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prosopopeya · 3 years

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New Year’s Meme

this survey has been a tradition among my friend group for YEARS, but i haven’t filled it out since 2015 apparently. i’m not entirely sure why except 2016 was the year a lot of stuff changed for me, namely in that i finally got out of school in some form and started a new job, but i also had a few health problems that kept plaguing me (thyroid medicine being off, vitamin d) and my anxiety was all over the place. so here we go i’m doing it again and feel free to do it too if you want!!

1. What did you do in 2020 that you’d never done before? tried on wedding dresses. taught virtually. dealt (poorly) with drunk teenagers. performed in a pep rally. wore face masks all the time. i’m going to lump in living with someone. jon moved in october 2019, but i don’t think i did this quiz last year so. taught ap.

2. Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions and will you make more for next year? i don’t really like resolutions. they put too much pressure on me and i am a fragile person when it comes to setting expectations and living up to them. i did want to try to read more this year, and i maintained that until the pandemic, and then just kind of gave up requiring myself to do anything but live.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? i don’t think so. a coworker did.

4. Did anyone close to you die? jon’s cousin committed suicide in march or april. the circumstances were pretty upsetting. um. andy died in february, very suddenly. andy was my high school boyfriend for four years with whom i had a very... he scarred me in a lot of ways when it comes to sex and consent. it’s taken me a long time to unpack all of that. and i struggle with how much any of that was his fault or just bc he was a stupid kid too. our mutual friends had nothing but nice things to say about him on fb. anyway. he would guilt me into saying he’d kill himself if we broke up, and jon’s cousin killed himself over his girlfriend. so that was a complex part of the year.

5. What countries did you visit? none. literally the week before the quarantine, we went to asheville to visit jon’s cousin.

6. What would you like to have in 2021 that you lacked in 2020? maybe a different job? or at least some peace at doing mine.

7. What date from 2020 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? march 13 we cancelled classes and had a technology training day; the 15th we had another one, and then we were virtual the rest of the term. it was such a sudden shift and while i so loved working from home tbh, it was such a relief after a supremely shitty january/february work-wise, i still had a lot of keyed-up, stressful days centered around transitioning to being the senior upper school spanish teacher. i hate it!

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? writing 50k in the month of november. i have literally never done that before and actively reject nano as being typically unhealthy for how my mind works, so it was nice to do it entirely by accident.

9. What was your biggest failure? mishandling the drunken teenagers on that field trip in january.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? i sit crosslegged in my virtual teaching chair and i did it so much that my ankle hurt for the entire summer.

11. What was the best thing you bought? we put a deposit on our elopement in ireland. jon’s wedding ring. (i didn’t buy my wedding dress.)

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? my best friend at work who keeps me sane and is represented by benny in my au, which other than the fact that he is not my sidepiece, is perfect he is crucial to my survival at work and i love him so much. (also he is gay and the french teacher so the benny parallels just keep coming). everyone who tore down a statue in virginia (and other places, but especially monument avenue). everyone putting their lives on the line during this pandemic.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? guess! but aside from all the obvious, i found out a friend of mine at work voted for trump. my work bff and i had been trying for years to sway his politics, but that had us both deciding to give up on him.

14. Where did most of your money go? food, ALCOHOL. god., our savings account. i did a pretty excellent job saving this year, though a good deal of that is because jon moved in and makes more money than me, and also we split all the bills.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? my wedding dress but strangely only when i went to try it on after it came in bc after the purchase i was so sure i’d made every mistake possible. my wedding band. wellbutrin changing my whole life. and, last but certainly not least, the gay angel and the bi(lingual) hunter. i wouldn’t have survived nov-dec in school without that distraction. the election.

16. What song(s) will always remind you of 2020? the entirety of taylor swift’s oeuvre this year, maybe specifically “this is me trying”

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: i. Happier or sadder? happier, i suppose, perhaps contrary to what should be the case, but wellbutrin is a hell of a drug. ii. Older or wiser? wiser. ii. Richer or poorer? richer.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? reading. cleaning. exercising.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? stressing. chaperoning.

20. How will you be spending Christmas? so, an update; last year was the first year i didn’t go to my mom’s for christmas. i was supposed to see her for thanksgiving last year, but she basically told us not to come bc she wasn’t feeling up to it (cool!), and we went to jon’s for christmas and my mom’s for new year’s.

this year, obviously we couldn’t go to my mom’s. instead, we rented a little cabin by the lake. it was perfect; it was really really nice inside, the beds were SO SOFT, the pillows were the best things i have ever laid my head on, like i took off the pillowcases to try to find the brand. we had a little tiny christmas tree with tiny ornaments from walmart that we decorated. the 23rd, we went and picked up our wedding bands. we slept two nights in the (cold) back bedroom so i could wake up and look out at the lake. it snowed for christmas. :)

we opened presents on christmas eve, per jon’s family’s tradition. on christmas eve, we also went to his family farm and sat outside and hung out a little. every year his family does like a secret santa sort of thing and i got my first present in that exchange, which is notable bc jon and i are not yet officially married. i got a remote control car -- jon’s idea bc i couldn’t think of anything, and he was so delighted to hear that i loved playing with rc cars when we went to the beach as a kid.

christmas morning we facetimed my parents and opened some presents together. then jon and i marathoned mandalorian (after spending the previous few days watching several die hard movies), and then we watched wonder woman 1984 which was a bad movie.

21. How will you be spending New Year’s Eve? ok LAST year for new year’s, we were in a hotel room, so that was nice, bc it meant minimal stress with my parents. i had always wanted to go to this restaurant near us that has a special new year’s menu, so we did that. the night before or after i think we went to cheesecake factory, which was also amazing.

this year currently i’m tumbling and he’s playing pokemon, and in a bit we’ll try to time it so we finish schitt’s creek in time for the new year.

22. Did you fall in love in 2020? i re-fell in love with supernatural so that was nice.

23. How many one-night stands? 0. i submit we should randomly change question 23 each year to something more relevant to any of our life experiences.

24. What was your favorite TV program? what did i even watch this year. schitt’s creek. mandalorian. i mean obviously we know supernatural. the circle. are you the one (the queer season). pose. unsolved mysteries. we’re here! perry mason. watchmen. oh maybe that mcdonald’s monopoly fraud documentary. avenue 5. i’ll be gone in the dark. of those i think my favorite maybe is... pose or we’re here.

OKAY UM. on my 2014 version of this there were a bunch of questions about tv shows that i’m putting back in if only for the memories:

25. Which TV shows did you start watching in 2020? the haunting of bly manor, which we still need to finish. derry girls.

26. Which TV shows did you let go of in 2020? HERE’S WHY I WANTED TO RESURRECT THESE. here was my answer in 2015: “supernatural. goodbye, my sweet prince.” CAN YOU EVEN FUCKING BELIEVE

27. Which TV shows did you mean to get into but didn’t in 2020? Why? so far, queen’s gambit and that one on hulu with catherine the great. EVENTUALLY. 28. Which TV shows do you intend on checking out in 2020? fleabag. queen’s gambit. 29. Which TV show do you think you might let go of in 2020 unless things significantly improve? idk i drop things pretty regularly if they don’t entertain me 30. Which TV show impressed you least in 2020? GUYS HERE’S MY ORIGINAL 2015 ANSWER: “supernatural. :(”

anyway back to the rest of the quiz:

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? every person who refuses to listen to facts and information.

26. What was the best book you read? killers of the flower moon: the osage murders and the birth of the fbi, or the his dark materials series.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery? well i knew about tswift so i’m not going to count her albums. i will count this song that jon played for me once in the car that got stuck in my head for two weeks straight and led me down into a great related-songs spotify playlist: through the roof ‘n underground.

28. What did you want and get? a wedding dress and a very specific kind of wedding band. a gay angel. a christmas getaway. animal crossing.

29. What was your favorite film of this year? idk i don’t know how many films i saw this year. maybe mucho mucho amor: the legend of walter mercado

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? i was 32. we went to an escape room with a BUNCH of people -- work bff, my old work bff and his wife (old bc he quit and we’ve fallen out of touch :(), the cool new physics teacher and his fiancee, and the aforementioned trump voter and his wife, before we knew... we went out for brunch/lunch after. it was pretty great!

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? not having to chaperone that school trip in january. dean being bi in english as well as spanish. cas just ilke, appearing in 15x20. not having to physically go back to work this fall.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2020? no! real! pants!

34. What kept you sane? jon. supernatural (in a way?). animal crossing for a while. wellbutrin! i haven’t really been able to detail this yet, but finally i did something about tumblr and my therapist making me think about adhd. my doctor gave me wellbutrin (bc i lack any official diagnosis and was on anxiety meds anyway, and he was like let’s try this!) and it’s fucking. it’s a fucking godsend. surprisingly enough, my students. trying to provide them a safe space has been a calming thing for me.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? jensen ackles’ silence. misha collins again, i guess.

36. What political issue stirred you the most? the summer was so fucking intense. i guess though it was me trying to exert my influence in a responsible way with my students without trying to try to make them feel uncomfortable but then one kid was a vocally upset trump supporter after the election and i had to try to defuse that situation.

37. Who did you miss? my old work bff. several old friends that i’ve fallen out of touch with bc i have no object permanence.

38. Who was the best new person you met? people i met through the spn resurgence!

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2020: if you manifest it in an au, it will come. no really though. maybe that expectations are only as important as i make them out to be.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year: usually i have a hard time coming up with anything for this and i default to looking at my most played songs of the year. my most played song of the year received each and every one of its plays within the month of november and you can guess why. anyway see if this works

I had all and then most of you Some and now none of you Take me back to the night we met I don't know what I'm supposed to do Haunted by the ghost of you Take me back to the night we met - the night we met, lord huron

#happy new year #annual meme

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charmingturkeysandwich · 4 years

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“Christmas Surprise”: A CS Secret Santa Gift

Hey there, @colinoeyebrows, it’s me, your secret Santa! I’m sorry we didn’t get more time to get to know each other before I wrote your story, but I think I managed to create something that fits what you’ll enjoy. I kept it short - but not too short! And I suppose it would be filed under enemies/friends to lovers, if it required a label. I truly hope you enjoy it and that you have a Merry Christmas! I think in your time zone it’s officially Christmas Eve, so I’m not too terribly early, but here in the states it’s still Christmas Eve Eve... and I’m terribly sick and requiring a few days of not moving a finger, so here you are! I hope you enjoy. I tried to pack it full of as much Christmas joy as possible :)

Killian and Emma are neighbors in an apartment building full of Emma’s makeshift family. He’s been insufferable most times, but also oddly kind, so Emma tolerates him. But his weird over-the-top dedication to their Christmas decorating this year is really starting to grate on her. Until she understands.

@cssecretsanta2k19

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“Killian! Stop stealing my damn ladder!”

“Of course, princess,” the jerk snarked back at her. What had she ever done to deserve him as a next door neighbor? So full of himself, intensely competitive over things that did not require competition, and always, always making sure he had the last word. He’d probably raise up from his damn casket just to say one last thing when the eulogies were finished.

Not that Emma would be there. Ugh. She’d love to be rid of him.

Except that on some days he was literally the only thing she actually looked forward to. When work was stressful and she hadn’t caught a skip in weeks and she’d fallen and sprained an ankle and a wrist, he was there, mocking her crutches and laughing at her drug-addled ramblings, but still always, always helping her up the stairs, fetching her mail, tipping her pizza delivery man extra for delivering hers first despite being the farthest away from the parlor.

How could one person be so infuriating and yet so caring at the same time?

Halloween this year had been canceled as the town was practically falling down (thundersnow or ice-nado or something of the like), so this year, Storybrooke had decided to simply transfer the door-to-door candy begging from Halloween to Christmas. Because of this, landlords all over town were asking that tenants decorate and prepare to delight the children who had been robbed of their November sugar hangover by Mother Nature, instead giving them a lovely sugar hangover for Christmas morning.

(Sounded like a conspiracy by parents to get kids to sleep in, but whatever.)

Emma made fudge every year and always had tons left over, so this year she’d decided she’d throw herself into this Halloween-Christmas mashup with everything she had. Her other neighbors were always very festive, specifically the ice skater Elsa who every year had more Christmas lights in her one-bedroom apartment than all of the foster homes Emma ever lived in. Combined. Ruby loved to dress her dog up as a reindeer, and even David and Mary Margaret went all out, despite being the owners of the building and not just lowly tenants.

Killian usually kept his decorations minimal. Mistletoe over his doorway just to taunt his neighbors (female and male alike, to Graham’s amusement and horror), and maybe one string of lights or tinsel around the doorway.

But no. This year he’s decided there’s a door-decorating contest that he’s absolutely going to win.

Emma, on the other hand, is absolutely going to kill him.

He stole her ladder. He stole her tacks. He stole her snowflakes with sticky backs.

This man was driving her so insane that she was starting to rhyme like a cartoon train.

Ugh.

Elsa (infuriatingly) found it endearing. And Ruby, ever the flirt, was mostly trying to distract their neighbors into standing under Killian’s mistletoe with her. No one seemed to be as furious as Emma that the bartender across the hall who usually didn’t give a crap about Christmas was suddenly “dedicated to his craft” so much that he just had to take her scalloped scissors at exactly the time that she needed them.

She was going to scallop his other hand off if he didn’t watch it.

Thoroughly frustrated with decoration, she took a nice, long break late that morning to go check on her fudge and start bagging it for the kids that would be coming around No-Trick-Just-Treating tonight.

Living in this apartment had been surprisingly life-altering for Emma. The lifelong lost girl had finally found some people she called family, even though none of them were related. The family you choose is the real one, Ruby had told her one drunken evening when Emma finally spilled her secrets, her sadness at being abandoned as a child, her fear that it would all be taken from her again. So it was only recently that she’d even decided Christmas was worth celebrating. Christmas Eves of her childhood had mostly been like every other day – if they weren’t even more miserable because of all the joy she was missing out on by being unwanted. It had taken her years of reflection, therapy, and bad decision making for her to realize that she wasn’t the problem. That hope was always there. That she had things worth celebrating now, even though she suffered in the past.

And god forbid if any single child who walked through her hallway tonight was in need of a glimmer of hope, she’d be the one to provide it. Even if only through a bag of fudge and a warm smile.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Emma’s door sounded like it might break off the hinges, so she went running, assuming that something deeply horrifying was happening outside it.

But no, it was just Killian. On her ladder. Affixing mistletoe to her doorway.

“You know this thing is supposed to be about kids right? Not you trying to suck face with all thirty of your neighbors.”

“Well you’re the last one I’ve managed to not kiss. Ball’s in your court, love.”

“Can you go bother someone else? Emma’s a common name. Find a different one.”

“But my darling, all I want for Christmas is you,” he began singing, putting on quite the distracting performance in their shared hallway.

She couldn’t help but smile. She’d never met someone so… carefree? It was like the only thing Killian was capable of doing was making people smile (even when it was accompanied by another person’s heavy eye roll). But she was envious of him, because she’d give anything to not be burdened by the ghosts of Christmas past.

“Can you please go bother someone else, Jones?”

“Oh, fine. But I’ll be back for fudge.”

He turned on his heel and started back toward Ruby’s and Graham’s side of the building, ignoring Emma as she shouted back to him, “the candy is for the children, not for grown adult asses!”

Later that night, Christmas Eve in full-swing, Emma received another knock on her door. She grabbed her tub of fudge and skipped to the doorway, only to be met with those infuriatingly beautiful blue eyes that could only belong to one Killian Jones… alongside a small human who looked strikingly like him.

“Holiday Treats!” the two of them yelled together, nearly giggling, and Emma would have laughed too if she weren’t so damn confused.

