”I Don’t Know What I’m Supposed To Do.”

Dragonlord, his great grandson, and a Dragon slime. These were actually part of a larger personal piece.

Paddington (2014)

#tough crowd

Transgender Moods™

“i need [surgery/hormones/whatever] RIGHT GODDAMN NOW”

“o fuck i’m not ready for [surgery/hormones/whatever] it’s too scary”

Dysphoria™

Dysphoria²™, also known as Despair

But What If I’m Faking It

“time to relabel my sexuality again”

bonus level: “wait, am I straight?!?”

deep depression

But What If I’m Faking It, Round Two: Electric Boogaloo

that real good feel when you finally figure out a name/pronoun/decision and it feels right

immediately followed by: Doubt™

spending all your money on new clothes

the gradual increase in your wellbeing that you don’t even notice until you look back to where you were three years ago and just think wow

looking in the mirror and finally, finally seeing someone that looks like you.

adhd is like "i love my classes so much! they're incredible and fascinating and fun. also i will die before i do any work outside of class"

I have burrowed underneath your brain. I am nested there. I am the scream in your mind!

Have I told y’all about my husband’s Fork Theory?  If I did already, pretend I didn’t, I’m an old.

So the Spoon Theory is a fundamental metaphor used often in the chronic pain/chronic illness communities to explain to non-spoonies why life is harder for them. It’s super useful and we use that all the time. But it has a corollary.  You know the phrase, “Stick a fork in me, I’m done,” right? Well, Fork Theory is that one has a Fork Limit, that is, you can probably cope okay with one fork stuck in you, maybe two or three, but at some point you will lose your shit if one more fork happens.  A fork could range from being hungry or having to pee to getting a new bill or a new diagnosis of illness. There are lots of different sizes of forks, and volume vs. quantity means that the fork limit is not absolute. I might be able to deal with 20 tiny little escargot fork annoyances, such as a hangnail or slightly suboptimal pants, but not even one “you poked my trigger on purpose because you think it’s fun to see me melt down” pitchfork.

This is super relevant for neurodivergent folk. Like, you might be able to deal with your feet being cold or a tag, but not both. Hubby describes the situation as “It may seem weird that I just get up and leave the conversation to go to the bathroom, but you just dumped a new financial burden on me and I already had to pee, and going to the bathroom is the fork I can get rid of the fastest.”