Hi comrades and welcome to the second weekly improvement megathread!
I am glad to see that there was a lot of engagement in the first megathread and that people were checking in throughout the week.
Same as the last week, here are some ideas for discussion:
- Do you want to share something you've done in the previous week? Everything counts, nothing is too small.
- What would you like to do next week?
- What aspect of life would you like to improve?
- Do you have any streaks? For example, "sober for one day." Feel free to post your streak every day in this thread.
- If you don't have a continuous streak, did you manage to abstain from something for a day or more?
- Did you come across some useful information or resource that might help others?
Good luck to everybody with your goals! 
Just checked my watch and I've been sober for 2 weeks officially. Donno how long I will go(legit hope I'm done but life sucks and shit happens). I feel like I'm gonna get urges here in the next week or 2. I wish I could just not think about it and let myself vibe but I've dealt with my drinking problem since I was 18. Here's to hoping.
We enlisted our friend who has amazing organizational and cleaning skills to help clean the fuck out of our oldest's room. Got that shit knocked out in 3 hours. She's coming over early to help a bit more before their Sunday DND session.
I got my character built for the Cairn one shot planned for this Friday. If it happens cool, if not then social anxiety go down mode activated. I wanna do it if the others are on board and the social anxiety is just part of me so I'll get over it lol. At least I can recognize it now amd manage it before severe attacks happen. Those fucking suck.
I'm on a pretty big reading streak out the gate for 2024. On book 4 for the year and went with Trans Liberation by Leslie Feinberg. This book is fucking powerful. You know how sometimes you end up reading a book at the right time? This has been that so far and I'm sure it's going to continue. I think I still have some unchecked biases towards the trans space and I feel like it's helping me see those so I can learn more and fix it at the door. I believe I'm an ally but there is still a lot I don't know. I wanna be more than an ally and start getting into activism and this book is basically telling me that.
I think that's it for the most part. We are still working on divergent design and open face stackable bins are fucking expensive. Like bruh, it's just fucking plastic. I think since they are geared towards teachers that it's priced like that on purpose. Fucking predatory pricing can go diaf.
Congrats on the 2 wks. :) Does the book make you sad? I've been cagey about reading that's very memoir-based bc it can send me spiraling if it's too sad.
I think so far it makes me more hopeful for a potential future that we can all have. Her speeches are good. I'm not even halfway through so I can't really speak fully on it.
Back to me being a hopeless romantic but it tugs at the parts of my brain where I hope we might have a full unity among trans, feminist, gay and other progressive cultures someday(I know Hexbear/lemmygrad and other comrade spaces are super supportive but I mean like the mainstream). I'm cishet and am fully aware of my privilege but am very sympathetic towards these groups and am learning more about their struggles and am constanty learning how to be a better ally. So I think that is why books like this are important to me, even if it might end on a sad note.
It does open up right away with a gut punch so it might be sad in the end.
And thanks!
That is a beautiful image of the future, certainly helps w the spiraling. :)
I don't wanna send you on something that might upset you though. Maybe check some full reviews first if you end up deciding to pick it up.
fucking gross to post that meme in this com. absolute
shit.Dear comrade this is clearly a meme and not supposed to be taken very seriously. Nevertheless, I shall sentence myself to 30 years of gulag just to be safe
bottom left is the least problematic one. i also read it as trans-jacketing, but it doesn't really matter. plenty of people figure themselves out and are still depressed.
depression needs support and treatment, not violence, suppression, or bootstraps. attitudes like OP's meme gets people winding up in the 5th way out when the gimmicks are inevitably insufficient or inappropriate.
Depression needs support and treatment, also anything and everything that's useful.
violence, suppression, or bootstraps.
are not fucking useful goddamn.
folk "remedies" that don't work are more dangerous than doing nothing. it's 1:1 analogous with steve jobs eating a magic diet instead of getting actual cancer treatment. you can't "lol bro just think positive bro just lift bro just be zen bro just murder people bro" through it.
Also, like you don't know me at all, you don't know what I've gone through in my life or any of my circumstances. When you say shit like this it comes off very arrogant, as if you know better than I do for what is working and has worked for my problems.
It's best to have all your rebuttals in one comment, edited on if needed, rather than replying a bunch of times, as it begins to become harassment at a certain point. Even if I agree with the point you're making.
Sure got tired of editting my posts didnt mean anything by it
Edit: i wrote this early as fuck, i do want JohnBrownNote to stick around and try to find some community with us even if they vehemently disagree with everything.
You want community and support but you're here mad at us. We're not gonna make you do shit you don't want to do or find helpful.
Don't you think that if your depression is as severe as you say it is that your line of thinking is probably also warped?
I'm still going to social stuff irl, even though the mh has not been great. And, I'm committing to journaling my whole day (this always helps me detect unhelpful habits and inefficiencies).
This week in my added sugar purge:
L's
- ended up buying a pack of cookies that was on sale
- there's still a lot of ways sugar is snuck into pre-made food (in salsa? really?)
W's
- switched from "healthy" breakfast cereal to overnight oats
- have been doing a good job limiting how many cookies I've eaten (only 2 per day!)
