This is my favorite thing that I’ve seen this morning.

One of ours loves standing with her back foot on my foot. The other loves sniffing my partner’s slippers. Foot fetish felines.

My partner is a refugee from a dictator country. I’d like to join the protests, but we’re very deliberately not doing so to protect her. That’s because I’m afraid for her safety. She a recognized human rights advocate who has been jailed. I’m selfish and want to keep her with me.

Bi-polar. I’ve been living with it nearly three decades. It comes on around early adulthood. It’s a pita getting on top of it and learning to manage it, but you can get there. Lemme try to speedrun you some info.

You most likely need medication to manage it, though a psychiatrist will make that determination. It can take a long time to find the right med or combination of meds. I’m sorry, but it’s going to be frustrating at times because it’s very much a “how’s this one working” process. Some of them will have unpleasant side effects, others not so much. But when you touch upon something that works, your life is back in your hands.

Don’t ever just go off your meds without the supervision of your caretaker. This can be dangerous both physically and mentally. I went off my meds once and crashed so hard that I couldn’t even speak to my then-partner. You need to ween yourself from them if you decide to change your treatment.

Manic episodes feel awesome and you might be tempted to take the ride when you notice that one is coming on. This is tempting because of the increased productivity and awesome state of mind. It always ends in some degree of disaster. So if you find a med that helps slow them to prevent them, even though it feels good, shut it down. You may spend lots of money very easily or engage in risky behaviors that can really screw you over.

It takes time to recognize the signs that a manic episode is coming on. I thought I’d never be able to control them but after it happens enough time, you can learn to recognize them and assert control via whatever you find that works. I have a specific medication that shuts them down. Would that med work for you? Who knows. Be prepared to be observant and learn about yourself. For me, I start making an unconscious pop with my tongue when manic, which helps identify it. Also, I find that keeping a really consistent sleep schedule helps whereas staying up partying all night could lead to mania. Hard to do at 18, I know.

It seems to slow down and become more manageable with age. In my late twenties and early thirties, it was more difficult to manage than in the second half of my thirties and beyond. I haven’t had a manic episode in maybe eight or nine years because it’s less challenging and I’ve been managing it effectively for a while.

You might need an antidepressant to help with the down cycles. Too much can induce mania. Go slow with your caregiver and ask as many questions as you need to. Ask how drugs and alcohol might affect your condition as well as your treatment.

Listen, I’m sure all this might sound like I’m saying that you got dealt an impossible shitty life. That’s not the case. It’s going to present challenges, but everyone has challenges and this is just one of yours. I’m extremely happy in life. If you offered to take away my condition and start over, I wouldn’t do it. My condition is part of what makes me me and I wouldn’t want any other life. Note that I didn’t always feel this way and be prepared for depression to really make things hard. That part sucks, but hey, again, you’ll learn to manage it if you choose to.

Hey, it’s not at all the end of the world. And there’s never been a better time in history to be neuro-divergent. There’s nothing to be ashamed of. I openly admit that I’m bi-polar and in treatment with anyone I know. It’s like having asthma. We are seen and accepted.

If I think of anything else, I’ll post again. But this feels about like how I would want to present it and what I’d want to emphasize. I might be done. Good luck!

It’s there so that crotchety old men can shoot Black teenagers for knocking on their door.

“Same old same old. You?”

Flight.

So handsome.

“How much like it, was it the same cat?”

Haven’t had a reddit account since ~2015. Saw no value for a long time. Here is different.

USA. Oh, wait. I’m not a visitor but a resident.

Free healthcare.

I wondered if I was the only one who had this take. Mattress on the floor. Must be 18yo. I can cut them some slack cause I had the same at 18yo. And that explains the childlike hero-worship of jackasses (and I really like Steve Jobs as a product guy).

Were I a young woman, I wouldn’t consider this person safe to be alone with. Not because of the shitty bed. Because of the psychotic worship of shitty men.

Taiwan.

Mail it to your destination.

Shoot him in the leg. He’ll drop his gun. Works every time.

Thirty years. I may have seen it while I was young, but that doesn’t make us both not old.

American here. We suck.

Three.

Taiwan. Clerk at the shoe store didn’t have what I wanted in my size. She went to the other shoe stores nearby searching for me without telling us. We found out when we asked why it was taking so long.