Girlish-in-pain - Maja

You’re allowed to struggle and complain even if you aren’t the “worst” you could be.

You don’t need to be positive and grateful all the time. It’s okay to have feelings about your disabilities. It’s okay to vent about them.

Just because it could be worse doesn’t mean you don’t deserve it to be better.

🌈 some soft things to stay alive for:

seeing a heart-shaped cloud

music you could fall asleep to

warm blankets straight from the dryer

gifts with a lot of thought in them

surprise breakfasts in bed

hot cups of cocoa when it’s cold

rainbows during a sun shower

cute artwork that you connect with

little hopes that come true

feeling safe with someone you love

taking care of a used plushie

yummy edible cookie dough

ICELAND ICELAND ICELAND ICELAND

I came out as nonbinary to my best friend last week and it went great. Which I was expecting but that didn't stop me from crying, shaking and needing her to talk me down from an almost panic attack. I had never said anything out loud to anyone, so I was expecting some sort of a reaction.

When I told her, she smiled in the most reassuring way and I asked if she already knew. She said she didn't want to assume anything or pressure me to talk about it before I was ready, so she had been waiting for me to say something. But she had come across some pronoun pins a couple of weeks earlier and she wanted to buy some that said "they/them" for me but she didn't want to pressure me so she didn't buy them. I honestly love that she knew. And that she instinctively knew which pronouns I prefer. Anyway, it's been really nice to be able to talk about it. I've had weird gender feelings for about 10ish years now and only started thinking I might be nonbinary a couple years ago. Before I just did everything to not think about it. But yeah, I'm nonbinary;)

“I don’t want to be a burden” you’re more like a relief, a gift, a blessing actually

You get to choose what you want to do with your life, instead of life choosing for you. But having that power, the power to choose, can be a doubleedged sword. Because you can choose wrong.

“We all looked up” by Tommy Wallach

It is the time of the year again where all the finalists are fighting for the first place, except, of course, Germany and the UK who will keep competing for the last spot.

It’s easier to think of someone as “lazy” than to face the fact that school costs too much, that better jobs are inaccessible, that childcare is unaffordable, that people are forced to work so hard for so little that there’s no way they could have enough energy to attempt schooling or finding better work, and that what we give to people who can’t work is insufficient to the point of being shameful. I could say that calling people lazy is, in itself, lazy, but it’s not just an intellectual shortcut. It’s a defense mechanism.

Since it's fibro awareness month, I'd like to give a special shout out to all my fibro friends!

Here's to the people who were diagnosed when they were young, and had to sit out on everything other people their age could freely do

To my older fibro friends, who got diagnosed later in their life and were constantly told it's "all in your head"

To the people who have their diagnoses ignored or belittled

To the people who have no support and feel alone

To the people who have amazing friends, family, and doctors who actually listen

To the people who keep telling themselves, "I just have to make it through this day," every day

To those who lay on the floor with invisible pain, no one else can begin to imagine

To my friends who wildly swing from a 3 to a 10 on the pain scale

To everyone who feels like their skin is burning, just from wearing clothes

To my young and old friends who use mobility aids

To my friends who wear compression supports

To my friends who can't do basic tasks, such as showering, brushing your teeth, or eating because it feels like you've been set on fire

To anyone who hasn't gotten a diagnosis yet, but you just know something isn't right

To everyone who feels as if there is no end in sight

May your pain never be a ten, may you have heating pads, a comfortable bed and a nice cup of tea to help you feel just a tiny bit better. I see you, I hear you, and I am with you through this hell of a journey.

When I go to the doctor, they hand me paperwork with a chart to locate my pain. I can’t pinpoint it. I “X” my whole body. My entire life.

— Glenis Redmond, from "I Stay Sick," The Listening Skin