I think part of getting better is complete ego death. Like you’re not above setting a timer for 5 minutes and focusing on a task. You’re not above doing a very simple 3 minute workout to start. You’re not above reading for 10 minutes a day when you first get out of your reading slump, even if you used to read for hours. You’re not above starting slow and then building up to where you want to be/where you once were. What you are above is total inertia. Doing something really is better than doing nothing. Radically accept where you are, radically accept your limits, and go from there. Don’t let your ego get in the way.

I’d die on the hill that “stranger danger” is a deeply unhelpful mentality to have. “Ooooh everyone is out to get me they’re all gonna perpetrate harm that’s actually more likely to come from someone I already know. I better never talk to anyone in my community who I don’t already know, just to be safe. I’m sure there are no other biases interwoven with this mentality” like oh my god human traffickers do not just randomly spawn in every parking lot. You don’t have to go solo hitchhiking across the country but you also don’t have to live in fear that every guy on the street is the knife man who’s gonna get you. Like have situational awareness, yeah. But most of the time the guy on the street is not knife man he’s actually just a guy on the street and he’s probably pretty chill, and you’re driving yourself crazy by living in a constant state of unnecessary fear.

Like always safety comes first, especially if you’re in a marginalized group more likely to be targeted by random people around you. But that’s different from stranger danger. I might even say that stranger danger is something that contributes to marginalized groups getting targeted by random people. Which strangers do you find distrust worthy? Why? Does vague distrust justify harmful actions in the name of self defense? Stranger danger draws everyone away from more important issues of safety (underlying bigotries, systemic injustices, abuse in the home, etc) and towards an amorphous boogeyman that has no solution, because it’s not the real cause or culprit.

people who do a PhD are running from something

big life tips dont be neurodivergent dont be poor dont get in any sort of situation and dont let yourself need or crave

not getting good reports back on your progress with this guys

EVERYOBODY GET DOWN HES TAKING A CREATIVE LIBERTY

pro tip! if you ever get stuck on your project just fucking cry man. get it out, it's okay

I feel like a lot of people get "All Art is Political" confused with "All Art is made with Political Intentions" which is not the same.

I need to stop replying to “how do you make friends in your 30s?” threads because all my answers boil down to “you have to want to know people instead of have friends” and I don’t think people wanna hear that

It’s like. People can tell if you don’t really like or connect with them. If you aren’t truly enamored with someone you will have a hard time coming up with activities to do together to deepen the friendship. Because you don’t really like that person that much.

Hennessy has to know who Flint is, right? Like, besides probably having heard the “Mr. Flint” story before, it wouldn’t have just gone unnoticed that four months after disowning and ostracizing your son (basically) in a scandal involving pirates in Nassau, the most feared pirate in Nassau in a generation suddenly comes into existence. I certainly hope he knows. I hope every time news came from the West Indies it kept him up at night - hearing the words profane and loathsome, and realizing that he was right about the rage James could be capable of when driven to it.

#ohhhh i hope he knew#i hope he knew IMMEDIATELY#i hope he connected the dots#james was SO devoted to the plan to bring nassau back into the english fold and i hope hennessy knew how equal and opposite#flint’s devotion was. to keep nassau free from the influence of england because FUCK england thats why#i hope he knows how badly he fucked up. if he didnt realise how much of an asset james was before i hope he realised retroactively.#that he realised how much of a threat an angered james mcgraw was and realised that maybe it would have been better to keep such a#powerful and driven and unyeildingly loyal man on their side instead of actively turning him against them#i hope he mourned. for the man james had been and the man that hennessy helped turn him into.#i hope every time news came of another act by the pirate james flint that hennessy remembered a 10 year old boy - bright eyed and quick#on the uptake and smarter and more charismatic than two thirds of the ruling class. a boy with loyalty written into his very bones.#i hope he remembered a young james mcgraw every time he heard the name captain flint.#& i hope he knows that he’s a significant part of the reason that that loyal and bright little boy became the most feared man on the ocean.