“Jones, are you plucking children off the street to guilt me into giving you peanut butter fudge?”

“Killian said your fudge is the best ever in the whole world! And my brother doesn’t lie.”

“I’m sorry… brother?” Emma gaped, suddenly feeling as if there’s quite a lot she didn’t know about Killian Jones.

“Liam, please don’t scare the nice fudge lady or she won’t give us any,” Killian teasingly chastised to his shorter counterpart before turning back to Emma to explain. “So, long story short, my father is a garbage human being and after leaving me and my older brother in an orphanage, he started a new family and abandoned them, too. Just found out about little Liam here about a week ago, but I’m now an approved foster parent, and, well, he’s soon to be your neighbor, too!”

“Aye, aye!” Liam yelled, absolutely delighted by at least some part of that odd tale.

“Oh my god, that’s why you wanted to decorate so badly.”

“Yep, just trying to make things festive for junior here. Now…. Fudge, please?” he asked, pouting his lip and extending his open hand. Liam, of course, followed suit, and Emma nearly burst into a fit of laughter at the sight.

“Of course, Joneses,” she chuckled, handing them twice as much fudge as she’d given out to any of the other children.

“Now why don’t you stop on by later on so I can get to know my new neighbor a little bit better?”

“Of course, love!” Killian replied, about to bolt for the next candy-giving door when Emma stopped him abruptly, her hand gripping his elbow tightly, keeping him in place.

Before he had time to question her, she leaned in and gave him a sweet peck on the corner of the mouth, muttering “mistletoe” into his ear before she leaned back against the doorframe.

A little dazed, Killian did nothing but smile somewhat confusedly, until Liam tugged on his leather jacket. “Kiss your girlfriend later – it’s candy time!”

When the Joneses came back later that night, Emma made them her signature hot chocolate and they watched a marathon of Love, Actually, Elf, and Rudolph, each of them passing out on their respective couches long before Emma had a chance to turn off her Christmas lights. When they awoke the next morning, she made them breakfast and they invited her over to open presents with them (not that Killian could afford many, but he was trying, he’d whispered to her as Liam begged her to join).

They never spent a Christmas apart again.

#cs ff #cs secret santa #keisha writes #this is a gift

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westonismsx · 5 years

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Weston had just wrapped up a conference call with Adam Moreau, their European Investor and now, Partner of Maddox Media company that they launched in Europe a few weeks ago. They scheduled this web conference once a week to catch up on anything that would require Weston’s assistance as they work to fully establish the branch and have operations running as seamlessly as possible. Truth be told, a huge burden had been lifted off his chest as Adam reassured him things were going according to plan and that the man himself was personally attending to everything. Understandably, the wariness was expected as Weston lived across the Atlantic Ocean which mean he couldn’t look over everything as closely as he wanted. The raven-haired CEO had no idea how to even convey his gratitude to the older man until Jhanvi suggested throwing them a welcome party. Needless to say, the very next few days he had flown Adam and his associates to Manhattan and gave them a welcome party, introducing them to their home base company so that his employees would know who had such a hand in making this possible. The party wrapped up last Saturday and Adam left with New York this Tuesday with his associates. It had gone as well as he had hoped, not a surprise since his EA once again took care of everything so doubts were not even in the realm of possibility for him.

While the party had no complications in itself, save for one incident that remained between himself, Jhanvi, and Clara. Weston hadn’t been thinking when Jhanvi walked in wearing that tantalizing dress, his brain had promptly shut down and he found himself going over to her as she was personally beckoning him. As if she’d worn a dress so lustrous and readied herself to be seen by only his eyes. So, it was no surprise when men approached her, and the raven-haired male had come close to snapping. Barely resisting the urge to go over to male she’d been dancing with and brazenly rip her away from the male and keep her locked right by his side. He had slipped up when he had almost confronted the male to keep his hands to himself Clara had noticed and so had Adam, both who were quick to diffuse the situation. Truthfully, since that incident, for the remainder of the night, he had kept his eyes off of Jhanvi and kept his attention on Clara. Not only for his sake, but for Jhanvi and for the sake of not starting a conflict in front of a man he admired and respected. He owed Adam this night to be flawless and to show his gratitude and by displaying his possessive behavior, he would only ruin it. Thankfully, his childhood friend Clara had knocked some sense to him, pulling him to the side and reminding him of the bigger picture. She’d been pretty vocal about her opinion about his behavior towards Jhanvi and put things into perspective. Reminding him, that she was his subordinate and nothing good would happen by pursuing her, reiterating that if he cared about Jhanvi he would let her be and not put her through the judgmental stares and rumors from others. His auburn-haired friend was right of course, he couldn’t be selfish not when too many things were at stake. He had no idea what had come over him, but seeing her smiling and friendly with another male who was obvious of his attraction to Jhanvi made his blood boil. To do something, anything to claim her as his that all those smiles and looks were only for him. Christ, he needed to get a grip. He had decided to take Clare’s wise words and now was up to him to stick through it, regardless of how painful it was for him. So, the days after, he kept away from Jhanvi once more only being around when required and keeping conversation short which wasn’t a problem since Clara was around keeping him company.

Weston was in the midst of scanning some papers when his cell phone rang, curious he pulled it out and saw his mother’s name flash across the screen. Smiling immediately, he answered it, the delight and affection in his voice obvious in his voice for the woman. “Mom, I’m glad you called. To what do I owe this pleasant surprise?” He couldn’t help but exaggerate but this was typical behavior for him when it concerned his mother. A flash of guilt passed through briefly, he’d been back for weeks now and still had not gone to see his parents who had called and inquired about his launch in the past weeks. His stress and attention wavering elsewhere was no excuse, of course, they were his parents and they were a top priority, Jhanvi included in that list now as well. His mother began expressing her disappointment at his absence and then proceeded to ask if he had forgotten them. Weston quickly silenced her concerns, apologizing and promising he’d visit in the coming week. “I’m so sorry mom, things have been crazy here. It’s not an excuse but you know I love you, and dad too. Tell him I said hi, alright?” He thought his mother wanted to hang up, but she hadn’t instead the topic of the conversation changed to Clara.

A soft sigh escaped his lips, this was a common conversation since he’d finished college, his mother adored his childhood friend and it wasn’t any less for Weston either. He cared for Clara and considered her a friend, she was part of a small group people he trusted. The two had always had each other’s backs growing up and his mother had mistaken that as him one day settling down with her. Weston loved Clara as one might a family member but never once had he thought of her in a romantic sense because he never felt it with her. She was a beautiful, smart, and a genuine woman but she just wasn’t for him and neither was Weston for her. Upon learning that she was in town visiting, his mother had pestered him to give her a chance. It was now he finally considered it. He had been since the last couple of days, as he spent time with her. As much as he didn’t want to, he knew he had to move on, in order for him to even attempt to erase his attraction to his stunning EA, he had to try. He supposed there was no one better than Clara, maybe he had been jumping to conclusions about her without even giving her a chance and he knew deep down his friend had liked him and was attracted to him. She never outright admitted it to him, he wasn’t as oblivious to the glances she gave him, enough for him to know she would want to give this a try. Last night, Weston finally mustered up some enthusiasm to ask her out to dinner tomorrow night. Today would be hard as he would be stuck at the office longer so they decided for Friday, and Clara agreed. “Weston?” His mother’s voice breaking the silence.

“I’m still here and I heard you. If I give her a chance, promise me you will not meddle and let me take my time?” His mother left out a soft snort but didn’t argue, she was appeased that he was finally agreeing to give it a chance. She then proceeded to ask when he’d go out with her, taking a deep breath he spoke, “I asked Clara for dinner tomorrow. I’m taking her to that place you kept insisting on.” Weston couldn’t help but chuckle as he heard his mother’s joy, well, if anything he seemed to make one person happy. He then emphasized to keep her promise and stay out of it until he was ready to share his progress and his mother agreed not wanting to push anymore. The conversation still carried on for a little while longer before he hung to get back to work. Internally, he was still unsure and knowing it wouldn’t be easy moving past Jhanvi especially when he saw her everything and was near her. Fuck, he never hated anything more in his life than he did right now. He wanted her with a need he couldn’t even fathom and he realized he moving from her would not be an easy task. The sooner he accepted Jhanvi wasn’t for him, the better it would be for him and maybe her too.

#thread003 #post europe #otp- when we kissed i realized why hurricanes after named after people

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easycookingposts-blog · 5 years

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Cooking for Sunday Dinner

From as far back as I can remember there have been special church occasions when dinner on the church grounds was the order for the day. Far too many times I watched as person after person walked in with store purchased fried chicken. Whether the reason for this was lack of time, lack of planning, or lack of ideas I was never quite certain. I was certain however, that this was not isolated to my church alone.

It may seem odd but I have traveled all over the country and lived in many different areas of the culture. One thing that seems constant no matter where I live is that someone inevitably brings fried chicken from a local restaurant or deli as his or her potluck offering. There is nothing wrong with this of course, but there are so many great recipes available for Sunday dinner cooking that it seems odd that so many would resort to this tired old tradition rather than spicing things up with a spicy taco casserole or sweetening the deal with some delightfully delicious and simple to make dessert.

Sunday dinners obviously aren't the only time when cooking a casserole or making a dessert is a good decision for the day. They are, however, the most common from my childhood, which is why I often refer to them. There are also 'pitch ins' at work that require a contribution and these are an excellent opportunity to make coworkers envy your culinary talents. Even for those who are health conscious however, there are many wonderful types of salads that can be prepared for occasions such as this that will provide you with a guilt free entrée at the event for which you are preparing your offering.

You do not have to choose calorie or fat filled dishes for your Sunday dinner cooking. In fact, when you are doing the cooking you should cook the things you enjoy eating. Most of us are much more likely to put our best efforts into preparing the foods we enjoy rather than those that feel as though they are a chore for us to make. The same holds true when cooking for potlucks and such. Just be careful that you do not prepare the exact same dish every time or people will think that it is the only dish you can prepare.

I recommend checking out casserole recipes online and in your favorite magazines. Even magazines that offer healthier eating options often have a casserole, large salad, or even a healthy dessert you can prepare for these events. My personal solution has always been to collect recipes over time that I would like to try out and use the potluck audience as my recipe guinea pigs. This way if my family or I do not like it, we won't be stuck with leftovers for a week and if we do like it, we can put it into our rotation of recipes for use at home.

Sunday dinner cooking doesn't have to be nearly as stressful as many of us make it out to be. Many wonderful crock-pot recipes can actually be prepared while you sleep. Just load your slow cooker with the proper ingredients and turn it on before turning in. You should awaken to the wonderful aroma of whatever delightful dish you have prepared and still manage to get ready for church in record time. This tried and true technique is a great way to make Sunday dinner cooking quick and easy.

Even if you are one of the many who have very limited culinary talents it is quite possible to wow your friends, relatives, and fellow church members with the correct 'simple to make' recipe. Desserts are by far the best way to go in this effort and can also be made the night before (in many cases) and stored in the refrigerator. Desserts are almost always a good bet and very few people ever complain about them regardless. The Kraft foods website offers some fabulously easy to make and delicious desserts if you are in need. The next time it is your turn to join in on the potluck preparation don't resort to fried chicken. Dish up something that will truly turn heads instead.

#cooking #cookie run #sundaydinner #howtocook #food #homecooking

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ninjagocrohw · 5 years

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Here have some Rejago character planning :P this isnt final and it might be spoilery(hence why lloyd isnt included in this post) so read at your own risk.

this also includes my own last names for the chars so like. yknow. dont get confused by that.

[true potential is blocked by a self inflicted character flaw/problem that is preventing the master from being in tune with their element (ie. something has happened that they should be dealing with as their element would but are doing the opposite or are so unfocused because of this problem that they can't properly fall into their elements grasp)]

Kai Kajiya: Element of Fire - hot headed, stubborn, perfectionist. Gets obsessed with twitter and his fans due to the idea that he has to live up to their standards. Has a sibling hoarder problem-EVERYONE IS MY SIBLING NOW-the most protective of lloyd. Doesnt give a single shit about this ninja stuff at first-especially since their family has samurai roots wu. Just wants revenge on the skeletons for destroying he and Nya’s family home and leaving them with nothing to remember their parents by. The first to unlock his elemental powers by falling victim to OVEREMOTIONAL OUTBURSTS

Doesnt know when to give up, intensely competitive, pushes and pushes untill everything falls apart

True Potential: was blocked by jealousy, hatred and paranoia; Lloyd is annoying and obnoxious and was placed into their care without their consent. he's the son of their enemy and he took the green ninja from Kai. Kai gets the fuck over this in a split second moment where he has to decide whether he's going to save Lloyd from lava or not-he puts his bullshit aside and comes out of the experience as the ninja who loves Lloyd the fucking MOST and is able to see that he would've made a terrible chosen one.(way too emotional)(blocked specifically by leaning too far into his emotions while simultaneously leaning away from compassion)

Nya Kajiya: Element of Water - also very stubborn, quick learner who gets burnt out REAL quickly if she doesnt immediately succeed, very empathetic and protective. Besties with Wu, heart of the team alongside Cole. Is overwhelmed by this whole ninja thing and doesnt want anything to do with destiny, just wants to help people. Doesnt develop her powers right away-is super jealous of the boys though. She feels coddled and trapped by wu, and develops the samurai x persona to relieve herself of that as well as to actually help out. Finds out about water ninja shit sooner than in the show-but hides it and refuses to accept it as shes grown VERY comfortable as samurai x. Feels clunky and heavy, doesnt think shed make a good ninja. Very smart, good with machines-but more so in the greasy, oily, mechanic sense(not really an inventor, but definitely a fixer).

Gives up too easily if she isnt IMMEDIATELY good at something-doesnt happen alot because shes generally adaptable. STUBBORN. To the point that it causes problems/arguments/’i cant do that’ moments for her.

True Potential: blocked by tension and stress. unlocked by Jay telling everyone to shut the fuck up and leave her alone-its ok if she can't do this they'll find another way. (blocked by not being able to relax and "go with the flow" due to mounting pressure for her to succeed)[jays repaying the favour]

Cole Alun: Element of Earth - Sensible, Stable, heart of the team who everyone(Except kai) readily follows/instinctively turns to. Loves all kinds of different arts and music, but is worn out by his father’s obsession with it. Delights in letting people go through with their stupid decisions as long as it wont end in anything TOO awful(its fun to watch stupid people get their comeuppance kai), cANT COOK TO SAVE HIS LIFE BUT DESPERATELY WANTS TO AND THINKS HE CAN. POSSIBLY THE MOST PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE PERSON ON THE PLANET. Is tooootally fine with the whole ninja thing-he was running out of ways to avoid his dad.(‘this works’ he says as he avoids all his problems and stews in guilt and nervousness)

Talented and capable, a quick study. Generally good at alot of things, but like nya is bullheaded and cant STAND IT when he fails.(fuckin. Theatre kid.)

True Potential: blocked by avoiding his father!!!! lieing about going to some artsy school instead of confronting Lou about how he doesn't want to follow in his foot steps. (blocked by the inability to be straightforward with a loved one due to fear)

Jay Walker: Element of Lightning - Unsure about all this ninja, save the world shit at first-anxious, needy, requires reassurances-instinctively buddies up with cole and stands by his side 90% of the time. Is the last to unlock his powers and finally feels ok when he does. Seems to have a thing for muscled, tall, dark haired warriors(nya, cole). Not a mechanic like Nya, more of an inventor. Fastest of the main ninja-most agile but also SUPER SQUISHY MY GOD HE GOES DOWN QUICK. Is most intune with his element during the Tournament arc where hes just the prickliest bastard in existence(sidenote: really loved that fandom theory of fenwick being jays dad-skybound and lightning and flying ships as a jay season was such a waste by not tying it back into the cloud kingdom ;u;)

Try hard. Needs everything to go smoothly.