Not trying to be perfect, so this feels like an overall good week. I've noticed I'm going for fruit a bit more for the natural sugars, although I think cuz the natural sugars metabolize slower so I'm not getting as strong a hit.
Very surprising how sugar is tucked into so many places. Often annoying as fuck, bc if I wanted sugar, I would simply add it myself.
Good job comrade.
Thanks comrade! I feel like this'll lead to more cooking from scratch which could be fun
Kept up with the exercise 3x a week, probably could be going harder but I'm happy it's happening at all
Kept on top of eating enough every day up ~half a pound from last week
I'm calling the ereader a success, 10% of the way through this textbook mostly reading during downtime at work and I've also started reading for fun before bed at night instead of scrolling. Something like 300 pages last week and today
Putting it on a separate device has meant I just need to win the battle against my ADHD once, instead of constantly on my phone/computer. It's also more comfy to read in bed
Nice hell yeah, don't be upset if you don't keep the habit up. some stuff you just have to get back on the saddle and then other things can just happen for short periods of your life and having a long lasting impact.
Not sure if I'm making the best choice, but I'm returning to college to finish the CS degree I started. If STEM is what the market wants so badly, then STEM is what the market gets. It sucks I need to slog through all this time and money literally for society's permission to work, but the only actual alternative I see is me rotting as a NEET forever in my second best case scenario (my best case scenario is I make money as an artist, but I'd rather be an artist with 'marketable hard skills'). I also hope to learn how to "network" and set myself up for being an actual adult. In a sense, this is adult boot camp. Most importantly of all, I want to make friends and find a GF, I cannot see myself resorting to apps for such things. Plus it will set me up for grad opportunities that are more aligned with my interest if need be, I'm going for a job I can tolerate doing but find meaning outside of it with the friends I make and hobbies. I want to change for the better, and I have a habit of trying, getting burnt out, and failing. Regardless, I know I can't do this while I'm living the life of a manchild.
Also, I had a pretty good day in the gym, my bench is up and I hope to be able to bench 225 by the end of the year. Exercising has made me realize my music taste sucks so hard, I'm a total neckbeard that listens to video game soundtracks unironically. Can anyone recommend some good "normal people" music that's great for working out?
Bro, you got it, it's definitely scary though. believe in yourself.
Video game soundtracks rule stop with that, a lot of the good vgm comes from or is straight ripped off heavy, deep fusion and jazz smart people shit anyway please stop hurting yourself for no reason.
but i like listening to meshuggah, gojira and knocked loose when i work out.
Oh, I like the Sly Cooper Soundtrack and Persona the most. I also like Pokemon, Zelda, Sonic, and yes....undertale
Runescape is good for getting me to concentrate since it's all hypnotic.
There are some great video game soundtracks, there's no shame in listening to that. I don't listen to music when working out but if I did, I would probably listen to something like Rage Against The Machine.
Congrats on returning back to college! Good luck with your studies
Been trying to read more in the past couple of days. Borrowed one of those demonic self-help books that everyone on my instagram is swearing by, and while the book itself is brainwormed (LOTS of great-man thinking, and reverence for people who's only job is "investor"), forcing myself to spend a 60-90 minutes every evening has been quite interesting. I sort of fell out of the habit of reading seriously since my son was born, especially since I already had a daughter, and trying to keep them alive has been a handful.
The book in question is "Deep Work" by Cal Newport, and it includes an incredibly funny section about the statistical genius known as Nate Silver, which has aged absolutely perfectly.
Read Peak by Anders Ericsson, I liked that one, none of these self books will ever acknowledge class struggel tho
If you feel like reading more, we’re going a Marx’s Capital reading club over on /c/theory only three weeks in so not too much to catch up (5ish hours). If that sounds like your cup of tea come along!
I'm currently in the middle of reading both the self-help book mentioned above (which is liberal as hell, but still useful as a disciplinary exercise), and before I got started on that brief tangent, I was about 100 pages into Seymour Hersh' biography of Kissinger, which is depressing as hell, but gives a decent insight into the mind of the demon king.
There are only two self-help books I find remotely useful.
-
You are a badass by Jen Sincero (For personal reasons, I want to give her a re-read)
-
Be Useful by Arnold Schwarzenegger (Yeah, he is your standard centrist
, but there's no denying the guy went through hell and back and slogged through all kinds of bullshit to get to where he is. For that, I'll admit I have some respect for him.)
-
Would you say that the book is worth reading, aside from the brainworms? That guy also has a book on digital minimalism. I've listened to some podcast episode where he was being interviewed and it was interesting.
You can sort of skip the first half-ish of the book, if you don't want to know the historical background for why the book is important. The second part, where he begins talking about how to get better at scheduling focused work, and the benefits of doing it are much more interesting. It's also an incredibly easy read, and only about 250 pages, so even a busy person can get it done in like a week / long weekend. If I have to give Cal Newport some commendation, he is actually pretty good at writing in a way that is accessible, and he avoids a lot of the #Grindset shit that you see on instagram and hear on podcasts. In particular his point about concentration being a muscle that you have to exercise regularly, and if you don't it will wither and must be retrained.
