity. I’m doing yoga when I can and reading books on paper instead of being glued to my phone. I’ve even banned Twitter from my bed. And I’m going to get the stupid night guard. Hopefully it holds my teeth together until the midterms.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
from DIYS http://ift.tt/2rW1ou6
0 notes
Text
Trump Is Ruining My Teeth
It shouldn’t have been a shock when my tooth broke off, but of course, it was.
For months, my jaw and teeth have been in a constant state of clenching and grinding. Now, a molar had broken in half, pushed over the edge by one bite of a salted caramel cookie and a steady diet of political news-induced stress.
Research shows that as much as 70 percent of bruxism (the medical term for jaw and tooth grinding) occurs as a result of stress and anxiety. For me, the issue started after November’s election, when, like millions of other Americans (or to be exact, 57 percent, according to the American Psychological Association) my anxiety level ratcheted up to an all-time high and stayed that way, thanks to the relentless stream of Trump and Republican-related nightmares we’ve been bombarded with ever since.
In 2017, there is no escaping the news or the stress that it can bring. All we can do is try to find a balance between staying informed and staying sane — and I, for one, am failing. Like a lab rat hitting a feeder bar, I tap every mobile news alert. I refresh the same news outlets multiple times a day, then text stories to my friends to share in the outrage. I read Twitter after I go to bed. Then, apparently, I grind my teeth to their studs in my sleep.
After my tooth broke, I knew I needed to do more than just get it fixed. I had to stop my teeth from grinding in the first place.
Searching the internet for solutions, I almost immediately hit pay dirt in the form of a tweet by model and national treasure Chrissy Teigen. It seemed that she— along with many of her followers — was having the same Trump-induced jaw clenching problem I was. Now I knew I wasn’t alone, and even better, she had a solution.
I also had Botox in my jaw muscle to relieve tension from constantly clinching. I was not like this before. Pay my bill, POS POTUS
— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) May 4, 2017
Botox! I always knew there would be a day when it would come to my aid.
Perhaps less news and stress were not the only way to save my teeth. Thanks to modern medicine, there was a way to maintain my ill-advised lifestyle by throwing money at the problem ― and neurotoxins into my jaw. I was into it.
While I waited for my dentist appointment to inquire about Botox, I decided to explore other options. With two weeks to go, my mouth was killing me.
In the course of my highly unscientific research, I came across other random internet sources suggesting herbal tinctures to reduce stress. While I don’t generally go for natural healing, there’s an herbal remedies store less than a block from my apartment. I figured I’d give it a try.
I reviewed my situation with an exceedingly calm and sympathetic salesperson who explained the many stress-reducing herbs she herself took each day. We landed on something called motherwort, a tincture that apparently, “calms the heart.” It sounded legit, in a Shakespearean sort of way. The quiet loveliness of the store and how good it smelled in there was making me rethink my entire position on herbal remedies. Perhaps just hanging around this place would be enough to solve the problem.
It wasn’t until we reached the register that my herbal expert confessed she clenched her own jaw so much her front teeth needed to be replaced — and not for the first time. This did not inspire confidence. Credit card already in hand, I bought the stuff anyway. As I left, I couldn’t help but think how bad things have gotten that a person who works in the most relaxing store in New York is literally snapping her teeth off from stress.
The motherwort experiment ended about as quickly as it began. The tincture’s absolutely horrible taste (the solution is mostly cane alcohol), combined with the saleswoman’s confidence-busting admission meant that I wasn’t even getting a placebo effect. I’m sure this stuff works wonders for some people, but I would have been better off doing a shot of whiskey.
Still in search of a solution, I moved on to a magnesium supplement, which I read can calm nerves and relieve muscle tension. I must have stopped reading before the part that explains that magnesium is sometimes used as a sleep aid, resulting in a very long and confusing day of nearly falling asleep at my desk. A switch to taking it before bed yielded better results. I felt like I slept a little better and woke up feeling less tense, but it did nothing to aid in my daytime grinding. I still needed a real cure.
Finally, it was time to see the dentist. After getting my tooth repaired, I gave him the rundown of the grinding situation, the stress and the remedies I’d tried, casually suggesting that Botox, or perhaps even Xanax, was the next logical step he could kindly help me out with.
He was quiet for a moment, then replied, “Have you watched that show ‘The Night Of’ on HBO?”
“Yes, why?” I asked, confused.
“You remind me of John Turturro’s character, the lawyer with the foot eczema, trying a million different things to fix it.”
This was not the response I was looking for.
He continued. “I think you’re kidding about the Xanax,” (I wasn’t) “and the Botox is really just for people with extreme cases of TMD. What you need is a custom night guard to protect your teeth. And maybe get away from your computer every couple of hours. Try to relax a little bit.”
Ugh. So sensible. Why don’t I have a cool dentist, like Chrissy Teigen?
In a way, he was right. I was trying to avoid dealing with the real problem by treating the symptoms. But there’s a good reason I was looking for quick fixes: If I stopped reading the news right now, it wouldn’t make me stop worrying about all the people who stand to get hurt over the next four years. I wouldn’t be less freaked out by how divided our country has become. And of course, I’d miss mocking Trump and Co’s astounding daily displays of incompetence with my friends.
But I am trying to dial back the insanity. I’m doing yoga when I can and reading books on paper instead of being glued to my phone. I’ve even banned Twitter from my bed. And I’m going to get the stupid night guard. Hopefully it holds my teeth together until the midterms.
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