#do everything for the glory of god

[tabernacleheart]

David and all Israel 'played before the Lord', Who was present with the Ark. [Likewise, our] public joy should always be as before the Lord, with an eye to Him, and terminating in Him. Otherwise it is no better than public madness, and [becomes] the source of all manner of wickedness.

Joseph Benson; Commentary on 2 Samuel 6:5

#a vital warning #biblical commentary #joseph benson #2 Samuel 6 #do everything for the glory of god #rejoice in the lord #you cannot serve two masters

[siena-sevenwits]

💎

#Take with grain of salt - not exactly sad but will probably feel much dandier another time #Tonight I want so much to create - to make stories that will make others love what is good and true and beautiful #I have a condition which (among a lot of other things that are irrelevant to this post) causes me to feel very tired a lot of the time. #and I also tend to go through bouts of insomnia - in the middle of one now. #It's small potatoes compared to what a lot of my friends have to go through health-wise and I am grateful #(though i probably should be more so) #But - the point. I am just so tired all the time and I try to soldier through and be creative because that's the way my heart is shaped #But so often I just feel like the exhaustion sabotages everything and tonight I am just aching to be more creative than I've been #I'm not unhopeful about it - so many people go through this after all and end up making wonderful art. And there's something to be said for #patience and filling the creative well and trusting all to God. But tonight I feel - not sorry for myself thankfully - just very wistful. #Wanting to make something really beautiful and see it through the end and be more resilient in the face of the tiredness. #(Ha - my life is a good one if that's what's making me wistful!) #God can do whatever He wants with it and maybe the greater glory is for another time. #But I also wonder... I would not have been calling to Him unless He has been calling to me - and I hope! #OK - sentimental pout over. ;-) #neverending storytellers

[fortes-fortuna-iogurtum]

hey friends is it normal to just feel. numb. because I think that maybe it is not. but what would I know anyway.

#really tho it’s like I can barely feel anything anymore. idk if it’s stress?? depression?? #the enormous weight of adult life suddenly and unexpectedly crashing down on me with the weight of the entire planet?? #I used to feel so *much* all the time and now I feel like I can barely feel anything at all… #and everyone around me is living life so much and I’m just here feeling like I can barely keep up with conversations as they’re happening #I’m tired… I feel like God is a far away idea that I’m struggling to hold onto… I feel like my mind is a bent and jumbled mess #like I grabbed hold of it and tried to crush it into the shape I thought it should be and now all I’ve got is a broken frame #I /know/ who I am and what I believe. I /know/ what my life is. but I don’t feel anything. #the only time I feel anything is sometimes when we’re singing at church I just cry at the sense of glory of something I can’t touch #and sometimes I shake with fear at the thought that I’ve ruined everything that could’ve ever been good about me #I’m oversharing on the internet again but I just don’t know what to do. I’m so tired. I want to see something beautiful and feel #the weight and glory of it again. but I feel like I can’t. all I feel is numbness. #I feel like I could sleep for months but every time I wake up I never feel refreshed. and I’ve been having bad dreams too. #adulthood kinda does suck can I please go back to being 5 #gurt says stuff #personal

[yeslordmyking]

Ephesians 3:20-21 — Today's Verse for Wednesday, March 20, 2024

#God #Jesus #christianity #faith #God's power #God's might #i can do all things through Christ who strengthens me #all powerful God #alright God #only God is worthy of praise #all glory belongs to God #all honor belongs to God #all praise belongs to God #you are not good on your own #you are nothing. God is everything #God's plan not mine #praise God #bible verse #heartlight

[avesblues2]

“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭15:56-58‬ ‭

#everything else is vain if you aren't doing it for the glory of God!!!! #verse #verses

[sojourner-between-worlds]

Welcome to the Sunday Before Christmas! ...AKA The Annual Day to Wing It During the Church Christmas Program (and Me Live-Blogging it to the Friend Group Discord)

(Look. Look. When your church only has about 50 members, you don't have understudies, okay? You Pray everyone will be there, lol. Also worth noting here, is that P not only sang two songs so J wouldn't be the only guy, but he also played piano for some of the songs. Our planned pianist worked on the music for two months, and two others were trying to learn it all in an hour.)

Bonus:

Merry Christmas!