True Potential: blocked by insecurities self doubt and a want to be someone different. unlocked by nya letting him know that "your the best you" and reassuring his insecurities by reminding him that she chose HIM not anyone else in the world. (blocked by folding in on himself and letting his fears consume him)

Zane Eirlys: Element of Ice - Has a ‘sixth sense’ thats later revealed to actually be a danger detecting script in his brain-sort of like a spidey sense. Very naive to the world around him, but feels like he should know more-how long has he existed on this planet? Why is everything so new feeling? Lived mostly on his own for what felt like a very long time and thus is very independent-cooks, cleans, washes regularly, etc. The most adult somehow despite being so naive. The first to walk away to cool off from arguments.

Fuckin. PRODIGY. Good at anything he has an interest in-because hes super patient. Takes a long time to get good at new things.

True Potential: blocked by confusion and unfocused due to not fitting in/his amnesia about where he comes from. is unblocked after he follows the birb and comes to terms with what he is.(blocked by not paying attention to anything around him and focusing on anxieties about how people see him and where he comes from)

#rejago #ninjago #rejago is a fancomic reboot ive been wanting to do for like 2 years now #finally getting off my ass and getting things cemented so i can start planning out the chapters and then thumbnailing pages

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meditativeyoga · 5 years

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Just Be: The Value of Constructive Rest

You have actually attempted every little thing to deal with tension overload, and also you still feel drained. Have you tried simply doing absolutely nothing? In clinical parlance, it's called constructive rest.

I'm balancing on my father's athletic shoe, age eight. Some neighbor is talking-- developed speak about rain gutters or football-- but after that he stops and also overlooks at me. '3rd quality,' he says cheerily. 'So, just what's your favorite topic?' I don't hesitate: 'Recess.' I flash a self-conscious smile.

Recess, I'm assuming, really is far better than math and also background-- it's just what I have actually simply found out, still swirling in my head, plus the liberty to absorb it, plus the Jungle Fitness center, plus some unusual emptiness. However I smile because at eight years old, I already know what's expected. No one has ever before rested down to discuss it to me, I recognize the needs of a society owned by a job values, the demand to maintain unstructured time in its place. So, I take place to say to the good man that spelling's rather great also. I regret it to this day.

Twenty years later on, I'm considering recess-ish things. And work ethic. And rare vacuum. Adult life experiences an obvious lack of set up recess, we just take harsh estimates of it now and also then.

Indeed, a few yoga exercise experts could admit that their preferred component of course is Savasana (Corpse Pose), the silent mins of existing still at the end (see 'Find Serenity in Savasana'). They also might flash an awkward smile later. In a nation that frequently gauges its self-regard in efficiency, that would not really feel amusing calling remainder a rewarding pastime?

But under the amusing feeling, there exists something major. Therefore it is that, as another overbusy American, I'm attempting to imagine a full-bore Savasana developed right into our lives-- not the yoga exercise pose itself yet rather something broader. Having actually remembered to call our papas on Daddy's Day, we would certainly hang up and also show before sitting down to pay bills. After an extreme company conference, we would certainly going someplace silent to digest the experience. Rather than downing coffee and the front web page before work, we would certainly delight in the quiet of the morning. The opportunities are endless, in addition to diverting. On crowded street edges, one would see not just bus quits however individuals quits. Instead of iPods and also cellular phone, people would not leave home without their lavender-scented eye cushions. Yes, there would be laughing at first. However soon sufficient, somebody would certainly mention that laughing is a kind of rest too.

' The concept behind Savasana is to totally release,' Tara Mathur, a reflection instructor at the worldwide Art of Living Structure in San Francisco, informs me. 'The advantages of a task only actually obtain taken in when you've done this. With Savasana, it's physical-- the position is created to make sure that no muscular tissue has to strain-- but also psychological. It resembles meditation: being dead while you're still to life. Fatality not as a morbid thing but as flexibility and also agility.'

With Savasana's freedom and also agility, it's stated, we find ourselves able to absorb all the experiences as well as poses of the technique that came before. Savasana is a resting posture, however the relaxing we do is energetic, it is about incorporating exactly what we've discovered-- yes, a radical concept by itself. Yet many striking to me, Savasana is structured right into the technique. We're not delegated find some silent time later on, we're led to it by the hand. Were it not part of the drill, I 'd just roll up my floor covering as well as head house. I understand this concerning myself. Much more important, yoga recognizes this regarding me, for this reason the built-- in Savasana. We such as a deliberate rest-- need it, also-- but the majority of us typically aren't progressed sufficient to demand it without coaxing.

From books like Juliet Schor's Overworked American and Carl Honoré's In Praise of Slowness to national projects such as Repossess Your Time Day, a task started last year by a group called the Simplicity Forum, the message of our very own busyness has crept right into the cumulative awareness. Require reducing down in a culture blowing up with productivity are, in such a way, revolutionary. But they're additionally ending up being typical-- and also are normally overlooked. ' I require a holiday,' individuals whimper consistently, and afterwards they maintain precisely working, as if the possibility of damaging devoid of the numerous hours, also briefly, is just fantasy. 'This year, I'm mosting likely to simplify,' we swear, however the brand-new electronic organizer we buy in order to help us accomplish this grand goal winds up contributing to the heap.

I see no requirement to make another plea for us to function much less, you've heard them all. Nor do I feel drawn to release yet an additional questions right into our strange connection to function, or to busyness. Instead, I intend to consider the matter from the opposite side of the equation. Why is it that our nonworking hrs don't seem enough to invigorate us? Just what do we perform with ourselves when we're not active? And also when its time lastly arrives, do we enjoy our 'recess' at its energetic, purposeful, restorative best?

"TV is not Relaxation"

Following six straight hours of job, as well as coming before six even more, I commit 30 nonrefundable mins to Judge Judy. For but a moment-- the length of a Ziploc bag commercial-- I wonder if this is the finest method to invest my job break. Then the 30-second area mores than and also Judy is back.

The abiding and self-congratulatory myth relating to Americans as well as relaxation is that we've obtained as well much on our plates to partake. As a society, plainly we have underdeveloped suggestions regarding nothingness. While we're certainly busy, we're not too hectic, not by a long odds, not by at the very least four hrs of TV a day, inning accordance with Nielsen records, plus Internet browsing, tours to the shopping center, and more. We have, oddly sufficient, massive books of apparent free time. That we prefer to use so little of it to proactively deal with the different devastations of stress and anxiety suggests a connection to downtime that wants rethinking.

Of the current mainstream dabblings in the anti-busyness motion was a Redbook short article called '15 Ways to Streamline Your Life.' 'Do nothing' made the checklist, but the Redbook suggestion of doing absolutely nothing appeared to do not have the deliberateness of Savasana. 'Maybe you'll review old love letters,' the post recommended. 'Possibly you'll repaint your nails red. Whatever.'

Not lengthy back, I began doing points that just weren't on my to-do list-- silly things, meaningless court TV-ish things-- simply to feel my RPMs cycle downward. I liked it. With reducing sense of guilt, I 'd push back from my workdesk and also sink onto the sofa, or wander out the back door to adjust a passionflower creeping plant. But by as well as by, I understood my deceleration wasn't actually enhancing my whole lot. It happened to me that simply as the recently reformed cigarette smoker soon discovers himself hooked on coffee, I would certainly exchanged numerous hours for virtueless entertainment, the Wonder bread of remainder. Just not doing anything isn't without quality, it's putting down the pencil, which's a begin. Nothingness alone could recover just so much of the upset soul.

' The majority of Americans are doing what I call default relaxation activities, which generate lower degrees of procedure advantages,' states author Schor, who's additionally a teacher of sociology at Boston College. Refine advantages are the leisure activities associated with higher levels of human contentment. 'Watching TV and also buying, for instance, are revealed to have low procedure advantages,' Schor claims. Mathur, the reflection teacher, says, 'In modern culture, when we state we're tired, we generally mean our mind is tired.' Usually, however, we cannot listen up as well as offer it a remainder. Instead, we hunch down on the sofa with the remote in hand. 'With TV, you're adding input instead of removing or cleansing. In a manner, your mind is mosting likely to be a lot more worn out when you're done.'

Liz Newby-Fraser, academic dean at the California Institute for Human being Science, explains this in physical terms. 'Watching 2 hrs of television is not relaxation. With TV, there are stimuli that turn on the considerate nerve system, as opposed to the parasympathetic, which is connected with real remainder.'

The clinical instance for purposeful leisure has acquired prestige over the last few years. Americans may not require longer or even more frequent holidays simply to enjoy, yet our ears do prick up at health cautions. Inning accordance with the National Ag Safety and security Database, a database of farming health, safety, as well as injury prevention materials funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety as well as Health, 'Clinical study approximates as high as 90 percent of health problem as well as disease is stress-related.' As well as there's no lack of studies linking mental stress to heart trouble. In 2003, for instance, it was reported at the American Heart Organization's Scientific Procedure (four days of talks as well as investigatory discussions) that the variety of heart attacks in a Brooklyn health center increased significantly during both months after September 11. As well as Joe Robinson, owner of the Job to Live Campaign, has created that taking a yearly holiday reduces the threat of heart attack by 30 percent for males and also 50 percent for women.

A Relaxed Workaholic?

And yet I'm doubtful-- or, rather, unmoved. I long for a less demanding existence but appear incapable of making the necessary way of living adjustments. Do I desire to have 10 good friends over for a fancy supper tonight? Yes! Will I rip out the yard concrete as well as amend the soil myself? Yes! Did I accept the assignment to write this story despite a mountain of other work? Yes!

I'm not the only one. To evaluate our cultural perspectives regarding leisure is to confront our real feeling concerning it: We do not desire that much leisure to begin with. Previous labor secretary Robert Reich wrote in The Future of Success that are only 8 percent of us (compared to 38 percent of Germans as well as 30 percent of Japanese) would certainly favor much less job if it suggested much less pay. A Lou Harris public viewpoint poll showed that Americans' leisure had actually decreased 37 percent over a 20-year duration. In the September/October 2000 problem of Utne Visitor, Joe Harrison declared that in the mid- '90s, the United States passed Japan as the most worn country in the industrialized world, according to a record published in 2001 by the International Labor Company, Americans work 137 hrs (regarding 3 as well as a half weeks) more a year than Japanese workers. The 2002 publication Affluenza: The Intense Epidemic explains 'a painful, transmittable, socially transferred problem of overload, debt, anxiety, and waste arising from the relentless pursuit of more.'

Such examinations right into job as well as leisure in this country bring about impressively befuddling concerns regarding humanity itself. If our default leisure tasks do us little bit good, and an extra thoughtful mind-body recognition makes us a lot more effective, why do we still pick Survivor over meditation or yoga exercise or simply a few mins of actual quiet? One line of thinking recommends that we can not birth to deal with the messy barrenness of our hollow, online, box-store, early-21st-century lives, we do not dare glimpse the abyss. Schor, for her component, sees it extra merely: Tv's simple. 'Reflection requires an ability,' she claims. 'TELEVISION needs none.'

But creating abilities for much better remainder need not be an impossible job, I'm told, nor have to our vast order of business be totally discarded. Lots of people are looking for a counterbalance to the tensions of their lives, states Michelle Adams, health and fitness as well as motion treatment director at the prominent Canyon Ranch health spa and also health facility in Lenox, Massachusetts. 'You can attain that leisure in a number of methods: 3 minutes of music, a few mins of purposeful silent in bed after the alarm goes off-- even running, if you discover how to concentrate on exactly how your body is feeling. People assume reflection has to take location in a peaceful, dark area, yet that's not the situation.'

Schor concurs that an extra restful, reflective life and antique American performance needn't be mutually exclusive. The increased effectiveness of a healthy employee isn't difficult to imagine, and various other relevant advantages have been shown as well. 'One study shows that individuals living with just what I call volunteer simplicity leave less an ecological impact,' Schor informs me-- an exemplary point, certainly, as well as additionally financially beneficial to those individuals in the lengthy term.

But will Americans ever really select an extra peaceful life? There's inertia and habit to emulate, plus, there seems to be an overlooked mirrors that the rushing and also the vegetating are The U.S.A. at its bipolar best. A few of the best art, success, as well as enjoyable appear born of imbalance. Doesn't our mix of mad and also leisurely give us Friday evening, offer us New york city City after all?

Newby-Fraser puts it by doing this: 'The U.S.A. is very obsessed with achievement as well as addicted to certain adverse excitement. It's still possible to be a workaholic and to aspect in regular leisure. I, myself, am a workaholic as well as I don't view myself.'

When I tell Schor, Mathur, Adams, and also Newby-Fraser about my idea for incorporating a kind of generalised Savasana right into daily life, each responds with something like protected optimism. 'Many people do not live life in a proactively deliberate method,' Schor informs me, but includes that some do: 'You have actually obtained some polarized fads now. The majority is doing this dominant point [TELEVISION, buying, and so on], yet an expanding minority is beginning to do something else, to do this volunteer simpleness. You most likely to places like the Pacific Northwest as well as see increasingly more of it. It's about transforming mindsets toward consumerism, a propensity to be much more reflective as well as diligent.'

In concept, anything could be introspective, from lying quietly, to being in church, to several type of motion. The major thing, Mathur states, is choosing that remainder is a beneficial business in the first area. 'There are still one or two in each yoga class that rise and also leave after asana technique,' she keeps in mind. 'It has to do with seeing Savasana as a similarly valued pose and activity.

I desire to experience the value of Savasana. So, after taking in all the research study and also viewpoints of the specialists, I walk my worn self to the hallway outside my residence workplace. For the following 10 mins, my metaphor of generalized Savasana is mosting likely to be a literal Savasana for me, as best as I can take care of. My busyness awaits me, back at my desk, and I find it oddly liberating to approve this. I will not vow to much less job, I've tried it and it does not happen. Instead, I'm mosting likely to 'not work' better.

At one point in our conversation, Schor informed me her vision for the initial step: Americans, whose efficiency grows approximately 3 percent a year nowadays, must trade the moment they acquire for vacation, for leisure. After reflection, this looks like an additional method of saying recess. Which lengthy back really was one of my preferred things.

#asana #meditation #Yoga #yoga retreat

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kotstarblogs · 3 years

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Cooking For Sunday Dinner

From as far back as I can keep in mind there have been special church occasions when dinner on the church grounds was the order for the day. Far too several times I watched as person soon after person walked in with store purchased fried chicken. No matter whether the reason for this was lack of time, lack of planning, or lack of ideas I was in no way quite specific. I was certain nonetheless, that this was not isolated to my church alone.

It might appear odd but I've traveled all over the country and lived in many diverse areas of the culture. 1 factor that seems constant no matter where I live is that an individual inevitably brings fried chicken from a local restaurant or deli as his or her potluck offering. There's nothing wrong with this obviously, but you'll find so numerous fantastic recipes obtainable for Sunday dinner cooking that it appears odd that so numerous would resort to this tired old tradition instead of spicing issues up having a spicy taco casserole or sweetening the deal with some delightfully delicious and straightforward to make dessert.

Sunday dinners clearly are not the only time when cooking a casserole or producing a dessert is a very good decision for the day. They are, however, essentially the most widespread from my childhood, which is why I usually refer to them. You'll find also 'pitch ins' at work that require a contribution and these are an excellent opportunity to create coworkers envy your culinary talents. Even for those who are wellness conscious even so, there are lots of wonderful kinds of salads that may be prepared for occasions including this that will present you having a guilt free entree at the event for which you might be preparing your offering.

