It's been a rough week, mental-health-wise.
So I figured I needed to remind myself of a few things - and hopefully some of them will be helpful reminders to you, too.
Disclaimer time: I am not any kind of mental health, medical, or psychological professional. I'm a chick with a blog.
It's July, it's Thursday, this is Dora Reads, let's get some comics-y superhero-y goodness!
(Warning: this post discusses Covid, migraines, and mental health problems)
I know it's late-ish June. I got Covid.
...And I didn't want to just not do a post for May, because it was bugging me 😅
May 2022... *hysterical laughter*
OK, May 2022 was a bit of a rollercoaster for me.
Like, there was some really good stuff, some really bad stuff, and some stuff I point-blank don't know how to categorise.
'Stunning 8K-resolution meditation app
In honor of the revolution, it's half-off at the Gap'
- Bo Burnham, That Funny Feeling
I'm settling down to write this with some caution...
Because if the last few days have been anything to go by, the moment I really get into things, really get some momentum going... drama happens.
April was rough, mental health-wise.
I'm OK - just having to adapt and take care.
...It's kind of worse when there's no real reason or trigger because there's nothing you can blame, y'know?
...and it really doesn't help that the pollen this year is exceptionally, brutally, high, so my hayfever is extra-present this year.
Kind of hard to focus on your mental health when the pollen is making you feel like a zombie, lol.
(Oh, and hayfever is linked to climate change. #TrueStory.)
Ever heard of a writer called Kafka?
If it was up to him, you probably wouldn't have.
But millions of people know his name - and have heard the term 'Kafkaesque,' which is a fancy and more succinct way of saying 'reminds me of the stuff that that Kafka feller wrote.'
Warning: this post discusses brain fog as a symptom of Depression/Anxiety
Disclaimer time: I am not any kind of medical, psychological, or neurological professional. I'm a chick with a blog and some personal experiences - nothing more, nothing less.
Some days, my brain does not work.
Call it brain fog, call it fuzziness, call it extreme mental fatigue.
It's common with migraines (which I get,) and Depression and Anxiety (which I have,) as well as a whole bunch of other conditions - including Long Covid, for which it's gotten a lot of media attention.
'Three in the morning is never the time to try and sort out your life.'
- Matt Haig, Reasons To Stay Alive
Most of us have been there - it's a ridiculous time in the night, you're utterly shattered, and you're still trying to get things done.
You inevitably make a mistake -
because you should be sleeping
- and you decide that your entire life is a sh**-show, and you need to leave everything you know behind and move to the mountains and breed chinchillas or something equally random.
(...Unless that's a long-held ambition of yours, in which case don't let me stop ya!)
Wanna see how far you can run? Wanna train to run a marathon or a 5k or whatever it is running-people do?
Find a tree.
It's that time of year again - the time when everyone and their great-aunt Lucy is trying to get you to buy into the ideals of work and productivity.
January is a webscape of blogposts which promise to increase your productivity by 1000%! or earn 50 times more by adopting THIS winning attitude!
Vlogs of new fitness regimes/money-making schemes, which seem more like shaming lectures than helpful tips.
Humble-brag tweets about how 'few' followers/views/monies someone got last year, and how they're gonna do so much better in 2022 - and you can too if you enrol in this course!
...And under-pinning it all this vibe of having to do more! more! MORE! or else you only have yourself to blame for your unenviable position in life/work/Western society/whatever.
(Warning: this post discusses chronic illness and ableism, as well as negative stereotyping. It also references grief, mental health problems, and Coronavirus/Covid 19)
It's been an extremely rough week.
And I'm emotionally exhausted, at this point.
My grandmother passed away last weekend.
And even though we'd known, for a while, that it was coming - even though we'd almost lost her twice this year already - it still hurts like hell.
'“Look at me and tell me this doesn’t look like an accomplished person to you!” Sam was holding a giant teddy bear in his arms.'
The Falcon and The Winter Soldier (TFATWS) series means these characters are both living in my head rent-free.
Depending on what happens in the finale (released today!) we might all need the smooshy mental-health-based comfort of this fic.
(Which comes complete with a slight dose of angst, because despite my apparent adulthood, I am a smol emo child, and you all know this.)
(Warning: this post discusses true crime, and though it avoids details of murders, it does reference various topics surrounding true crime. This post also discusses Depression/Anxiety.
Any links to other websites may have further details of true crime, though I've tried to avoid anything graphic; I am not responsible for the content on these sites.)
I find true crime media weirdly helpful with combatting the affects of my mental health problems.
I put true crime shows on the TV sometimes in the evening, to wind down before falling asleep.
I clamour to Netflix true crime to calm my Anxiety.
I watch true crime docs or YouTube videos while I'm working to help me concentrate.
'...“But when he doesn’t show up for pancakes it's good practice to make sure he hasn’t fallen down a manhole or something,”
Klaus resists the urge to hiss.'
You know I love novel (or novella) length fanfiction.
The beautiful dedication that it takes to write a piece like this always makes me smile.
* = commission link
'The massive box of 64 crayons calls to me, every one of them waiting to be picked and pressed to a page. (I could have gone for the box of 120, but that seemed like too much.)'
This week's fic is from a fandom that is super-popular, but also not especially well-known outside its core fanbase.
...which is why I'm going to do a very brief explanation of Carry On* aka the Simon Snowverse just so's we're all on the same page.
(I realise that a lot of die-hard fans are probably screaming that how could anyone not know about Simon Snow?! But we do not gatekeep here at Dora Reads, dearest nerdlets.)
(Fandom notes:
gatekeeping - also a non-fandom term, when used in fandom this typically takes the form of 'you're not a real fan of [insert fandom or genre or author, etc.] unless you've [insert arbitrary benchmark]')
(Warning: this post discusses Coronavirus/Covid 19)
On a personal level, January sucked. Bad.
My beautiful Nan got Covid, and combined with her other health problems, despite the fact that she had very few symptoms, we nearly lost her.
There are very few things more distressing than watching someone you love slowly fade away via video link.
Honestly? If you're STILL not taking Coronavirus seriously, you can fuck the hell off.
And, dearest nerdlets, you know how upset I have to be to swear without censoring myself.
I really wanna delete a few letters and add *s, but I'm not gonna, cos despite the fact that I'm a nice well-brought-up Welsh girl, that's how annoyed I am, and how much you suck if you're one of the selfish people who still isn't taking precautions.
