So you hang up and practice the voicemail, and when you call back to leave it, they answer

Except they’re all looking in their laps texting

Okay Satan

Yo I called in sick to work today after I posted this and put in an 8 hour shift on Silksong instead aaaah

wut

Lol why is this so relatable. All or nothing

I feel like you’re posting your homework questions on here

Not to be dramatic but I would kill for Pepper if she asked

What behaviors or experiences caused you to explore the idea of it being disordered rather than just atypical? How was it disrupting your life?

The pros/cons seem stacked because they are. This is coming from my perspective of someone who has chosen not to have children, but has friends who have.

It’s not something you can really pro/con to make the “right” choice. You have to want to do it in spite of it changing your relationship, your body, your lifestyle, your everything. In some ways better, some worse. Some changes will evolve or ebb and flow with the seasons of life, and some will just be permanent.

I know that I can’t handle all that uncertainty, all that change. And while I also never really had the desire to raise and shape a child, as I’ve gotten older I’ve realized that I get to have those moments. In doses I can handle and without sacrifices, because they are not my kids. I’m an auntie (biological and chosen). I have plenty of friends with kids (and plenty without). I feel like I get the best of both worlds.

Imagine your life in both scenarios. What brings you the most joy?

I hope you recover from your carbrain

The target needs to be capitalism. Not Walmart, not Target, not Amazon. Just quitting the sheer amount of shit we buy that is not necessary. Reassessing our understanding of the word necessary. And for the things that are truly necessary, buying from companies who don’t race to the bottom with the most low-quality instant garbage they want to break so we’ll but another one.

I’m not talking about boycotting shitty companies, though. Just like, boycotting capitalism. To the degree that’s even possible. We need food, shelter, and utilities.

But clothes? Repair, swap, thrift.

Entertainment? Cancel streaming services, stop going out to movies. Don’t use social media sites that make money by showing you ads. Play cards or board games, read or listen to books from the library. Trade things with friends when you get bored of what you have instead of just buying new stuff. Touch grass.

I’m not saying I do all of this stuff or that it would be easy, but lots of people doing this consistently would make a much bigger difference than boycotting shitty companies piecemeal.

Opting out of consumerism. Not that it’s legal disobedience, but it’s certainly social disobedience that would get the attention of and take power from the corporations who control our politicians. Yes we can’t stop buying everything completely, going to a barter system for everything is not feasible. But we can at least stop buying so much crap.

And “sorry can you repeat that?”

Has your employer said they are firing you because of this?

Paying for paying isn’t the problem. Americans expecting free parking is why we’re so cooked with climate change. The problem is how much we’re paying for the (crappy) healthcare.

I’ve been actively suicidal before and it sucks, so I’m not gonna give you any “permanent solution to a temporary problem” bullshit. But what I learned in my extensive research is that it’s really hard to effectively kill yourself. If anything goes sideways, it’s pretty likely that you not only won’t die but your life will be way way worse. You think you’re unhirable now, just wait until you have a hypoxic brain injury.

As the kids on tiktok were saying for a bit: suicide is cringe, don’t kill yourself

Do you have anyone in your life you trust to talk to about this?

What kinda of things get them banned arbitrarily?

I’m currently in “do a week’s worth of work in 2 days” hyperfocus. Building up my nest egg for the next time my brain says I need to spend several days spending less than 15 minutes on actual work.