You don't need to decide on calorie or fat filled dishes for your Sunday dinner cooking. In reality, whenever you are doing the cooking you should cook the things you enjoy consuming. Most of us are significantly more likely to put our greatest efforts into preparing the foods we appreciate instead of those that really feel as although they are a chore for us to create. The same holds accurate when cooking for potlucks and such. Just be careful that you do not prepare the exact same dish each and every time or individuals will think that it really is the only dish it is possible to prepare.

I suggest checking out casserole recipes on the internet and in your favorite magazines. Even magazines that give healthier eating possibilities often have a casserole, huge salad, or even a wholesome dessert you can prepare for these events. My personal remedy has usually been to collect recipes over time that I would like to try out and use the potluck audience as my recipe guinea pigs. This way if my loved ones or I don't like it, we won't be stuck with leftovers for a week and if we do like it, we can put it into our rotation of recipes for use at home.

Sunday dinner cooking does not have to be nearly as stressful as several of us make it out to be. Several great crock-pot recipes can really be prepared while you sleep. Just load your slow cooker with the appropriate ingredients and turn it on prior to turning in. You ought to awaken to the amazing aroma of whatever delightful dish you might have prepared and still manage to obtain ready for church in record time. This tried and accurate approach is really a great way to make Sunday dinner cooking fast and straightforward.

Even if you're among the several who have extremely limited culinary talents it really is fairly probable to wow your pals, relatives, and fellow church members with the right 'simple to make' recipe. Desserts are by far the very best method to go in this effort and may also be made the night just before (in several cases) and stored in the refrigerator. Desserts are nearly usually a great bet and quite few folks ever complain about them regardless. The Kraft foods site provides some fabulously straightforward to make and delicious desserts if you're in will need. The next time it is your turn to join in on the potluck preparation don't resort to fried chicken. Dish up something that can genuinely turn heads instead.

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#food recepies #food

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pamphletstoinspire · 5 years

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God and Mammon: The 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

As Jesus continues his “death march” to Jerusalem in Luke’s Gospel (Luke 9–19), he challenges us this Sunday to choose, in a clear and conscious way, our goal in life: God or money. The First Reading reminds us that wealth was a seductive trap for the people of God throughout salvation history.

1. The First Reading is Amos 8:4-7:

Hear this, you who trample upon the needy and destroy the poor of the land! “When will the new moon be over,” you ask, “that we may sell our grain, and the sabbath, that we may display the wheat? We will diminish the ephah, add to the shekel, and fix our scales for cheating! We will buy the lowly for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals; even the refuse of the wheat we will sell!” The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Never will I forget a thing they have done!

Amos is often thought to be the earliest of all the literary (writing) prophets, since his relatively short ministry probably fell in the decade 770-760 BC. Amos 1:1 dates his prophecy to “two years before the earthquake” during the reigns of Uzziah of Judah and Jeroboam II of Israel, an event that archeologists now estimate at c. 760 BC, ±25 yrs. This would probably place his ministry just prior to Hosea’s longer career (c. 750-725BC).

Amos, like Hosea, prophesied to northern Israel; but unlike Hosea, Amos was not a northerner himself. He was a Judean from Tekoa, a village to the south of Jerusalem, an agricultural worker who raised sheep and tended an orchard of sycamore-figs (Amos 7:14). He was called by God to preach judgment to northern Israel at a time when that nation was wealthy, arrogant, and oppressive to their southern neighbors. Amos clearly distances himself from the professional prophets who learned prophesying from their fathers and practiced it as a kind of family trade (see Amos 7:12-14). He was not motivated by a desire to earn a living, but was impelled by a genuine commission from God (7:15).

This Sunday’s First Reading is a portion of the fourth of a series of five visions (7:1–9:8) of divine judgment that constitute the last major section of the book. After an oracle of judgment against Amaziah the unrighteous priest (7:16-17), Amos sees a “basket of summer fruit (Heb. qāyîtz),” which indicates that the “end (Heb. qētz) has come for my people Israel” (8:1-3). Wailing, mourning, death, and a famine of God’s word will come on Israel, because of the abuse of the poor (8:4-7) and worship of false gods (8:13-14).

A striking feature of this First Reading is the way these ancient Israelite merchants regard religion as an impediment to profit. “When will the Sabbath be over, that we may display our wheat?” The Sabbath, which God gave to man as a beautiful day of rest, to be enjoyed with family, friends, and God Himself, is now seen as a burden and restraint to the pursuit of profit.

As Catholics we often forget that observance of the Sabbath (in the New Covenant, shifted to the first day of the week, the Lord’s Day) is still part of the Ten Commandments and obligatory for Christians. Although many of us live in nominally “Christian” cultures, respect for the Lord’s Day has been all but lost, and instead commerce and retail proceed on the Lord’s day of rest and worship as on every other day. Folks head from Mass to the grocery store, not thinking that this practice supports retailers being open on Sunday, therefore requiring their minimum-wage employees (the poor) to be there and labor on what should be a day of rest and worship for all. The consequences for Christian culture are tragic, because there remains, then, no one day of rest when persons have the freedom to worship and spend time in quiet with God and family together. As a Church, we cannot restore a Christian culture without re-establishing a respect — at least among Christians! — for the rest that is appropriate to the Lord’s Day.

Amos is best remembered in the Jewish and Christian tradition as a preacher of justice who was unafraid to publically rebuke the wealthy elite of his day, whose hypocritical and syncretistic religious practices did nothing to alleviate the guilt of their social and economic abuse of the poor. Amos composed his prophesies in simple yet vivid poetry, as in this much-quoted oracle:

“I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and cereal offerings, I will not accept them, and the peace offerings of your fatted beasts I will not look upon. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream!

Even today Amos’ words remind Christian believers that external observance of the Church’s rituals does not excuse or justify lifestyles of self-indulgence and indifference to the poor and needy.

2. Our Second Reading is 1 Timothy 2:1-8:

Beloved: First of all, I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone, for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity. This is good and pleasing to God our savior, who wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth. For there is one God. There is also one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as ransom for all. This was the testimony at the proper time. For this I was appointed preacher and apostle — I am speaking the truth, I am not lying — teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. It is my wish, then, that in every place the men should pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger or argument.

The Second Reading at this time of year is working its way through the personal letters of St. Paul. This passage from St. Paul’s first letter to Timothy stresses the need of the Christian community to pray together, especially for government officials. Good government is necessary that we may lead a “quiet and tranquil life in all devotion,” which pleases God who “desires all to be saved.” Why is good government and tranquil life connected with “all being saved?” Because political stability enables the Church to go about her evangelizing mission unmolested.

Pope Francis had some direct words about this passage of St. Paul:

“None of us can say, ‘I have nothing to do with this, they govern. . . .’ No, no, I am responsible for their governance, and I have to do the best so that they govern well, and I have to do my best by participating in politics according to my ability. Politics, according to the Social Doctrine of the Church, is one of the highest forms of charity, because it serves the common good. I cannot wash my hands, eh? We all have to give something!”

There is a tendency, the Pope observed, to only speak ill of leaders, and to mutter about “things that don’t go well.” “You listen to the television and they’re beating [them] up, beating [them] up; you read the papers and their beating [them] up. . . .” He continued, “Yes, maybe the leader is a sinner, as David was, but I have to work with my opinions, with my words, even with my corrections” because we all have to participate for the common good. It is not true that Catholics should not meddle in politics:

“‘A good Catholic doesn’t meddle in politics.’ That’s not true. That is not a good path. A good Catholic meddles in politics, offering the best of himself, so that those who govern can govern. But what is the best that we can offer to those who govern? Prayer! That’s what Paul says: “Pray for all people, and for the king and for all in authority.” “But Father, that person is wicked, he should go to hell. . . .” Pray for him, pray for her, that they can govern well, that they can love their people, that they can serve their people, that they can be humble.” A Christian who does not pray for those who govern is not a good Christian! “But Father, how will I pray for that person, a person who has problems. . . .” “Pray that that person might convert!”

(From Vatican Radio: bit.ly/1gnJgYK)

3. The Gospel is Luke 16:1-13:

Jesus said to his disciples, “A rich man had a steward who was reported to him for squandering his property. He summoned him and said ‘What is this I hear about you? Prepare a full account of your stewardship, because you can no longer be my steward.’ The steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do, now that my master is taking the position of steward away from me?

I am not strong enough to dig and I am ashamed to beg. I know what I shall do so that, when I am removed from the stewardship, they may welcome me into their homes.’ He called in his master’s debtors one by one.

To the first he said ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He replied, ‘One hundred measures of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note. Sit down and quickly write one for fifty.’

Then to another the steward said, ‘And you, how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘One hundred kors of wheat.’ The steward said to him, ‘Here is your promissory note; write one for eighty.’

And the master commended that dishonest steward for acting prudently.

The role of steward in a large household was one of great responsibility, but also wealth and prestige. It went to the master’s most trusted male slave. As a result, enterprising young freemen in the Roman empire sometimes sold themselves as slaves to wealthy men in order to become stewards of their households.

Since the stewardship was an administrative position in which one lived in physical comfort, the steward realizes he is in great trouble when the master wishes to fire him. He’s not suited to any other way of making a living, and as a slave he has no estate of his own. He’s been use to socializing with his master’s peers, although he is not truly their social or legal equals.

So he pulls of a kind of “white collar crime.” Calling in his master’s debtors, he has them manipulate their receipts to “erase” a significant portion of their debt. Then they will be in this steward’s debt after he is fired, and “owe him one.”

Eventually, when the master found out what the steward had done, he “commended” him. This probably means, he acknowledged (grudgingly) how cunning his former employer had been.

“For the children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.

Non-religious people frequently have more “street smarts” in manipulating others than those who practice a faith. That’s why its best for Christians to stay out of the “rat race” rather than try to compete in it.

I tell you, make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth, so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

This is perhaps the key teaching of this entire Reading. The world encourages an attitude in which we use people to gain things. Jesus reverses this: use things to gain people. If spending money and giving goods can open others to friendship with the Church and ultimately Christ Himself, then spend the money, give the goods.

Pagan religion in the ancient world tended to be a semi-magical way to manipulate the spiritual realm (the realm of the “gods”) in order to gain material wealth.

Christianity is precisely the reverse of this. It is a religion in which we sacrifice material in order to gain spiritual wealth.

That is one reason why the “health and wealth Gospel” is such a perversion. Periodically one can here a radio or TV evangelist preaching Christ as a means to the “good life” — this is a return to paganism, a subordination of the spiritual to the material. It does not lead to true conversion, because as long as Jesus is a means to an end — and not the end itself — one is not yet a Christian.

The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones; and the person who is dishonest in very small matters is also dishonest in great ones.

If, therefore, you are not trustworthy with dishonest wealth  who will trust you with true wealth? If you are not trustworthy with what belongs to another, who will give you what is yours?

“Small matters” are often not small at all, because their consequences can be huge. This was illustrated some years ago when the $136 million-dollar Mars Climate Orbiter was lost on its maiden voyage due to malfunction. The problem? The contractor Lockheed Martin and constructed the device using English measurements, whereas the purchaser NASA conducted their operations only in metric.

Small issues — an inch vs. a centimeter—can have enormous material consequences and also spiritual ones. St. Josemaría Escrivà used to say he could tell the state of a man’s soul by looking at his desk or inspecting his closet. The interior of a man is reflected in his smallest actions.

Jesus teaches us here that material wealth — which in the eternal perspective is a matter of very little consequence at all — serves for us as a “testing ground.” Our faithful administration of material goods — which would include generosity toward the poor—wins favor with God and gains spiritual blessing, and to the contrary, self-indulgent use of material goods damages spiritual progress. No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon.”

The Christian who approaches discipleship with Christ while still trying to attain “the American dream” or the “good life” is dooming himself to frustration. If wealth, pleasure, or power in this life is what you are after, you truly have the wrong religion! It is truly pathetic, for example, for the Christian who devotes himself to mission work in his youth to become embittered or disgruntled in mid-life when he or she realizes they do not have the material wealth or creature comforts of their peers who went straight into business out of high school or college. Frustration results when the Christian loses focus on Christ and begins to pine for certain pleasures or pursuits that seem out of reach or incompatible with his life’s vocation. The only answer for this kind of frustration is re-conversion: to call to mind whom we are serving and why, and recommit to his service.

From: https://www.pamphletstoinspire.com/

#25th sunday in ordinary time

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mystical-flute · 7 years

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WIP Week Day Four: Any WIP

Twisted Destiny: Two wishes collide, which sets off a chain reaction that twists the destiny of everyone in the Enchanted Forest, but no one more so than Princess Emma of Misthaven. (No-curse Swanfire AU)

Fandom: Once Upon a Time

Ships: Emma Swan/Neal Cassidy, Snow White/Prince Charming, Belle/Rumplestiltskin, Red Riding Hood/Mulan

Words: 13,450 (5 chapters)

Chapter One is below the cut, but you can read the rest here or here.

Rumplestiltskin hummed as he frantically wrote down the name of the princess on his sheet of parchment in his prison cell. Emma. Emma. Emma. Emma.

Oh of course he knew he could escape any time he wanted, and that was exactly the case: He didn't want to. He was exactly where he needed to be when the Dark Curse was cast.

"Someday my prince will come…" he sang quietly as he wrote, giggling madly. It was so nice of Snow White and Charming to allow him things to write on while he was in here. He was so excited that the curse was going to be cast soon. He would be well on his way to getting Baelfire back His Bae.

His Bae. Soon, soon, soon.

He gasped then, suddenly overwhelmed with a vision, and the quill and parchment dropped to the ground, his eyes closing as the vision pulled through.

"Your wish was to go to where you belonged, Baelfire, and I granted it to you," a fairy was saying, looking down at Baelfire and some other blurry figures with him. But they weren't important. What was important was that Baelfire was here, in the Enchanted Forest. Or he would be, eventually. Which meant the curse –which was only a few days from being cast – was going to be unnecessary.

His eyes widened with realization. He needed to find a way to stop Regina.

"Hey… HEY! GUARDS!" he shouted, trying to get the guard's attention. He could escape. But where would be the fun in that? He liked tormenting the guards as if he were some sort of weak puppet. However… as no guard was coming, it appeared that Rumplestiltskin was going to have to take matters into his own hands. This was a very pressing matter after all.

Letting out a giggle, he disappeared from the cell in a puff of smoke, making sure to land squarely in the War Room. Perfect.

"You!" Charming shouted from his seat, everyone was on their feet in an instant, and Rumplestiltskin did nothing to defend himself. Why bother? It wasn't like any of their weapons could hurt him.

"Ah-ah! I wouldn't attack me if I were you, dearies. I have very important news. I have seen the future. And it is drastically changed from what I told you before."

"Is it Emma? Is she going to be okay?" Snow White asked immediately. Rumplestiltskin was glad for her, frankly. She could sense the urgency in his voice.

He held up his hands to show he meant no harm to her husband and the others seated at the table. "Your daughter is going to be more than fine, your majesty. For I foresaw you both raising her… here, in the Enchanted Forest. Safe from harm," he said. Okay, so he was lying about the vision, but stopping the curse would mean Emma would be raised here, right?

"The curse won't happen?" Charming asked in surprise, his face softening at the realization of what it meant.

"No, it will not."

A sob escaped the princess, and the prince rushed to console her, his sword clattering to the ground.

"Well, I should leave you alone to gather your thoughts," the imp said. He was feeling anxious now. They needed to get ready, immediately. "I will need your help to trap Regina. I'll let you know when."

"At what price?" one of the dwarves grumbled.