#christianity #christmas #christmas eve #this happens every year i'm pretty sure lol #but we don't usually do anything so huge that its almost panic-worthy lol #despite everything it still turned out well #all glory to god

[royalreef]

@chaosmultiverse​ inquired: “I see” Vera How my character perceives yours - Accepting

              “We are... We are one and the same, I think.

      I think. That is the stubborn thing about this, is it not? We should be. It is only reasonable, right, that we should be? We occupy very similar places in our respective societies, albeit Vera is placed within a lesser position by my people’s understandings of it, but very similar all the same. The others are not the same in the ways that myself and Vera are alike, they do not share these things with either of us, and most of our talks have to exist outside of it for proxy of what these similarities are.

      Myself and Vera both have other forces to answer to. We have people beneath us whom we are expected to command and to wield with skill, lest they suffer and die and we bring ruin to what was given to ourselves and starve us out of our own home by mass of our failure. There are expectations placed upon us, people whom we have to answer to in turn, in order to ensure the system keeps turning another day. We must keep watch over our shoulders, lest someone come to steal from our flocks, lest they poison what we promised to provide, lest they slip a knife into our backs to assume our position for themselves, claiming that they could do it better. We occupy the same orbits, visit with the same people, form deals that grow slowly and make plans that are placed with careful words and actions only as proof of what we can do. We both have to maintain a careful balance of reward and punishment, both for others and for ourselves.

      But that does not... That does not feel right, does it? This is the commonsensical thing to believe, yes, it is only rational to understand myself and Vera as one and the same, and yet it does not fit. It feels wrong to think and to say, and I am none too sure of why.

     Perhaps it is because Vera obtained her position by herself? I certainly did not ask for the title which I hold. None of my family did, none of my fellow royals ever did, and this occupies a degree of understanding among us. It is a responsibility, above all else. We are what keeps the darkness at bay, keep the population alive and happy for another day more, what is required to maintain normalcy. There is always suffering for that. And yes, it hurts, and yes, it is terrible to deal with, but it is our sacred duty above all else. Why else would we be permitted to excess, and why else would we be permitted to rule, if not tempered by the rationale of what it means to possess what we do?

      I cannot imagine ever asking for this. I cannot imagine ever trying to attain this. For a future, perhaps, for the continuation of the family line, certainly, but for the self? It is unthinkable. Alien, even. How could anyone ever progress this far, without being born into it? You have to be tempered and properly trained to possess power like this, lest you wield it with the inexperience of a child. You have to have some right to it, something which sets you apart from the rest, some proof that you can handle all that it requires of you. Not just anyone is suited to it. Even moreso that, even if a single individual was suited to it, without proper grooming, it will only be them, and their family shall fall into ruin after them.

      Who even would want that? Why would you want to be given a leash and collar to be lead around by? Why would anyone ever wish to accept the chain of responsibility? Even moreso, whoever would like what we do on its own, not as an unavoidable evil to prevent worse outcomes, not as something that you must remind yourself is earned, and that they have relinquished right to their personhood when they endangered others? All that I do is because the throne demands it, because it is necessary to its day-to-day functioning, that the world would be better off for it, that I myself am better off for it? Our other friends are afforded love by the handful, afforded to be whatever they please, do whatever they please, and not once worry about how they are seen. Why would you exchange that for this?

       It is... a stubborn thought, is it not? Why would anyone ever do this, if not bound to it by destiny? Why swear yourself to it?

      Perhaps it is like that one thing that landfolk keep bringing up, as the difference between ‘old money’ and ‘new money’? I cannot help but feel as though, even when myself and Vera are so similar, there is something... wrong. A miscalculation, perhaps, or a subtly different set of priorities.

      Either way, I truly do not wish to discuss with Vera the differences between my authority and her authority. The mere thought of bringing it up makes me... It gives me the same feelings as discussing them as those in the same position as myself, I suppose. I do not really trust it. I cannot guarantee that these things will not come back around, to be used against myself.

                                                                                    Better just to keep quiet.”

