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

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

Never take ibuprofen on an empty stomach.

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

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

Girl, no. Our Alabama is most definitely Roscommon.

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

Edit: it means Good, Giving and Game!

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

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

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

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

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

These are great! Thanks superkret :)

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

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

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

Best of luck OP 💕

Having lots of free time is key. For me, that free time affords me all the time I need for all those self care activities that suffer when I’m working full time, like showering and sleeping and keeping my living space somewhat tidy. I don’t know how people manage that when they’re working full time!!

I have a lot of lawyers in my social circle and this is definitely the case! I wonder if the “strong sense of justice” trait also attracts a lot of neurodivergent people to the industry initially.