Rumplestiltskin shook his head. "No price this time. I swear." Not when this benefitted him as well as the rest of the residents of the Enchanted Forest. "You just worry about yourselves and keep Snow White healthy for the arrival of the little princess."

There was still a stress in the air, but it had faded somewhat at the news he'd brought them.

"Rumplestiltskin?" Charming suddenly asked as the imp turned to walk away.

"Yes dearie?" he asked with a small giggle.

"Thank you. Whatever it is you need us to do… we'll do it."

Rumplestiltskin could only give the man a curt nod before vanishing from the room.

There was much they needed to do to stop Regina. Well, not a whole lot, but enough that he required help.

The first stop was to the well where he'd trapped poor Prince Thomas. He figured that little Ella had learned her lesson – and as he'd broken out of the prison Snow and Charming had put him in for his crimes, well, rectifying them was probably a good idea.

Although, looking at Thomas as he clambered out of the well gave Rumplestiltskin an idea. Smirking, he vanished back to the castle.

"I have an idea. Squid ink."

"Squid ink?" Snow White (who had recovered from her brief hysterics) asked with a frown.

He nodded. "Yes. You see, I have some in my cell. I was using it to prepare a loophole for the curse – for little Emma, but now… I can put it back in the jar and use it to strengthen the bars of the cell so no magic can be used inside of it. Personally, I believe that's the sort of cell she should have been in to begin with but…" he waved his hand casually. Now was not the time to think of past regrets.

"Why are you willing to help us stop the curse?" Charming asked, his eyes still full of distrust that Rumplestiltskin couldn't blame him for.

"Because it will benefit us all. That world we were supposed to be sent to? It's a land without magic. A land without hope. A land where we wouldn't know who we are. Knowing Regina, you and your princess wouldn't even be together. Why wouldn't I want to stop something like that?" he explained. "Now… I shall be in my cell. Your majesty, I expect you and the guards to be in the tunnel leading to that cell in one hour. She'll be here then, and it wouldn't do any good if she saw you."

Rumplestiltskin vanished back into the cell he'd been locked in. Regina would come to him asking for his help in casting the curse, and he needed to be there. And then… he would strike. Going over to the parchment, Rumplestiltskin carefully lifted the ink up and off the parchment, before pouring it back into the bottle, stopping it and sliding it in his sleeve.

He giggled in utter delight as scaly fingers wrapped around the bars of the cell. Regina would be here soon. Soon soon soon. Oh, but perhaps he shouldn't be looking too eager at the thought of her visit, so he pulled away from the bars and climbed back onto the ceiling with a giggle.

Finally, Rumplestiltskin heard the tell tale sign of Regina's presence. A rat disguise. How clever of her to use that to slip past the guards.

"So kind of you to visit me, dearie," he said with a giggle. "What seems to be the problem?"

"My curse didn't cast," she said, with just a hint of a petulant, whiny child who didn't get her way. "Why?"

"Well, did you do everything I told you? Right down to the heart?" he asked curiously, as if actually pondering what could have possibly gone wrong.

"Of course I did. I used the heart of my prized steed."

He cackled and launched himself at her, grabbing her throat. "You're a fool, Regina! A curse like that doesn't need the heart of a steer. It needs the hear t of the thing you love most."

She coughed as Rumplestiltskin gestured for the guards to slowly start creeping forward behind her back. "That is the thing I love most!"

He could only titter. "Is it really, dearie?"

She froze at his insinuation. "Wait… do you mean…"

Another giggle escaped him. "Exactly. You know what you need to do…"

He could sense her anger and frustration, and it was then that he snapped his fingers, switching their positions, much to her shock.

"What – what did you do?!" Regina shrieked as Rumplestiltskin shattered the battle of squid ink, watching as the cell glowed for a moment.

"I did what was right," he replied with a casual shrug. "You see, the future changed, dearie. This is how your story ends."

"No! This can't be! I have to cast my curse and get my revenge on Snow White!" Regina screamed as the guards and Charming stormed into the room. "You can't do this to me! After everything we've done for each other, how can you do this to me?!"

"I'm doing what's best for the majority, not the few," Rumplestiltskin said, shrugging casually. "Besides, dearie. Who says you won't be happy here?"

Regina growled as Charming stepped up next to him. "Not so fun being trapped behind bars now, is it?" he asked with a smirk. "Snow gave you a chance to redeem yourself, and instead you throw it in our faces by attempting to cast a curse on this land. We did all we could to give you a second chance, and you didn't take it. Now you pay the price for it."

"And when are you going to pay for what you've done to me?"

"Snow did nothing to you that warrants something like this. Whatever she did, she's already paid for."

Rumplestiltskin couldn't argue with that. Snow White had simply told a secret. It was unfortunate that the stable boy died, but Snow White certainly didn't deserve that curse. The guilt Rumplestiltskin knew she carried with her was a high price – and something she would be carrying with her for much longer than twenty-eight years.

"We're going now," Charming said, his eyes narrowed as the guards turned to head back to the palace. "Dinner will be served to you in an hour."

Rumplestiltskin followed the prince and the guards, now unsure of where his place was. He had to wait for Baelfire, he knew that much. But every deal he'd made, every person he'd interacted with, had been for the curse. Now the puzzle he'd so carefully tried to piece together was unnecessary. He wasn't sure what he should do.

"So… now what?" he asked Charming as they left the mine.

Charming looked over at him. "I need to talk with Snow about it, but I want to go to her palace and make sure no one is being held captive there. We did last time but I still can't help but feel like we missed something."

Rumplestiltskin frowned. He wasn't sure he liked the sound of that.

"Would you mind if I… came with you?" Rumplestiltskin asked. "If magic is involved perhaps I can undo the spell."

Charming nodded. "That would be much appreciated. Thank you."

Rumplestiltskin flicked his wrist, and the group vanished in a cloud of smoke to Regina's palace.

"You! What are you doing here? With Prince James?! And where is my daughter?" Prince Henry asked, his eyes wide in bewilderment.

"Regina is a prisoner in my palace after attempting to curse us all to an unknown land," Charming said. "And now we're going to search this castle to make sure no one else is stuck here as a prisoner."

"You did this last time. She hasn't taken anyone else hostage!" Henry protested. "But why must she be a prisoner again?"

"Because when I did, she attempted to curse us. I understand you're her father but she is called the Evil Queen for a reason," Charming replied. "She could have killed us all in the process."

"Mm, I'm not sure about that, but she definitely would have killed Henry over there," Rumplestiltskin giggled, wagging his fingers at the man as the guards fanned out of the room.

Henry blanched, but said nothing.

"Now please, can we go make sure there's no one else here?" Charming asked. Rumplestiltskin wasn't sure why he was insisting on using manners now, but he didn't question it.

Henry nodded weakly.

"Your majesty!" one of the guards called as they toured the castle's towers. "I think I can feel magic from this doorway!"

Rumplestiltskin followed Charming up to the tower and nodded. "Oh yes yes yes, there is magic on here. Stand back, I can get it undone."

Waiting for the guard and prince to get to a safer area, Rumplestiltskin carefully began undoing the spell on the door. For Regina, it was a complicated spell surprisingly enough. Whoever – or whatever – was in here was something he knew she'd wanted to keep a secret.

He nodded once to the guard, who carefully opened the door.

"Miss? It's okay. You're safe now," he said, as Rumplestiltskin raised an eyebrow. So there was a woman in there. "Come with me."

And then, like a dream, out came a shaken, but very much alive, Belle.

"You're alive…" he whispered, his voice hoarse from surprise. "She… she told me you were dead! Oh Belle…" he whispered, staring at the woman as if afraid she would vanish into thin air.

"Rumplestiltskin? What are you doing here? What's going on?"

He found his voice as she ran up to him with wide, fearful eyes. "Regina said you were dead. But you needn't worry about her now. She's a prisoner now."

"What do you mean? What happened?" she asked.

"This man – Prince David – and his guards. They're the ones that found you. If he hadn't given the order to come here you would have…" Rumplestiltskin shook his head, unable to finish his sentence. He knew Belle would understand what he meant.

She looked at David then. "Thank you. I don't know how I can make it up to you."

But David only shook his head. "Think nothing of it. I am just glad we found you. I apologize it took us until Regina fell the second time to get you out of here."

"It's okay. I'm just glad you did," Belle said.

Rumplestiltskin swallowed the knot in his throat. "I think I shall take you to your father, Belle. To let him know you are okay. Regina tried to spread the rumor that you killed yourself."

Belle's eyes widened in horror. "She did what? Then yes, I must go home quickly!"

"Okay. I'll take you home. I'm sure this will be a flicker of life in an ocean of darkness," Rumplestiltskin said, eyes darting to Charming, who's eyes had gone wide before he waved his hand, Charming and the guards vanishing back to their palace before Rumplestiltskin took Belle gently by the arm and vanished in a cloud of smoke to her father.

Baelfire was going to be back soon, and now he had Belle. Perhaps a happy ending was going to be possible for the Dark One after all.

#wip week #wipweek #ouat #once upon a time #fanfiction #swanfire #emma swan #neal cassidy

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gyeommine · 7 years

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“Puppy Love” (D.O x Reader)

“Veterinarian and the two meet through Kyungsoo's friend who owns a dog and the reader is their veterinarian. They don't fall in love at first sight instead Ksoo would notice little things about the reader and somehow falls deeply in love with her. Thank you!!”

THIS IS SUCH A CUTE CONCEPT TYSM

Name: “Puppy Love”

Character: D.O // Do Kyungsoo (EXO)

Genre: Fluff

Word Count: 1,300

(just your daily reminder that he’s fucking adorable BYE - gif not mine)

You watched as the panicked young man shuffled into your room. He was fairly short but with a regular build; he was physically fit. He sported short jet black hair, that complimented his doe-like orbs. His dark eyes shifted from side to side nervously. He clutched the pet carrier case so hard his knuckles were bleached white. You beamed politely, sensing his nerves. “Hi, how are you?” you began warmly. He feigned a weak smile, punctuating the gesture with an awkward chuckle. “I've been better.” His voice was deep but mellow, seemingly calm but he was completely the opposite. “So Mr...” you paused.“Do. Do Kyungsoo,” he fumbled awkwardly. “Mr Do, what seems to be the problem?” you asked. He gulped. Your fingertips found the clasps of the locks of the carrier case, making quick work of the latch and opening it. A clunk sounded and the door swung open. “I honestly don't know, I am not really an expert on dogs,” he scratched the back of his head as he stammered. You gave him a questioning look. He quickly butted in on your confusion, “Ah, it's not my dog's. It's a friends. He's on holiday at the moment.” Worry glazed his soft features, a gap present in his lips where they were slightly ajar. You nodded in acknowledgement before coaxing the animal out.

The little dog wearily paced out of the case. The pure white Maltese was shrivelled up, quivering as if it were enduring an onslaught of freezing winds. The eyes were sunken, a glisten was absent that a playful puppy usually had. Your hand brushed along its soft fur, the strands tickling the skin of your palm. You could feel his gaze heavy on your shoulders, the pressure and guilt on his half unbearable. “Eating normally?” you questioned. You reached for the stethoscope slung round your neck. “No, not really.” You made a mental note. You gently placed the stethoscope on its stomach, narrowing your eyes to pick up any abnormalities. You darted your eyes back to Kyungsoo. He was pacing. His index finger placed on his lip with his eyes fixated on a spot on the ground before him. You continued with a few more tests, asking questions calmly as your job required. “Right,” you finally announced. His eyes shot up, anxious to hear your verdict. The deep brown of his orbs made your heart skip a beat. You cleared your throat. “I don't think it's anything serious,” you smiled gently. A wave of relief swiped his features, he let out a big sigh and you saw a slight heart shape appear in his lips. “She's just got a little bit of stomach trouble,” you added. You ran your hand along the puppy's back, tracing your fingers through the tufts of fur. “I will give you some medication that you need to give her daily and I will see you again in a week, okay?” He nodded. He bowed his head, uttering a polite thank you. “It's nothing! You shouldn't be so worried, you're doing fine,” you reassured. Startled by the compliment, his eyes widened slightly. You chuckled, placing the dog back into the carrier.

Kyungsoo stepped out of the white room. The airy light shining through reception graced his features and he took a deep breath. A concoction of relief and bewilderment stirred within him. He was equally pleased that his best friend's beloved puppy was well, but also that he had seen such an attentive vet. A smile tugged on his lips as he recalled the distinct look of concentration you had as you examined her. The way your nose scrunched up slight as you listened through the stethoscope. He couldn't help but watch your hands, how delicate they looked and how they held the puppy like a national treasure. The idol found it difficult to admit to himself that your attentive nature and the sweet smile you gave him was all he could think about. That's why he made sure to heed all of your advice. He channelled your caring nature as he nurtured the dog, a little excited to see you the following week. He thought he was mad when he felt like kid returning to his parents, showing them all the handwork he had done at school. It was silly, he had convinced himself. Yet, he became a bumbly mess when he saw you next.

You were delighted to see the sweet Maltese puppy vibrant. She gazed up at you with big eyes, wagging her tail enthusiastically as she sweetly pawed your arm. A giggle slipped your lips. You loved your job. Making animals happy was one of the most satisfying feelings, and the happiness they showed when they were well again made your heart melt. He watched you play with the small puppy. He, too, was melting on the outside. It made him content to watch someone do something they loved, their passion, and the adorable vet he had met a week ago was no exception. You ran a few tests, just to make sure. “Look how much better you are!” you exclaimed, rubbing the fur on her head. Kyungsoo chuckled. “Wow, you did a good job for someone who's not an expert on dogs,” you averted your gaze to him. You smirked, slightly smug at the use of his own words a week prior. “No please, it was your advice that helped,” he admitted shyly. You laughed, allowing for the Maltese to lie down on the table. “Well it is my job. Anyway, I am confident that she's completely healthy so keep it up and you'll be fine,” you reassured. He nodded. You said goodbye to Kyungsoo, glad that you had helped another patient.

A week later, you came into work as normal. You squinted as the sunlight shone bright into your eyes. You guarded your eyes with your hand as you scurried into work. As always, you were greeted by the faces of the two receptionists. You chimed a hearty “good morning!” before heading into the direction of your own room. “Oh hang on a second (Y/N),” one called back. You turned on your heel. “Yes?” You wandered back over to the wooden desk. “Something came for you.” Out of nowhere, the receptionist produced a healthy bouquet of flowers. They were in shades of white and violet, a delicate but thoughtful selection. You were staggered; nobody had ever bought you flowers like this. “Looks like you have an admirer,” she sang in a sing-song voice, running her hand through her blonde hair as her eyes returned to the computer screen. “Who left these?” you asked. She looked up again, marvelling your astounded expression. “I think he was one of your's from last week. He was cute too, if I were you I wouldn't waste it!” she exclaimed. You gently placed the flowers on your desk and examined the white envelope. Your name was written in neat writing, like the author had taken care. You opened it with haste, the ripping of paper filling the silence of your room.

“Dear Dr. (Y/S/N). These are a thank you. Do Kyungsoo”.

Beneath was a number. You blinked rapidly, processing everything. Is it his number? Why is he leaving a number? Does he want to go on a date? Or are we friends? Does he even want to see me again? You pondered in silence for a few minutes, reading the brief card over and over again just to make sure you weren't dreaming. Then, you wasted no time in dialling the number. Anxiously, you waited for an answer. The dialling sound had never felt so long. Then, it cut out.

“Hello?” you heard a mellow voice down the phone.

“Hi Kyungsoo, it's Dr-” you paused. “I'ts (Y/N).”