#Glory and Gore || IC #Dreaded rumors || Asks #chaosmultiverse #Make the tide rise and wash ashore corpses of cyclops || Vera x Miranda ( chaosmultiverse) #(( god i just want to put a HUGE asterisk next to everything miranda says #(( because. yeah no she is NOT being entirely honest about everything here #(( she is repeating a few things she was trained to repeat and maybe doesnt believe #(( and of course she is chronically AWFUL at talking about her feelings #(( and. yet again. all of this is getting fed through the filter of. she is SUCH a biased person in general. #(( and coming from a biased position #(( but either way #(( vera does scare her #(( specifically in the way she's afraid vera is like the other royals miranda knows and has known all of her life #(( and will. you know. act like those other royals. #(( and will do the same things those royals do. #(( and miranda does not have the language to vocalize she's afraid that her abuse will be repeated again but she DOES feel it all the same #(( to the prize pig ambition is Terrifying

[martyrbat]

[ID: a panel of Batman and Superman standing side by side in a clear, transparent box; surrounded by what's presumably space (?). They're shown from a slight distance and from behind. Batman asks a question to which Superman answers, gaining a reply back. The dialogue bubbles are in hieroglyphic symbols, leaving the actual contents unknown to the reader. Superman's internal monologue box reads, "Ever sense Kara – Supergirl – came into our lives, Bruce has immersed himself in learning Kryptonese." END ID]

#imagine being clark. you're an alien on a planet that isnt your own (but youll eventually take the burden of protecting anyways) #youre surrounded by these humans and others where you clearly dont belong. its little things at first that just plants and engraves that #knowledge that youre an outsider. you dont know exactly why yet but theres no denying that you witness and observe more than you #participate. that youre just.... different. #imagine feeling like you constantly dont belong and learning you have the powers of a god despite never asking for them or wanting them #that you can hurt - you can kill - without lifting a pinkie. that you can destroy everything if youre not careful. #if you treated them like how they treated you all your life. #you're terrified at your own powers. at who or what you are. #then you learn that your planet was destroyed. that youre all alone. #the people you never even got to know or make memories with - including your biological family. #the culture and language and society. everything is gone. you're lonely as clark kent and as superman. you can save earth but not yourself #even with the more recent discovery of your cousin. that's all that's left to preserve the memory and legacy of Krypton. #not even having memories of the place yourself. that Kryptonese is only KARAS native language. #imagine being so alone and responsible for making sure the world doesn't forget an entire planet and species #who do you share that with? who gets to help ease the burden from your shoulders? who will listen?? #then bruce fucking wayne starts learning kryptonese. not because you asked him to but taking it upon himself #to. he talks occasionally in it to you. does he know when itll bring comfort? when you need to hear it?? doesn't matter #the second language grows familiar and warm on your tongue - something you grow into and take comfort in #does he teach any of his children it? in a mission and listened to and they speak it to him - unexpectedly and rolling off their tongues #the dead language coming to life slowly. itll never be the same. itll never receive the glory it once had #but Krypton lives on - the language being one of love and found family. of never being alone again. #pushing my 'bruce's love language is acts of service' agenda but its true #i love them ALMOST as much as they love each other #superbat #bruce wayne #superman #batman #clark kent #anyways. rambling in my tags so oops. if anyone read this hi love u. hope ur having a good day

[longagoitwastuesday]

One thing about me is that I will stand by basically every bad deed of my favourite characters fully aware of them being bad deeds. I just don't care

#'He destroyed an entire city and tried to destroy the world *twice*!!!' #Yes and he was right to do so. The motives are good and the city is fake anyway. Drown it in the abyss‚ dear boy #'He caused the fall of Camelot!' have you considered Guinevere and him wanted each other desperately and with a heart wrenching longing? #I don't care about Camelot #'He manipulated children to get his way!' again good motives. That's actually my favourite trait of them. Cheers #'He was the cause of kids dying!!!' Yes and it was quite the rational choice both times. And he wanted to go home to his wife and kid #Quite sweet of him #The other wanted to see his most important person again and ease their loneliness. I couldn't care less about the children dying #It's the 'absolute loyalty and devotion to someone means betraying everything else' approach #They do shitty things to everyone else but don't harm what matters to them the most‚ or not on purpose? #They can go wild. I'll support them in every step #Slay Gawain even if I love him. Cut heads off. Manipulate and kill children. Destroy the world. Steal from the kid you raised. Have fun #I'll bring you a snack and some water when you're done! #I talk too much #I should probably delete this later #The examples here are Heathcliff‚ Jack Vessalius‚ Lancelot and Odysseus #but I'm really okay with basically everything my faves do every time #In Ovid' Heroides it is said in one of the letters that Helen wanted to be kidnapped #I like the potential of the idea. As if trying to gain glory‚ reclaiming it as her right as daughter of a god‚ #and doing so in the way she can in her condition of woman (as opposed to someone like Achilles) #What can I say. I don't care if Hector dies and Odysseus is lost for twenty years #I mean‚ I do. I love them. But also... Good for her. Go take your glory‚ girl #Medea murders the kids? Avenge yourself. Clytemnestra murders Agamemnon? Avenge your daughter. Eat him later if you want #I don't stand by this interpretation (or not entirely) but is Cathy dying 'on purpose' to hurt Heathcliff and Edgar? #Destroy their lives. I love you #I just don't care. I fully support their wrongs. They're actually rights 😔 #'He is scamming and manipulating people' is particularly funny to me because that's not even all that bad? #It's always the best trait of the characters that do so #And idk maybe the scammed manipulated people could have been smarter about it