Thank you for the info, I will check it out! The best book on productivity and organization that I've read is Getting Things Done by David Allen, I definitely recommend it.
After some introspection and therapy I've come to realise that one of my main hurdles to actually improoooving is that my partner and I keep holding ourselves to neurotypical standards. Pretty regular internalised hustlecel productivitycuck, stuff, really, but the brainworms are nested pretty deep. It's been pretty bad recently. It always just ends in my going down a shame spiral and being completely overwhelmed and not doing the things I "should" be doing and just escaping the Bad Vibes with video games. It's unsustainable, and it's putting a lot of strain on myself and my relationship.
Rationally we understand that we're not the kind of people to handle the regular nine-to-five combined with keeping up our own health and relationships. But still the brainworm keeps whispering to me that "Shouldn't you have gone to the gym twice already this week...? I bet your partner is disappointed in you because you didn't clean the bathroom like you said you would. Idiot. When's the last time you even rode your bike? Not to mention all your fancy expensive dust-collectors you have decorating your synth desk. You paid for all this!!!". Always the emphasis on the money aspect of it, too. Probably comes from growing up dirt poor.
But anyway, I've tried to come up with a fuck load of different ways to manage my energy and not get overwhelmed by all the things I have to do, none of which have really worked. When I went to therapy last time though I managed to put the feeling into words for the first time (tl;dr: "I keep holding myself to NT standards"). Granted, I've had probably a hundred revelations like that in therapy, but this feels like a real one (this time for really really real ACTUALLY really).
So, I'm gonna try to approach the day-to-day with that in mind from now on. I even made up a little schedule that follows the ground rule of max 1 thing per day. Like, that I can only expect myself (and my partner from me and vice versa) to do ONE THING each day, and try to never schedule more than one thing on the same day. Food prep = 1 thing. Cleaning the apartment = 1 thing. Gym = 1 thing. etc etc. For example monday = food prep day, tuesday = gym day, wednesday = cleaning day, thursday = gym day, friday = grocery shopping day. Doing that one thing means I'm DONE and don't HAVE to do anything else that day (unless I actually feel like it). Kind of like an exercise schedule but for regular chores. I'm hoping that eventually my Executive Function Muscle will get strong enough that I can do as much as TWO thing per day. That'd be pretty neat.
Deciding on one big thing per day is a great system. I have come to the same conclusion after trying to be super productive all the time.
Being a wage slave and trying to get shit done after work can quickly get overwhelming. That's because time and energy are very limited and the things we "should" be doing are infinite. And even if you manage to be super productive, it's not very rewarding in itself. So it's very easy to burn out. I'm trying to build a consistent, balanced and sustainable routine where I can get shit done without going insane.
Btw I think you might find this interesting, it's a quick self-compassion test that I think everybody in the world should take
Two days without binge eating (eating disorder :<) and looking to get back to lifting tomorrow after a week and a half off due to consecutive ear infections. I am keen to get back to being a swoletariat, no lifting makes me something something
Hello improoovers, i was sick all last week so my music progress got fucked
Staying inside for too long, makes me depressed and i ruminate harder than usual. im in a state of elation though as im almost over the lil cold and i've been reflecting on all the horrible things that I have overcome. hooray mokey! i really try to remind myself that my brain is not healthy when ive stayed inside for too long and not to take myself too seriously when i catch myself ruminating on things ive fucked up or relationships ive failed.
touching grass really is important. i realized about a month or two ago that i need to do atleast two music things a week (outside of practicing) to feel grounded.
Last week I practiced meditation on 5 days in a row. I did a bit of reading and touched grass with a friend. I think it was a good week in terms of making progress.
Next week the weather will be a bit warmer here so I would like to go running on at least one day. I also want to go hiking with a friend on the weekend.
Thank you comrade. I definitely noticed a huge difference with meditation, especially at the beginning when I first started it. Meditating is by far one of the best habits you can learn, it is essentially a superpower.
It's also great in terms of bang for your buck, since you can get great benefits with just 10 minutes per day.
These days there are a lot of free meditation apps so it's easy to learn as well. Just install one of the apps (I use Insight Timer) and play some guided meditations. Here is one of my favourites.
Trying to analyze whats going on with my foot technique in my left foot.
I think the issue is that I'm not leading with the big toe and interior ball of my foot. It's mostly just the strength of my tibia and calf muscles doing the work.
I hope this solves the issue. My ideal goal is to understand as many troubleshooting spots possible with foot technique. It's not a very well explained field in my opinion and I'd love to have something useful for my people.
I've been lurking on the subreddit and then here since 2016, but the overwhelming majority of my posting has happened in the past couple of months with my current account. I'm not sure if that means I've pushed the envelope of my social anxiety or not...
Trying to work on my mental health and taking a few steps back to less engaged politically for a bit. The toll it's taking on my mental health has been worse than I thought. For now I've been enjoying leisurely activities and hanging out.
amazing work comrade