THIS IS SO CUTE TYsm anon! i actually had fun writing this through the stresses of sixth form <3

#exo #exo-k #exo-m #exo scenarios #exo fluff #exo imagines #d.o #do kyungsoo #kyungsoo #d.o fluff #d.o scenarios #d.o imagines #kpop #kpop fluff #kpop scenarios #kpop imagines

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charlottebent-blog · 7 years

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My Story

Today marks a year since the eating disorder services attempted to section me. It may seem like an odd thing to commemorate. Although the day itself was extremely daunting, it was also a victory in a weird way. So here's my story, the story that led up to the very moment they attempted to detain me.

I'm 19, and I'm the happiest I've ever been (at this point in my life I'm at university in Kent, where I've made some amazing friends plus I'm in my first serious relationship - yes miracles do happen). With it being reading week (one of the many glorious holidays of university) I decide to attend a family gathering. On arrival my Nana hugs me so tightly I can feel my ribs cracking. She then holds me at arm's length before saying 'you look very womanly, look at your curves'. I awkwardly chuckle, before thanking her for what I can only assume she meant as a compliment. At the time I told no one, even now I know she meant no harm by it, however that comment changed everything. I remember almost immediately going to the bathroom, I required some reassurance and I honestly believed the mirror would provide this. It's safe to say I was absolutely horrified. Suddenly I was seeing this different Charlotte. A Charlotte who no longer looked slender but padded. A Charlotte who had thighs and a flabby stomach. And as if this wasn't proof enough, I later discovered the weird marks around my middle were in fact stretch marks. In fairness it was naive of me to assume my weight would stay the same when I was drinking heavily every other night and living off a diet provided by Iceland. But what terrified me was that others were able to detect this change in me, yet I was oblivious (perhaps something to do with excessive amounts of vodka). I saw this as my wakeup call and made a pact to get healthier.

I stuck to my pact. I took up running again, and, much to my disappointment, stopped scoffing oreo's at 3am. It did the trick, I trimmed down as my Mum called it and I was content. I stayed this way for about a year. Then, during my second year of university, I got a new job. I was thrilled to say the least and, here is the irony, I became an activity leader at a camp for overweight children. Yes readers, it is here that I developed an interest of food content. Part of the training involved learning how many calories were in my dominoes pizza and how much sugar was in my beloved innocent smoothie. It's safe to say I was disgusted with this new knowledge and suddenly the weight I gained during first year made sense. Having learnt that almost everything delicious was calorific, I began to check food labels using my job as an excuse. Plus, on one occasion I had been caught secretly inhaling a pile of jaffa cakes whilst the children weren't looking and got told I needed to practice what I preached. Despite the energetic and long activity sessions, I denied myself the tasty treats my body craved. And, although my body objected, I felt powerful in being able to ignore the cravings. It was then that I began to weigh myself at work to see if my willpower was paying off. To my delight my weight was decreasing, along with my body fat percentage. The feeling of this was like nothing I had experienced before and the dangerous part is that I never wanted it to end. To ensure that each week I had the same result I had to push myself further. I was content with my diet, therefore the only other method I knew for weight loss was exercise.

I went into my third year of university with a new exercise regime to ensure I stayed trim. I ran every day, giving myself one 'rest' day a week. Rest days made me feel anxious and guilty, therefore they gradually become fewer and fewer until I was exercising daily. I began to refuse myself nights out due to the fear of getting drunk and having a snackaccident (accidental snack) that would sabotage my weight loss. I struggled to explain to others why I couldn't go out so I gave lame excuses. Consequently, I lost a lot of the amazing friends I'd made. I began to recognise that my diet and exercise routine was very rigid and anything that deterred away from it resulted in a panicked frenzy. I developed a knee injury, but despite this I continued to run, with the addition of swimming and knee strengthening exercises, in hope that my knee would heal. When it rained or snowed I ran up and down the hallway of my student house. Yes, it's as nutty as it sounds, but at this point I had no idea I was spiralling into anorexia. I just told myself and my bewildered housemates that I loved running.

People began to comment on my weight loss, but in a more concerned manner than before. I remember sending my sister a photo of me in a new outfit. Thinking I looked toned and healthy, I was surprised when she replied saying I looked disgustingly thin and iller than Victoria Beckham. My boyfriend at the time reassured me that I looked nice. It was that moment that my sister predicted I'd get anorexia. 'Absolute bollocks', both my Mum said, 'people with anorexia just don't eat, whereas you do'. That was always my excuse.

With university soon coming to an end, I felt lost and confused. Friends around me had direction and aspirations, whilst they planned their futures I put off making important decisions, instead occupying myself at the gym, athletics track or swimming pool. Exercise gave me a purpose and sense of control, something I failed to achieve in other aspects of my life. Regardless, I worked hard for my degree but rather frustratingly graduated 1% off a first. I managed to gain a place on a PGCE Primary Education course in Kent and felt obliged to take it. I moved to a different part of Kent and reluctantly started teaching. I enjoyed living with strangers and away from my boyfriend. I was free to organise my time to suit me without judgement from anyone. However, the teaching degree was full-time, and I became increasingly anxious that I was losing valuable exercise time. Even though I would plan lessons and mark work whilst on my exercise bike it didn't feel like enough. The fear of becoming the fat Charlotte once again crept into my mentality more and more. With no other option, I began to restrict food. I studied food labels carefully, checking over and over again in case I'd misread them. I bulked up on vegetables and stopped eating anything remotely high in fat or calories. Whenever the opportunity arose I ran. I had entered a half-marathon, which gave me the excuse to run 10 miles often. I would wake up every night with agonising leg cramps and although I knew I was damaging my body, I couldn't stop. My anxiety around food and exercise became overwhelming. It was here that I ended my first serious relationship. At the time it seemed so easy, I didn't feel sad or heartbroken. Although rather selfishly, I felt relieved, purely because it gave me additional time to focus on exercise.

Despite living 250 miles away from my parents, my stress levels didn't go unnoticed. With my teaching degree becoming increasingly demanding, I was extremely anxious. I couldn't cope with being tested and criticised daily, and consequently I spent a lot of time crying down the phone to my Mum. Having lived away from home for almost 4 years, I was starting to experience the misery of homesickness. It was around this time that I had to significant wakeup call, whilst I was out running. Having ran every single day for the past 3 months, my body was knackered and my legs burnt in protest, however this pain didn't compare to the guilt of having a 'rest' day. I don't remember exactly what happened but suddenly I wasn't running and I crashed to the floor (to my embarrassment right in front of a group of French tourists, who spoke no English and appeared to be more concerned by what they'd purchased from the chocolate cafe than my accident). Everything stung and my inability to stand up panicked me. As I rolled myself onto my back I could see my skin and blood grazed on the pavement. I tried to calm myself with deep breaths, but quickly tears brimmed my eyes and my body began to tremble. I did the only thing I know what to do in a crisis: call my Mum. I clumsily tapped away at my phone, whilst picking myself up. With sore knees and a throbbing hip, I didn't dare check the damage. Typical that usually I can't get my Mum off the phone (usually riveting topics, such as the Council replacing the lampposts with weaker bulbs) yet, when I desperately require her to answer, I get her voice message. I dial my sister who, much to my relief, answers almost immediately and consoles me whilst I gently jog my battered body home.

After this incident my Dad came to Kent to intervene. My parents were growing more concerned about my well-being and encouraged me to see a doctor. Conveniently neither of them were there for the actual appointment. I didn't see much point as I was convinced there was nothing medically wrong with me. However, I reluctantly attended just to get my parents off my back. The doctor was nice enough. She asked me some lifestyle questions, weighed me and then handed me a leaflet on anorexia. 'Your body mass index is within anorexic range. Along with your feelings towards food and exercise I'm diagnosing you with anorexia. I'll put through a referral to the local eating disorder services'. I thought nothing of it at the time, this doctor didn't know me. I eat the same amount of meals as everybody else, plus I don't look like a skeleton. She'd obviously misdiagnosed me. My Mum cried when I called her. Although I didn't agree with the diagnosis I certainly felt like this gave me the excuse I so greatly needed to move back home. I told my parents I would suspend my teaching degree and seek relevant medical help in Manchester.

I was delighted to move back to Manchester. I felt elated and motivated to change my life for the better. However, my freedom was limited due to my parents keeping a watchful eye over me. I was so overly cautious that they were trying to fatten me up that whenever they left the house I went on my exercise bike for as long as time allowed. My food restriction habits also worsened, and although I had been referred to the eating disorder services, I was still losing weight weekly. I acted oblivious to this and continued to spiral further into anorexia. After a couple of months, it was clear I wasn't getting better. I got told my weight was now dangerously low that an inpatient admission was advised. It was a trip to this eating disorder hospital ward that triggered my recovery. Seeing the shells, of these sad, hollow beings frightened me. When I got home I binned my exercise bike and created a food plan with my Mum which I stuck to. I gained weight. I'm not going to say it was easy. It was so incredibly tough and like nothing I had experienced before. However, I was enjoying having a social life again and began working at Waterstones. I even had a fantastic holiday to New York with my sister. I could feel the old Charlotte emerging.

A few months down the line and I was struggling. My discomfort meant I refused to gain anymore weight. I was feeling extremely self-conscious about my body and found myself missing my anorexic tendencies. I longed to feel hunger. I ached for the achievement of exercising. I was at a crossroads and I chose the easier path. My downward spiral into anorexia happened so quickly, I didn't even realise I had relapsed. Within two months, I was being threatened with hospital again, only this time I accepted. I figured hospital was the answer to my recovery, and was admitted onto the Oaktrees Ward.

Hospital was more daunting than I'd remembered it. From the second I stepped foot on the ward I thought 'I'm too fat to be here'. Everybody was so painfully thin it was distressing. A few days into my admission and I learnt that my Grandad had died. I cursed myself for being stuck in hospital unable to comfort my family. To add to my upset the hospital was just outside of Liverpool and therefore 45 miles from my. It didn't take long for the homesickness to kick in. I longed for a hug from my Mum and my dog. The days were never-ending and it felt like all I did was continuously ate. But I followed my Grandad's instructions and I did what I was told when I was told. They were often short staffed, so I didn't receive the support I so greatly needed to cope with the weight gain. When my parents visited I'd cry and beg for them to take me home with them. I had never felt so fat and disgusted in my entire life. Furthermore, being on a ward surrounded by severely anorexic people made me feel like a fraud. After 4 months as an inpatient, I discharged myself against medical guidance.

Once back home I wasted no time in ensuring that I got rid of what I felt was excess weight. I spent my mornings hopelessly crying as I tried on multiple outfits, all of which I deemed too fat to wear. I'd reached such a point of desperation and despair that I attempted to take my own life (and obviously failed). I distanced myself from the services and didn't trust my parents as I felt they lied, repeatedly telling me I looked thin. I threw myself back into work, doing whatever hours I could get. I constantly distracted myself from food, walking my dog and taking up indoor exercise. Furthermore, having spent so much time surrounded by extreme anorexics I had learnt the tricks of the trade. I spent hours eating one meal, cutting it into tiny pieces and claiming I was full, despite my gurgling stomach. I hid food and discretely binned it when my parents weren't about. This time my relapse was severe. I recognised I was poorly, however, just like before, I couldn't stop. One night I ended up at A&E with my Mum, where a doctor told me my heart was wasting away. I still couldn't stop. The services had detected my decline and arranged an appointment which I was forced to attend. They told me I could agree to go back into hospital, or they would request a section and force me. I refused, how could I bring myself to return to the place that mentally worsened me? I cried and shouted and begged, but they went ahead with the section.

13th May 2016 will go down as the most frightening day of my life. I remember pinching myself, convinced it wasn't real. How had my weight gotten so dangerously low that I had to fight to claim my sanity. I didn't feel mentally deluded, surely I was still Charlotte? So there I was, 24 years old, sat in my family home at our kitchen table between my Mum, grasping my hand tightly, and my Dad, on guard, ready to fight for me. In that moment I have never felt so much love and affection towards my parents. Opposite us sat a panel of medical professionals who had been sent to deem me mentally unstable and detain me. It was daunting to say the least. But we fought and argued for what felt like forever. Eventually, they came to the agreement that if I were to start a refeeding programme immediately and my parents were to take responsibility for my mental well-being, I would be allowed to remain at home. We all sighed with relief and hugged victoriously.

Although I am not always proud of my decisions and often doubt whether I am doing the right thing, I am proud to still be at home. I am proud to still be here and I am proud to still be fighting.

(Apologises for the blog equivalent of War and Peace, congrats if you actually made it to the end!)

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ghostofasecretary · 7 years

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hooo boy, this week. it would be good to record things that happened this week, because Feelings are happening about said things

Sunday:

attempted to plan things with the Rat Bastard. that failed

applied to Wellesley

really, really, really did not do my ADLs

watched ASoUE

decided that, instead of homework, i should…hang up pictures? spent four hours hanging up pictures with help of parental unit

and then i had a bunch of new stuff on my wall

Monday:

no school! everybody panic! breaks are terrible and no one should have one!

finished ASoUE

plans with people. talking to people. people are good

GOT OBSESSIVELY LOCKED INTO CLEANING

like. usually i am able to focus on stuff for a while and then stop, but here? no. i moved everything in my room. i went through a substantial amount of papers of me, being a dork from 7th grade til last year, and felt extremely awful about all of them

i hate throwing stuff out! it is very good to do so, but also, ugh

moved and collapsed a bunch of stuff

got freaked out by how empty and new my room is

hung up new art

got extremely pissed at the movie “V for Vendetta,” because THAT IS NOT OKAY TO DO TO PEOPLE, HOW THE FUCK, WHAT KIND OF ABUSIVE SHIT SHOW, i don’t really have flashbacks but if i did, uh. yeah.

made some rice

had a panic attack in the shower, as one does

just felt really really terrible for mostly indiscernible reasons, which probably round to “breaks: they aren’t good”

felt okay by the time i went to bed, though

Tuesday:

fuck tuesday

did my homework in the morning because brains, what are brains

hey the principal needs to talk to you and your mom! for reasons! apparently!