[drivemysoul]

i wanna send the great war to my fp so bad

#taylor.txt #like... we did survive the great war. we survived eleven months of what genuinely felt like war (on my end at least) #and it WAS my fault!! it WAS me punishing him for shit he never did!! it WAS me lashing out because i was scared to get hurt!! #it was entirely me feeling betrayed and punishing him for it and acting irrationally. and i hurt him. and i regret it every day even now. #but... we survived. somehow. his hand WAS the one i reached for all throughout the great war. i just... was too scared to reach out. #i had to work on myself. reprogram how my brain thinks about betrayal and fighting. learn to step down and surrender. #i couldn't ask for forgiveness if i was just going to turn around and do the exact same thing to him again. #there WAS no morning glory. it WAS war. it WASN'T fair. #and... i'll do everything i possibly can to make sure we never go back to that. #'soldier down on that icy ground. looked up at me with honour and truth. broken and blue. so i called off the troops.' breaks me every time #like... he did. but i didn't stop back then. and i SHOULD'VE. i regret it every day. why is it so hard for me to just back down. #'that was the night i nearly lost you. i really thought i lost you.' ALSO breaks me. #i DID lose him. nearly forever. and i'm so grateful every single day that he was kind enough to give me a second chance and let me reach out #the day we started talking again and he let me apologise i think i was just shaking and crying the entire time. just. after everything. #god. the great war just perfectly describes how i felt that night and all those months #but how do i send it to him without it being just so fucking weird OR without making it seem like im trying to guilttrip him

[tabernacleheart]

Now, we can ask ourselves: what point are we at? What point are we at? In the face of opposition, misunderstanding, do we turn to the Lord? Do we ask Him for His steadfastness in doing good, [even when it gives us no earthly returns]? Or do we rather seek confirmation through applause, ending up being bitter and resentful when we do not hear it? Many times, consciously or unconsciously, we seek applause; [we seek moral] approval from others, and we do things for applause. No, that does not work. We must do good out of service, not seeking applause. Sometimes we think that our fervour is due to a sense of justice for a good cause. But in reality, most of the time it is nothing other than pride, united with weakness, sensitivity, and impatience. So, let us ask Jesus for the strength of being like Him: of following Him resolutely down the path of service, not to be vindictive, not to be intolerant when difficulties present themselves, when we spend ourselves in doing good and others do not understand this, or even when they disqualify us. No, [instead let us meet all trials with] silence and go ahead [in God's grace]. May the Virgin Mary help us make the resolute decision Jesus did to remain in love to the end.

Pope Francis

#a humbling truth #only god's approval matters #humility #do everything for the glory of god #reflect on this #false humility #misguided fervor #patience #longsuffering #endure till the end #jesus christ

[voidandradiance]

ANDOR: Ahem. I have heard that the greatest persuasion is nothing more than telling the truth, so I speak in the voice given me by my mother, Freya. I make no grand overtones or guttural whispers for dramatic effect. 

(MARKET VENDOR: More flavours! Come and drink away your sorrows!)

ANDOR: I am only Andor. My voice trembles.

(MARKET VENDOR: More flavours! Come and drink away your sorrows!)

ANDOR: I have come to ask my father a question. Will you listen? Father, I know you're listening too.

LIEUTENANT AL: Prince Andor!

ANDOR: Haven't you noticed? Do these wings look like the product of some frivolous magic? Whom do you suppose the statue at the bridge represents? Not Mianite. I am an acolyte of the wounded goddess; I always have been. We worship Ianite.

