For days when I don’t necessarily have all the energy to throw myself into some exercise, I need a fallback. Ever since I began exercising regularly, my formerly erratic living habits have become more predictable. In a depressive episode, I find it harder to exercise, and I grow hungrier as though my body is trying…
Category: Keeping Ahead of the Shadows
When All Else Fails…Hedgehogs!
From a PR perspective, having upload schedules is a great thing. Even from a self-management point of view, working toward a deadline ensures a constant flow of production, no matter how arbitrary the deadlines may be. That said, this series is the hardest for me to keep to a schedule. Some days, I find myself…
No One Else Can Save You: Saving Yourself
So, having recognized that I do, in small ways in daily life, need to be saved, and having acknowledged that I am, in fact, worth saving, how does one go about it? I started small. It started with acknowledging that I am, in fact, human and as such, do have limitations. I learned that most…
No One Else Can Save You: The Realization
We live in a society that teaches us that we will be saved. This isn’t usually a teaching we explicitly propagate, or even teach on purpose at all. In fact, I hear it frequently being explicitly contradicted. Yet we worship deities that save us. Most of our folklore is characterized by someone who saves the…
The Necessity for Internal Strength
The sad reality is that no matter how much I try to stay afloat and happy, there are times when circumstances align and create really sucky days. But sometimes, it just takes one or two wrong comments at the wrong time, and I’m locked in a dungeon in gloomsville for a week. For me, the…
Exercise: Breaking Out of a Lifelong Rut
Ever since childhood, I haven’t been very athletic. I always preferred to curl up with a book or a puzzle over any outdoor activities. Even when sports were required at school, I was always among the slowest runners in my class, or even my grade. I was on a swim team for awhile as a…
Veganism: Pancakes
Sometimes, I have down days and just want to not have to think about anything. Pancakes are a great way to start days that are already taking an effort. Vegan pancakes are insanely easy to make. If you’re feeling particularly low-energy, just mix together 1 part flour and 1 part non-dairy milk and fry it…
Depression as a Friend, Not an Enemy
I find that I benefit from conceptualizing depression as a friend that is a part of me. We are usually at odds in some ways, but it is a part of me that I can’t ignore or belittle. It needs to breathe just as much as the rest of me. I don’t always succeed at…
You Are What You Read
I’ve always been in love with books. When I was a teen, this love turned all-consuming and obsessive. It got to the point where I would go to work with my mother because her office was next to a bookstore. There I would sit all day, devouring books like my life depended on it. At…
Veganism: Knowing What You Need
Being vegan isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. A lot of my friends have told me that they simply could not be vegan because it makes them miserable to so limit foods that they enjoy so much. I can sympathize. At times when I break my vegansim (generally for convenience’s sake), I very much enjoy the taste…