I’m laughing, but there’s a super useful corollary, which my husband calls “the Red Balloon.” He was a defense lawyer and had a fair number of drug addicts come through, and there is a thing where if you’re like, on your first offense, they’ll do a thing where you can go to treatment and if you complete it they’ll take the conviction off your record.
And he would tell his clients, “Look, everyone’s going to tell you not to do drugs. They’re going to say it over and over again. And it’s like, if people tell you not to think of a white elephant, you’re going to think of a white elephant. But the trick to not thinking about a white elephant is to think of a red balloon. So you need to find your red balloon. For some people it’s yoga. For others it’s woodworking. For some people it’s scrapbooking or gardening or any of a long list of things to do. They focus on that, it’s a lot easier to succeed in ignoring the white elephant.”
So yeah, “watch yourself” is one thing… but the better idea is to watch something else. (Even if it’s fanfic about werewolves fucking.)
It’s a form of productive dissociation, and is super, super helpful.
It’s easy for me to get bogged down in how much pain I’m in… but some of the most painful periods of my life have also been the most productive, writing-wise, because writing is one of my red balloons.
There is a phrase I use A LOT in my parenting and my son gets very sick of it, but it’s true:
The thing you practise is the thing you get good at.
You may not intentionally be practicing “being grumpy” but if you don’t put effort into practicing “not being grumpy” then I’m afraid that’s what you’re doing. It’s hard! It’s really hard! Sometimes, for some things, it’s pretty much impossible and that sucks!
But being carefully aware that you are going to get good at the things you do most of is a good way to be more careful of what those things are. If that makes sense.
You gotta appreciate sometimes how tumblr works in such a way that everyone who wants to reblog this interesting or useful psychological advice is also forced to reblog the thing about werewolf fucking
how many people could be working on actual problems in the world instead of being forced to do jobs that they are over-qualified for just because they dont want to go homeless and starve?
climate change is threatening to kill us and people with biology degrees are working at starbucks if they didn’t get lucky in the nepotism department.
capitalism is possibly the least efficient way to allocate work.
You love art–have spent your entire childhood developing a style people love and appreciate? you could possibly work to improve the lives of millions with your beautiful creations?
sorry you need to work 12 hours a day at a walmart that doesn’t need you while some billionaire who took a painting class once sells some ugly bullshit for 3.5 million.
Millions of people want to be doctors but can’t afford medical school, it is a well known fact we don’t have enough doctors for the demand. hmm wow real efficient capitalism.
“I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of
Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent
have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.” - Stephen Jay Gould
you have been visited by the seven magic dragon balls your biggest wish will be granted but only if you reblog
Couldn’t risk it.
didn’t realize they change colors. now I know o gotta wish.
THIS SHIT IS REAL I GOT THE JOB I WAS NUTS ABOUT BC I REBLOGGED THIS YESTERDAY maybe it’s a coinkidink but it okay just take the necessary steps to achieve what you’re wishing for and YOU CAN DO IT
i have a hot take about vine and tik tok if you allow me
vine’s entire concept was “show don’t tell” while tik tok’s entire concept is “tell don’t show”
might risk sounding like an Old Fart but i want to elaborate what i mean:
sometimes i will see Tiktoks that are just people talking to a camera about a thing that happened to them and then at the end… won’t even show the thing they’re talking about. they’re just talking to a camera. that or the few staged jokes take waaaaaay too much time to get to the punchline, and the punchline isn’t even funny (and the acting is bad)
meanwhile on vine, you only had 7 seconds, and in 7 seconds you could have anything happen, and a dude said “back at it at krispy kreme” and did backflips and kicked out a sign in his final flip and the video just cut with no explanation, and it was the greatest vine on earth