LIEUTENANT AL: I have found evidence of a rebellion against Mianite! And I will have to arrest you, Prince, for leading this rebellion!

[With each syllable from Andor's lips grows a surrounding gust of wind, which halts the Lieutenant's advance, despite his best efforts to subdue the awakening acolyte.]

KING HELGRIND, now named APOSTLE HELGRIND: ANDOR!!!

ANDOR: While you have governed this port city and allocated its resources to the glorification of your "one true god," I-

APOSTLE HELGRIND, interrupting: You no longer have a place in this town! During my time away, the truth of the one true god has only become clearer.

ANDOR, speaking louder: I have been chiseling Ianite's likeness into your stones and penning her mantras into your paper. Her teachings have been with me all these years, guiding me towards a day of peace and unity-

LIEUTENANT AL: You will never…!

ANDOR, now shouting: -while you have winced at the thought of our hope and stooped over the corpses of the lost.

APOSTLE HELGRIND: Lieutenant, seize Andor and take him to our Lord.

ANDOR: If you had but journeyed with me! I am at the threshold. Soon, Ianite will rise! And my mother and sister's spirits will rise with her.

APOSTLE HELGRIND: Lieutenant!

LIEUTENANT AL: I- AM- TRYING!

ANDOR: I hear your voice, father. I hear your anger. 

APOSTLE HELGRIND: ENOUGH OF THIS NONSENSE.

ANDOR: Do what you will with me. But first, know this. If your god is just and blameless, with flawless integrity, then fear not. Your battle is already won. But if there is the smallest fracture in Mianite's armor… then the crevice will widen. The shell will corrode. And Mianite's sins and yours will seep through. All the false glory you have built will be wiped in preparation for this world's restoration and rebirth. I do not know why you begrudge Ianite, for our family's death, nor why you hide your wounds, father. But I do know that healing is available to you. It is the greatest gift anyone can receive, greater than a shield, greater than a sword. 

LIEUTENANT AL: Andor!

ANDOR: Greater than your perfect, made-up world. If it is your wish, see this to its end. Do everything in your power to create the world you so crave. I cannot stay your hand. I raise no sword. I wear no armor. I have only this boomerang, given by a true friend. You could stop this. We could go to the docks, and throw it, just like old times with Mom. We could. I invite you.

[ANDOR collapses from exhaustion. The protecting wind subsides, and he is immediately seized by LIEUTENANT AL.]

#this is a transcription of a canon scene thank you very much

[headspace-hotel]

Symbiosis isn't just mutualism. Parasitism is symbiosis. It's uncomfortable to confront parasitic relationships if you want to see your human ideas of good and bad reflected in Nature.

But gazing into something huge and utterly Other, being uncomfortable means you're engaging your mind with it. "Uncomfortable" is actually a whole spectrum of emotions that become a vivid and satisfying rainbow.

There was a post a while back with some artwork of Dendrogaster, a crustacean that parasitizes starfish, and its body is like this branching fractal of fleshy lobes made to fit inside the body of the starfish mirroring its structure, and I was absolutely horrified to look at this, and this horror was the same emotion as a strangely visceral wave of sympathy for this parasite.

Creative works about parasites often invoke the horror of bodily invasion, which is visceral and strong for me, but this artwork inverted that horror, instead showing the horror of being made so perfectly for fitting within someone else that you lose everything you are and become unrecognizable.

I also think of the post about the cowbird chick. It's awful that the bird pushes its siblings out of the nest as it grows, and the mama feeds it because she instinctively must feed her chick, but the cowbird is just a baby. Was it wrong for him to hatch, to be alive, to be hungry, to be a baby and to need love?

Symbiosis is intensely beautiful, and sometimes it's beautiful because it's grotesque and terrible. Of course, the symbiosis between two organisms isn't an allegory for a relationship, it just is a relationship, but looking at the way organisms become entwined feels like you're seeing things that, if words described them, would also be human experiences.

Being invaded by a parasite is a horror of powerlessness and loss of autonomy, but being a parasite is also defined by powerlessness. In many cases, the parasite will die without the host, but the host can live without the parasite. I wonder why it is expected to sympathize with one and not the other.

Your immune system fights against internal parasites like a tapeworm...Imagine being a tapeworm. The body of your host is your universe. Do you find your world to be kind? Benevolent? Does your god love you?