HEY GUYS MANDATORY SURPRISED UNSCHEDULED SENIOR MEETING RIGHT WHEN YOU ARE SCHEDULED TO LEAVE WITH YOUR FRIEND

OOPS NOPE NOW THAT IS CANCELLED

then i got to see Joe, which was lovely

we went to the best coffee shop and hung out, and bullied each other into making lists, and we talked about our vastly different suicidal feelings and how i just sort of - process my suicidal intent as background noise, not really anything, like pain, like habit - don’t feel suicidal in the same way i don’t feel like a redhead, and i showed him all of rusalkii’s “the paint pettiness” tag because it is fantastic, and so that was delightful

then we went to an art studio so he could work on photos

i derped around and read poetry and walked out on the freaking awesome porch and admired pretty spiderwebs and sunlight

and then settled in to read for anatomy

and then Joe came in and did stuff in the computer lab, which was nice

AND THEN

hahahahahahhahhahah

a girl! blue eyes, blond hair, tan skin! name of “Maddy!” came in! to sit next to me!

like, i have a couple of things that basically always trigger me and they are all pretty unfortunate. like, being complimented by authority figures, especially in private, makes me want to die. certain bible verses. people making animal noises. churches, as a general rule. but the number one thing which upsets me is people who remind me of Maddy

like, fictional characters named some variation of “Madison”? yeah. can’t read Worm because there’s a short blond blue eyed bully with that name

people with a certain facial structure, even, if i’m having a Bad Time

which! guess what! the past couple of months! i have been having a Bad Time! for a while i could not go to coffee shops without screaming because tall black haired people had snub noses, okay, it has not been a fun season for the Traumz

and, to top it all off, i don’t actually remember her face or how she spells her name! i don’t! i just remember how her full name sounded/really accurate animal sounds/wanted to be a surgeon/blue eyes/snub nose/ambivalent coloring/blond bob, stacked, she didn’t use conditioner and then she did???/had duck pajamas at one point/SUPER AWFUL THINGS SHE DID AND SAID TO ME AND THEN THE THINGS I DID AND SAID FOR HER, hahahhhahaaahah!

so. had a really long and quiet panic attack

frantically texted Joe to ask if he knew her last name, which he did not

it was so horribly triggering, mother of g-d

then she left

and i cuddled Joe a bit, and he was v calming and good, and we talked about random shit and his photos and The Future, and i read him the english major articles and stuff, and overall it was quite distracting

and she came back, and then we left, and we had a brief interaction but it was...fine

and we went down in the elevator

her sign in didn’t include a last name

we walked to the car, and drove further in, and walked til we got to the gelato place in the deco building

the ice cream barista was v v v cute and relatively interesting and recommended pen&ink for tattoos

i really enjoy Joe, he is a good bean and a good friend and Quality

we walked back

i shouted “you go, running man” at a dude who was running very quickly, which was an Incredibly Impulsive decision and then something i felt shitty about, but it was also kinda funny

and people kinda were screaming as we neared the car, so that was weird

i wouldn’t have gone out unless i were with Joe

but it was nice

and i kinda. felt shitty and lived with it, and didn’t think about stuff, and we talked about How To Comfort Ghost When They Are Dead - Joe has improved a lot and it’s nice to have these discussions - and i helped plan for Joe, and he tried to reciprocate, because trying to help other people is really hard to do well, and i really really love my friends and i love Joe and i love feeling comfortable and safe and alive around people. it was good

and i was home by 8

and my sister had moved to my bathroom? which doesn’t sound like a big deal, but also. ugh. i moved downstairs, despite it requiring a lot of leg movement for me, because she is so exhaustingly untidy. i had to force her to clean up, which was unpleasant

and i think this is when i learned about the subject of the mystery meeting? mr. Post decided i could not fully join the alum association because i am not a christian, even though he had earlier said i could! and i was never less than honest about who and what i am! and so either i could do something half baked or i could do nothing. so. wasn’t that a lovely surprise to top off my day :/

and then i went upstairs and my room was empty and i was empty

got to sleep by 9:30, which was at least one good thing

Wednesday:

i was so tired and everything was 10x harder

by lists, this was the busiest day of the week. gotta love that.

got to school at 7:15, due to my mother’s job

did classes

ugh

N, another good bean, immediately got why i was so stressed and was super sympathetic and also asked if it was the Maddy, and i hadn’t thought of that, and i don’t know, i don’t know, i hate my brain doing this to me

we had a super passive aggressive and rather inefficient senior meeting led by the principal, which exposed School Drama

and a disturbing view of how classes work, but that is another topic

i asked good questions and it was incredibly obvious that certain people were at fault and other people were acting decently and still others had no idea that this was happening and did not enjoy the guilt trip and scrupulosity triggers and, in fact, the knowledge of other people’s stupid high school bullshit

who doesn’t get their drama done in 5th grade and get super traumatized and decide to never do that again? honestly

AND THEN

(warnings for a lack of clarity in the next section, because rage)

ms. Cathey yelled at us for being “selfish”

and said we were “spoiling your reputation”

and more importantly, “spoiling my reputation. this reflects badly on me and my job.“

FUCK YOU

THAT IS NOT HOW YOU TREAT KIDS

THAT IS NOT HOW YOU LEAD PEOPLE

the only reason classes have a reputation is because you tell other classes about them

ALSO: PLEASE DO NOT INSINUATE THAT OTHER PEOPLE ARE BEHAVING SELFISHLY WHEN, IN FACT, THEY ARE ACTING LIKE PEOPLE AND YOU SEE YOURSELF AS A DIVINELY APPOINTED MEDDLER AND THUS THEIR PROBLEMS ARE A SELF CENTERED ATTACK ON YOU, AS A PERSON

you know the only person who was really, lastingly hurt by this? her aide, who spends 8 hours in her office and has her ear as no one else does and has noticeably become more like ms. Cathey in the last year

this is a fucking adult. a 30 year old woman. yelling at high school seniors about how they are selfish for attempting to solve their own, mostly self generated problems, without talking enough to the person you hear most from, who is probably being influenced by your own propensity for inefficient, ineffective, and frankly inaccurate communication

YOU ARE BAD AT YOUR JOB AND BAD TO PEOPLE AROUND YOU AND I WANT YOU TO BE FIRED, PLEASE STOP BEING AROUND PEOPLE WHO ARE EASILY HURT, PLEASE STOP BEING SO DUMB, JUST. Fucking stop.

(that’s not very kind, but at this point i am incredibly angry with her and my anger is justified, and so i will have to construct a positive case in defense of her, that’s good practice. once i graduate, though, i am asking for her to be fired)

no one came out of that meeting with anything resembling sanity

and then my meeting with the principal got cancelled

and i went to a coffee shop and hung out with The Coolest Dietz, which was pretty great

except i was, as noted, dead and full of rage and anxiety

but mostly it was awesome

and then i had philology club

and then i took a friend home

and then i took a bath

and then i figured out how to dress for prom

and then i had that kind of dissociation that’s so stark and unsubtle it can’t be anything but dissociation, where your hands aren’t your hands and your body isn’t your body and you aren’t alive, at all, really, you’re a floating falling non being in static space

and then i read someone’s trauma blog a bit

and then i talked to a person

and then i failed to do things, because exhaustion

and then i went to sleep really early

Thursday:

did not have homework done, which was unfortunate but could be fixed. also did not have headache medications.

why?

because who has the energy to remind people multiple times of your pressing need for medication

it was an understandable mistake, but also. ugh.

PAIN HAPPENED

skyped my principal while i had a migraine. that was…fun.

i don’t feel like detailing it but it went well, i guess, and we decided a thing, mostly

apparently i am “groundbreaking” or w/e

remember how compliments from authority figures in private make me want to die? yeaahh

laid in the dark while in pain for a while

got meds at 12

read about s t o y a, because why not

got increasingly horribly anxious about my freaking homework for Friday

talked to a person; said person attempted to help and had me do some ADLs, which was good

got an SD card, which was a surprise but a good one

still did not even begin to do things. SO. TIRED.

stayed up til 11, decided this was unproductive because i could not move

went to bed

Friday:

decided to go to school even though i had done nothing and was dead, because i have a fun Dr. V class on Fridays

read the German in a rush before school

went to class

went to break. oh! turns out! we’re streaming the whole inauguration! and today has no schedule! and Mr. Post’s secretary isn’t here, so we can’t ask her why!

i hate surprises

one of my two classmates is incredibly, incredibly pro-Trump

it’s so exhausting.

the other was absent

we read some stuff, it was good, the fact that i didn’t have my homework mattered less than expected

Dr. V did not actually call me and The Coolest Dietz, who decided to hang out in our classroom, quote man-hating dykes unquote, but holy shit, that was hilarious

and very inaccurate, in Dietz’s case. after he left Dr. V began talking about how he could “clean up nice” and “all the boys at our school must be blind,” which was even more hilarious

(also this saga was a bit awful, but there are things that you forgive in order to live in the world, so)

S U R P R I S E

YOU HAVE TO GIVE A SPEECH!

SORRY THAT I, THE GREAT MS. CATHEY, DIDN’T TELL YOU THIS

ALSO I GAVE YOU BLATANT MISINFORMATION ABOUT THE BANNER, SORRY

WHO DOESN’T LOVE FUN SURPRISES

ALSO I WAS GONE ALL DAY BECAUSE I WAS GETTING MY HAIR DONE, LOL

called a college b/c application bullshit

prepared for Teh Prom

was at Teh Prom

it was exhausting and i was temporarily blinded due to masks

Surprise! the person who made last year’s third quarter miserable with her wedding showed up and hugged you from behind! gotta love it!

she wasn’t at my table, thank fucking god

sat next to M and K, and M wanted to talk about 3D printing and K wanted to write notes, and it was altogether pretty satisfactory

the food wasn’t great, but it existed, so that was good.

i waltzed with Joe’s little sister, the same K, which was pretty fun

wrote a lot of notes, always a delightful Teh Prom activity

i wrote a speech in the car on the way there

THAT WAS SO ANXIETY INDUCING

it was a Work for me and my co-banner-bullshit-committee-member to divide the speech into a nice, thematically appropriate thing, BUT WE DID IT

THANK GOD

and my jokes carried! and we played off of each other! i fucking love public speaking

and the NOA thing happened

it was surprisingly not awkward, if anxiety-inducing

and then it was over

and i went home

and i was home

and i slept

Saturday:

slept for 12 hours and woke up at 11

good talks in the morning

mostly was a person

felt bad

did laundry

took a bath

cleaned my room some more

went to a tea shop, which was nice

cleaned some stuff

read about how to resist Trump

goofed around on tumblr

drank a delicious oatmeal type mocha and had an extremely filling triple layer chocolate mousse

went home

ate a lot of food

kinda crashed

talked to people

realized HEY, i feel like an automaton or a cyborg and usually that means i am festering

wrote this thing! thanks again, rusalkii, you are a delight and an extremely helpful human

now: put up laundry

slep

i don’t know how i feel, still, but i now understand the magnitude of shitty stuff which has happened. the thing on Tuesday has made everything 10x harder, even though i was able to ground and be comforted and think the past was post, it still sucked a lot. and there were other triggering things this week! there was a frankly ridiculous amount of pain and also walking!

surprises kill me so much and so thoroughly and i never remember this.

next week will probably be hard. i might not feel it. i first thought i wouldn’t react for a while, but i seem to be reacting a bit. maybe something will pop up later and maybe it won’t, who knows. it’s okay that things suck.

a few quotes: not the spring dawn: i strained, i suffered, i was delivered. this isn’t the present. nature isn’t like us, doesn’t have a warehouse of memory.

lucky nature.

(not everything has to bloom. that’s how gardens work: you plant seeds, you wait. something imperfect grows, still, maybe.)

#emotional sorting #senior year here i come #this got out of hand #the week: a recap #trigger warnings probably i guess idk

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naturopathytreatments · 5 years

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Soothing 'Mum Exhaustion' - A Naturopath's Leading 10 Tips

Becoming a mum is laborious. Suddenly, you have an additional human 100% reliant on you. That's a great deal of stress and anxiety to be under! So it's no surprise that a lot of us experience the feared 'mum exhaustion'. Often, it lasts for a couple of months, often, it lasts years!

As a naturopath, I wasn't immune to this experience. But I was able to use my expertise to soothe it naturally. If mother tiredness has actually obtained you down, below are the tips I utilized to get through it.

Exactly How To Alleviate Mum Fatigue

Go out and breathe

Cabin fever is a genuine thing. Also if you just go with a walk around the block-- with or without the child-- it will certainly assist. We require oxygen, and also outside is the best air to take a breath! As a reward, sunlight is great for your mood as well as hormones.

Consume effectively

You can not feel energised if you're not obtaining any gas right into your body! Meal preparation if you require to Heck, get your dishes supplied if you can manage it! But see to it you consume food frequently. Consume your morning meal, also if it's just peanut butter on toast.

With that said being said-- you're finest off avoiding refined carbs as well as sugars when you can, since they'll make you collapse harder.

Eat when you intend to.

This is one time when worrying about your weight needs to be the last thing on your mind. If you are starving, there is a reason! Bring and after that feeding an additional human depletes numerous nutrients. So indeed, attempt as well as make great choices-- however simply eat the damn food.

Overtake likeminded people

Your good friends who don't have children are great-- but they will not recognize what you're experiencing now. Find pals that have youngsters, or make new good friends! Those are the good friends that will not judge you if you rock up with unpleasant hair and also a discolored tee on 3 hours sleep.

Have a shower

I have never loved showers more than I do as a mum. It feels like it actually washes away my stress. Cozy water is comforting for the nerves, and so is a break from your kid! So hand them over to Father or the sitter, as well as take as much time as you want therein.

Get a cleaner if you can!

The state of your house becomes one of the lowest priorities, and that's great! Yet if you can outsource the cleaning up, do it with no regret. This is vital if you're someone that despises a messy home. Nobody intends to tidy up their very own house when they haven't slept a full night in weeks!

Do a something daily for you

You're not simply a mum. You are still a human who needs to do points for sheer pleasure. So think of some tiny points you can do daily to keep yourself sane.

It might be having a square of chocolate every afternoon. It might be painting your nails each week. Whatever it is that makes you feel like 'you' again-- do that.

Binge on Netflix with zero sense of guilt

Your body has actually been through a rollercoaster, and so has your brain. So there's absolutely nothing wrong with zoning out and delighting in trashy programs. If you're too exhausted to move-- ensure your bubba is great, then settle in and binge on your preferred collection.

I'm first to admit that I do this whenever I do not have the energy to maintain going. As well as it makes me feel much better! So go ahead-- you have your naturopath's consent to curl up and kick back.

Sip natural tea

Occasionally, all you need is to take a couple of mins out to make a cuppa. Herbal tea is your best bet, due to the fact that it can assist maintain you tranquil and also loosened up. My leading picks as a brand-new mum are:

Chamomile-- to help with rest and tension

Oats-- soothe the nerve system

Fennel-- to sustain a great milk supply

Make sure you ascertain if your herbal tea is secure for intake if you're nursing!

Discover how to ask for help

This is the one point I fought with the most. I don't such as being prone and confessing I can not run the whole world by myself! Yet if we can't request for help as a new mum, when else can we? We do not live in substantial communities where babies are raised any more. Instead, we anticipate to do all of it ourselves.

If you need a shower-- ask your partner to view your infant. If your residence is a calamity, ask your mum to help get it under control once again. Maybe you have not eaten an appropriate dish in weeks-- ask your bestie to visit with a roast poultry. Possibilities are, they recognize you need assist-- they're just awaiting the ok to give that help.

Do you need some help with improving your power? I'm right here to aid. Schedule your consultation today, and we'll get that mother tiredness in control.

The post “Soothing 'Mum Exhaustion' - A Naturopath's Leading 10 Tips” was appeared first on WITH WELLNESS

Discover how naturopathic medicine can help you. Consult with a Naturopathic Doctor - Dr. Amauri Caversan, ND

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fashiontrendin-blog · 6 years

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I Did Whatever I Wanted for 3 Days and It Was…Telling

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I Did Whatever I Wanted for 3 Days and It Was…Telling

My mom and dad’s parenting philosophy largely revolved around teaching me the value of hard work and, especially, earning life’s pleasures. Play dates came after chores; dessert came after dinner; spending money came after an 8-hour shift. I hated it as a kid, but over time developed a sort of Stockholm syndrome in regards to delayed gratification, becoming almost unable to enjoy things I didn’t “earn.”

Today, I’m the ultimate loyalist to the long game, which doesn’t mean I always play it as much as it means I feel immeasurably guilty when I don’t. My boyfriend calls me crypto-Catholic. (You can call me fun.)

Feel Good Month on Man Repeller seemed an appropriate time to re-examine my relationship with feeling good, particularly the part where I sometimes stop myself from it out of a blind expression of self-discipline. What would it feel like to orient my life around instant gratification instead? The idea sounded so alien I decided it was good, and thus the “hedonism diet” was born: three days of doing what felt good instead of what felt responsible, and not an hour longer.

For the sake of not burying the lede, this turned out nothing like my Yes Diet, mostly involved having a second roll or waiting too long to pee, and ultimately revealed the dull boundaries of my Tuesday-through-Thursday imagination. The diet also came at an interesting time: I was a week into a mildly depressed slump and less in touch with my desires than ever. I tried to use the diet as a sort of catalyst for emotional movement, but quickly learned my day-to-day life has little room from spontaneity outside the bounds of what I eat.