Sometimes people call disabled people "parasites." When I think about my future sometimes I'm uncertain and afraid.

But when a rare non-photosynthetic orchid blooms in the forest, this is not the forest's weakness and failure, but its crowning glory.

[yeslordmyking]

James 3:16 — Today's Verse for Friday, December 29, 2023

#God #Jesus #christianity #faith #selflessness #serve others #do not make plans for yourself #bless others #bring glory to God's kingdom #you belong to God #do not serve self #put others before you #humility #nothingness #do not act out of self interest #you deserve nothing #you are nothing. God is everything #bear fruit for God's kingdom #forsake self #die to self #bible verse #heartlight

[ruegarding]

one thing abt thalia and percy's dynamic that is often overlooked is that percy was punished for the same things thalia was rewarded for. there's a prophecy abt one of the big three kids? percy is treated like a liar and thief and ppl refuse to talk to him. thalia? everyone respects her (including gods!) and assumes she'll do a great job saving the world. thalia is accepted immediately at camp and threatens the place percy spent two years proving he deserves. percy wants to go on a quest to save his friend? he's an attention seeker and glory stealer. thalia? well, she's the obvious choice. thalia comes up w a plan to win capture the flag that's basically "leave everything to me" and percy comes up with a plan that's basically "if you see a good opportunity, go for it," but percy is viewed as the control freak.

what i'm saying is percy had every reason to resent thalia and he didn't. he chose not to. and thalia had every reason to look down on percy and didn't.

even when they were fighting, i never saw it as a power struggle. they were being pit against each other, and instead of doing what everyone expected them to (kronos was fully expecting thalia to kill percy), they chose to love and respect each other. because they're not their parents. they're just two kids who started cracking under the pressure but refused to break.

#i think the most telling moment of their dynamic is when thalia is seduced by the power kronos offers her #and rather than viewing her as a threat and fighting her #percy talks her down. bc he knows her. bc he respects her. bc he loves her. #and she chooses him(them) over kronos and the power #anyway i miss thalia so much she should've been in every story all the time #thalia grace #percy jackson #percy jackon and the olympians #pjo hoo toa #big three kids #percy #thalia #min talks pjo

[teaboot]

Feels weird leaving an ask, like I’m walking up to a sage on a mountain and asking advice but that sage is likely just some guy in his pj’s eating cheese. Anyway any advice for how to be okay with being perceived? It’s hard to not feel like everything I do whilst in someone eyeline is embarrassing

I'm actually eating Pierogi in the bathtub right now so this is perfect

Okay first off, currently working my way out of the wet paper bag that is Social Anxiety that once had me agoraphobic and melting down on my way to buy groceries, just so you know what you're working with

Care about how you dress, but not in like, a fashion way. Just a "I like how I feel in this shirt" sort of way. And not so much, "I look good in these pants so I will wear them to be perceived Correctly", as, "I feel great in these house slippers and when I feel good I'm confident and when I'm confident I give less of a shit what the haters might think". Wear what feels good. Cut your hair and do your face and nails whatever way feels good. Appearance is secondary to vibes.

Lean into the funny. I waited 10 minutes in line for a coffee order that had already been set out for me this morning, and when the barista noticed, we both had a good laugh. Five years ago that would have killed me. Now I'm glad these poor workers will have a funny story over their bland ass shift. When I was in retail that would have been adorable and hilarious! And so, my goofemup is a gift. I am full of blessings

Get louder and watch as nothing bad happens. Take up more space and watch as nobody yells at you. Wear brighter or skimpier or janglier outfits and bask I the glory that is "Nobody gives a shit except the nice strangers who give me compliments". Marvel at how far you can push the envelope before anyone so much as comments on it. This will free you.

Say yes to terrifying opportunities to be Seen. Karaoke, dance, improv. And if you can't do it sincerely, embody a caricature of yourself. It's terrifying and it sucks eternally and forever and ever and ever like hellfire until suddenly it doesn't. Then have fun.

Be honest. Not unkind, but blunt if you need to. "I'm having a bad time". "This kinda sucks for me". "I know you hate this song but you can deal with these last 30 seconds because I need it to live". Mostly people will think it's a joke but respect it anyway. God bless

Please keep in mind that I am flying by the seat of my pants here and this is just stuff that's worked for me. I am still a nervous disaster crying into the void. Good luck space cowboy

#Teaboot advice