Speaking of which: As tepid a vehicle for hedonism as food is — the image of a group of people screaming down a highway to Vegas on a Monday seems more fitting – indulging in it with abandon was the main fantasy raised by people who learned I was on the diet. That’s either a commentary on the people I know, New York in general, or humanity as a whole. Will let you theorize on that one.

If you want to read my diary over the course of the three days, it’s below. If you don’t, I won’t blame you, and will leave you with a question instead: What would your hedonism diet entail? I have a feeling the answer might reveal a lot, but in my case, I kind of hope it doesn’t.

Day 1, Tuesday

7:40 a.m. I wake up wondering if I’ve ever slept worse, but feel inexplicably energetic. Probably adrenaline; a great way to start my hedonism diet.

8:02 a.m. After cleaning up and washing some dishes, I decide to watch Jane the Virgin while I eat a bowl of yogurt and granola. I was never allowed to watch TV before school as a kid and have maintained that rule as an adult. This feels weirdly indulgent. I love Jane the Virgin.

8: 31 a.m. I pick an outfit on my first try. A miracle since getting dressed has felt impossible lately. I put on leopard shorts, a mustard shirt and lace-up sandals.

9:36 a.m. When I got to work, I buy a small 8-oz. coffee. I’d rather get cold brew but the one I got yesterday turned me into a manic pixie nightmare, plus I don’t want to spend the extra dollar.

12:18 p.m. This morning has been stressful. With a new onslaught of work, I consider killing this very story, but I resist my impulse and decide to keep it on the calendar. An ironic hedonism fail.

1:53 p.m. I haven’t had a chance to eat lunch and I’m hungry. I realize I’m in the mood for a bagel and don’t second guess it. I’m wild.

2:05 p.m. While waiting for my almond butter and jam bagel from Black Seed, I let myself mindlessly scroll Instagram, something I normally resist. I end up on Sofia Richie’s account, find out she’s dating Scott Disick, and then wonder whether I’m out of touch and if that’s a good the until my bagel gets called.

4:50 p.m. Work black hole. Hungry again. Guess bagels aren’t all that nutritionally dense? All we have in the office are almonds.

I’ve never been hungry and wanted almonds

— Haley Nahman (@halemur) August 3, 2017

I run to Grumpy’s and get the only food item they have left: a piece of pumpkin bread. Weird choice after a bagel lunch, but it sounds good.

6:45 p.m. On my way out the door for a dentist appointment, I steal a piece of gum from Emily’s desk (sorry Emily!) without considering her feelings. Is hedonism just psychopathy?

7:13 p.m. Just got to my dentist on time and mildly have to pee but am not gonna go. SO THERE.

9:07 p.m. I’m getting dinner at a French restaurant with my boyfriend. The soap in the bathroom is on a pole that requires you do a jerk-off motion to get a lather. There is a jar of condoms next to the sink. It is a mildly sexual experience that I’m trying and failing to connect to my hedonism diet.

9:09 p.m. I refuse to Google whether air hand dryers cover my hands in feces, as my boyfriend is currently suggesting, which I consider a win, despite his pouting.

10:11 a.m. When we got home, we plop on the couch instead of going to bed, and I put on a random YouTube video, which leads to another and another. My boyfriend is great at putting together an interesting and educational YouTube playlist. Under my hedonistic guidance, however, it entails a girl giving herself a makeover for 45 minutes, a women giving unhelpful tips on “how to pose” by a dirty pool, and a 30-minute compilation of “jean hacks,” such as turning your jeans into a bag or turning your jeans into a larger bag. It’s truly some of the worst content either of us have ever seen.

Day 2, Wednesday

8:21 a.m. While getting dressed I consider whether wearing red shoes and a red sweater is too much, then remember such considerations are for another day.

9:22 a.m. I decide to text my boyfriend something we really should talk about in person — an impulsive decision I would normally not entertain. (It wasn’t worth it, for the record.)

1:52 p.m. For lunch I get a salad from Sweetgreen because I’m in a hurry and need to be efficient. Am too busy to entertain other impulses.

5:04 p.m. Elizabeth brings cupcakes for Ashley’s birthday, I go for the second one I touch. Bold.

7:35 p.m. At a lovely media dinner surrounded by people I’ve never met. Our bread basket has two biscuits no one is eating. I eat the first one. It’s the best thing I’ve ever tasted.

7:52 p.m. I eat the second one.

9:08 p.m. After dinner I realize I lost my ring, but am so embarrassing by the thought of crawling around on the ground that I decide to call it a loss. Very irresponsible.

11:38 p.m. When I get home I take a shower, brush my cat, and right when I am about to get in bed, decide to watch Jane the Virgin instead. I go to bed at 12:18, like a real party animal.

Day 3, Thursday

8 a.m. The first outfit I put on makes me look like a waiter, so I swap my button-down for a pajama top, which is probably inappropriate for the dinner I have later but is the only solution to the getting-dressed woes I’ve been experiencing of late.

12:52 p.m. I set up a therapy consultation. The best-feeling thing I’ve done all week.

2:43 p.m. I decide against a salad in an attempt to prove my desires extend beyond Sweetgreen. I try out The Dez, the new Mediterranean place on Mulberry Street. I get my food to go and start eating my pita on my walk home, like a kid who failed the marshmallow test.

7:05 p.m. At dinner with some girls. Everything we order is some form of bread or pasta, rounding out my inadvertent carb-only diet this week. After mutually agreeing it’s not embarrassing, we order vanilla gelato with rainbow sprinkles for dessert.

8:31 p.m. If I were truly following the diet I would get a car home. It would take 15 minutes, but I can’t bear the cost, and so I take two long trains home. It takes an hour.

11:11 p.m. When I get home, I clean my house, shower, skip TV and go to bed like an adult.

This may not have been the most thrilling time to live by way of impulse, but it was at least interesting to note that by doing so I saw almost no consequences (except perhaps a lack of nutrients), aside from feeling less guilt. In a way, I put my conscience to the test to prove it’s overactive, and I’m delighted to say it worked, for whatever that’s worth.

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meditationadvise · 7 years

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How To Stop Your Mind From Sabotaging Your Healthy Aspirations

You know the drill….

Waiting in the checkout line at the grocery store, you identify a lots women's magazines promising a smooth, hot body. I made use of to fall victim to those vacant pledges-- attempting the newest Simple diet plan, buying all the ingredients, as well as mentally preparing myself to genuinely stick with it this time.

But the diet plans never ever function, do they? As well as every single time you surrender after a week or 2, you feel like a failing. Again.

But suppose you might quit the insane diets and also find a better path to health?

What if you might nurture your body without needing to comply with heaps of policies and defeat yourself up when you slip?

If you change a few of your attitudes around dieting, you'll wind up with a saner strategy that will aid you succeed.

Finding a healthy and balanced mindset is a great deal simpler as well as a lot more rewarding compared to attempting yet one more diet regimen. So before you waste anymore cash on diet plan books, analyze your behaviors.

You'll be surprised to see exactly how your ideas, ideas, and subconscious can undermine your ideal efforts.

1. Permit ideas of restricted foods into your mind

Suppressing thoughts of prohibited foods backfires. Science reveals that reductions also causes greater prices of invasive ideas concerning the topic. Researchers call this ironic rebound, a hard-wired cognitive predisposition in the human brain.

When you try to push a believed away, it returns also more powerful. A subconscious component of the mind focuses on the thought that will resurface.

And hunch what? The effect is greatest when we're stressed, worn out, or distracted.

For years I did it the incorrect way. I would certainly begin a rigorous diet plan, and afterwards I 'd desire of chocolate brownies from my favorite coffee bar. I attempted like heck to stop considering those delicious chocolate brownies. In hindsight, it makes a lot feeling. Due to the fact that I attempted not to believe of those brownies, the ideas returned also stronger, as well as I ended up being distressed with myself.

Starting a diet regimen and producing a list of no-no foods sets your mind as much as suppress thoughts of those foods. You might be able to adhere to your will certainly for a couple of hours or a few days. At the end of a tiresome workday, your mind will normally allow thoughts of tempting foods to resurface. No wonder you struggle to withstand potato chips and a glass of wine.

The fix: Banish the concept of prohibited ideas. When delicious chocolate cookies or pot chips come knocking, enable these ideas right into your psyche. Approve the sensation of preferring these foods, and after that return to the present moment. Feel your breath, and note where the craving clears up in your physical body. Understand that subduing the assumed just makes you desire those foods more.

Over time, you'll see that you have control over your activities. Rather than evaluating on your own, envision the ideas of the temptation vanishing like clouds gradually surprising. Stop reducing your thoughts, as well as gradually, the invaders will stop entering your mind.

2. Quit overworking your willpower

Your willpower resembles a muscle: the much more you work it, the much faster it tires. Creating lots of rules and also concentrating on exactly what you cannot have will promptly fatigue your determination. Self-discipline invests mental energy.

When you need constant self-control to follow your regulations, your self-control muscular tissues are likely to provide. You'll discover that remembering your long-term goals is challenging. By producing lots of regulations for on your own, you establish yourself approximately break these rules.

The fix: Harness your internal rule-maker by making one or two healthy habits automated. Beginning with a healthy breakfast. My breakfast of option is oat meal made with almond or soy milk, topped with cinnamon, flax, and berries. I maintain all the ingredients handy and prepare the night prior to when necessary.

My morning meal selection is automatic, and it does not call for choosing or self-discipline. Do this for breakfast, and perhaps a salad with lunch, and you'll have the psychological power to concentrate on bigger temptations.

3. Stop ignoring your stress

If you concentrate on producing the best diet plan while ignoring your anxiety, you're placing lipstick on a pig. It won't function, regardless of just how tough you try.

When under stress, your pre-frontal cortex, or your reasonable mind, goes to sleep. Your body as well as mind come to be active sharp as well as quicken. Rather than remembering your lasting health and wellness objectives, you concentrate on immediate survival and also become a lot more impulsive.

You'll discover it more difficult to resist strawberry cheesecake when you run under anxiety. Your instincts will press you towards a potentially negative decision, so you'll have to protect on your own from yourself.

The fix: Slow on your own down. Activate your "Pause-and-Plan" response, which is the opposite of 'Fight-or-Flight." You could do this by reducing your breathing price to four or six breaths per minute. Research study shows this method increases your heart price irregularity-- you end up being much more durable to anxiety and also build your self-discipline reserve.

Exhaling for longer reduces your body down and boosts your breathing ability gradually. Breathe in for a count of five, and breathe out for a matter of 5 or 10. Depending on your present breathing capacity, it might require time to reduce to four cycles each minute, but you'll derive gain from any type of reduction in your breathing rate.

4. Practice moderation, even though it's more challenging compared to extremes

Are you attracted by limiting diets such as juice fasts or no-carb? When you get on your diet, you board the diet regimen train of selection and also follow the rules-- no carbohydrates, shakes for supper, or paleo. When you make an error, you jump off the healthy and balanced eating train and lose your self-control.

All-or-nothing reasoning causes yo-yo dieting and also stress. This comes back to direct # 1, where we quit creating 'excellent' and also 'poor' foods. As a basic rule, all foods are there to nourish, please, and support our lives. Some are a lot far better than others at fulfilling that function. Discovering how to utilize your instinct will aid you choose over the long term.

The fix: Extreme diet plans cause failing and sadness. The best way of eating is different for you than it is for me. Do on your own a significant favor and also let go of impractical beliefs. Limiting strategies do not operate in the lengthy term.

Instead, have an adaptable attitude. Permit space in your healthy consuming prepare for periodic indulgences because one choice will not doom you to failing. Strategy for a square of chocolate after your lunch. If you delight greater than you would certainly such as, take a deep breath, forgive yourself, and step on.

5. Stop gratifying yourself for being good

When you do something excellent, such as forego dessert, you really feel excellent regarding yourself, as well as this offers you permission to do something bad. Researchers call this moral licensing. If you tell on your own that you're great since you functioned out today, you might avoid the fitness center tomorrow or also have a chocolate chip cookie with your coffee.

When we have conflicting wishes, readying offers us consent to be a bit bad. As well as usually we do not really feel negative regarding these selections, we warrant them with past excellent behavior.

When you seem like a saint, the idea of indulging doesn't feel incorrect. Moral licensing techniques us into acting against our lasting goals. As well as if you're not cautious, you'll fall under this trip.

The Fix: Just what's your long-term objective? Is it finding a healthy weight? Write it, and also remember it. Actions that sustain your objective, such as workout and also consuming well, are not needs to delight. Prevent the catch of thinking, "Well I worked out and also shed 363 calories on the treadmill, so now I could have a 2nd or 3rd piece of pizza."

When you are confronted with the option of birthday cake, remember your lasting goal of sensation great, being healthy, as well as finding your ideal weight. Forget your temporary etiquettes-- the yoga exercise class, and also the salad you consumed for lunch.

Focus on where you intend to go in the long term.

6. Avoid people that undermine your finest intentions

Willpower is infectious, sadly, so is obesity. Inning accordance with Framington studies, a person's danger of weight problems raised 171% when their friends ended up being overweight. When a single person began to consume more, the habits spread throughout their network.

Luckily, good routines such as exercise are additionally contagious. Humans are wired to attach with others as well as to track what they are thinking, sensation, as well as doing.

Our simulating reactions can motivate us to want the very same foods, and feel the same feelings as those around us. We additionally consume much more with apart from when we're alone and also invest more when going shopping with friends.

What those around you consume affects your personal typical behavior. In Dan Buettner's remarkable publication, The Blue Zones Solution, the longest-lived people have solid support circles. They stroll, appreciate dishes, as well as urge each other in life.

I stay in New Orleans, a city that bids extravagance at every edge-- fried oysters, soul food, abundant, saucy Creole cuisine. Often individuals tell me they acquire 5-10 extra pounds because moving to New Orleans. Our culture cultivates guilt-free indulgence.

Over time, I have actually found a tribe that veers toward much healthier practices, and it assists me not to seem like a fanatic for choosing tofu over boiled crawfish.

The Fix: Check out your own actions. Do you tend to consume more when you are with particular close friends? Do others in your social media network share your wish to eat well? Locate partners in your healthy and balanced routines. Some places to locate healthy-minded individuals are yoga studio as well as gyms.

7. Quit expecting quick results

Let's admit it-- diet programs draws. We all want fast results. Fast weight loss isn't as effective as well as generally results in weight rebound.

Have you tried a juice fast? I have, and also although I lost weight, I restored it within 6 months. Significantly restricting calories can have reverse repercussions, your body assumes it remains in a scarcity, so it improves at doing a lot more with fewer calories

The fix: Relax as well as enjoy the trip. Lasting changes require persistence. Believe of your brand-new healthy and balanced consuming as a way of life as opposed to a diet regimen. Hang out planning, purchasing, and preparing a couple of dishes. Find dishes that reverberate with your preferences. Your changes will end up being component of a fulfilling means to consider food.

Change your way of thinking, as well as locate a much healthier path.

Stop throwing your money away on diet regimen books. Stop concentrating on exactly what you cannot do. Concentrate on exactly how you can approve yourself.

You can locate a healthy and balanced eating strategy that is palatable for the lengthy term. When you recognize your innermost wishes and also thoughts, as well as you could accept them, it's much easy making the best choices.

Listen to your instinct. Hear your personal voice.

It's waiting to be listened to so that you can be healthy and also happy.

Let's do this, shall we?

#christian meditation #meditation #meditation for anxiety #meditation quotes #meditation timer #yoga #yoga studio

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