Please, It's A Viola

War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius

Like, if you can’t tear yourself away from a video game, even to make it to an important event on time? Addictive tendencies.

If you keep spending your allowance money on those funny collectibles or new shoes even when you promise yourself you’re going to save it? Addictive tendencies.

If you find yourself unable to resist and manage food cravings, or frequently overeating even when it makes you feel bad? Addictive tendencies.

addictive behaviors are when you compulsively, uncontrollably seeking to self-regulate with some outside medium. if that medium is unhealthy quantities of a toxic chemical, you are going to intake a lot of toxic chemicals and damage your health. also, your quality of life is going to be warped around getting that substance, which, if it’s illegal, is going to put you in extra danger. and so on.

but the thing is, if you know you have an ‘addictive personality’ you can’t just say ‘ok i won’t be addicted to anything bad and it will be fine’. you have to actually look at what you’re self-regulating with, and why, and how much, and how often. shopping too much isn’t as bad as meth. but you’re still not going to be making healthy financial decisions. video games won’t destroy your body as fast as whiskey. but you’re going to be pouring hours, weeks, of your life into numbing yourself and avoiding the problems that make you need an easy escape from your brain.

you get addicted to things because you need to handle something you can’t handle, and those things make it bearable for as long as you have those things, until you depend on those things, and the stuff that you can’t handle just keeps piling up and up. so childhood trauma, really any kind of trauma, undiagnosed (or even diagnosed) mental illnesses and disorders, they can make life too hard and too painful to deal with alone. so you buy things because you need to feel just a moment of joy. so you gamble because you love the feeling of a controllable uncertainty. so you drink because it sands the edges off the world. you just want to feel okay for a minute. you do, actually, deserve to feel okay for a minute. everyone does.

artist applications for the pokemon villains zine have officially opened! if you are looking for requirements please look at our FAQ!! 

you can take the artist application HERE

put shorts on

put legs in one leg hole

pull up and on to shoulder

NEVER forget to accessorize 

I really think

I’m winning this. 

But still interested in feeding yourself? What if I told you that there’s a woman with a blog who had to feed both herself and her young son…on 10 British pounds ($15/14 Euro) per week?

Let me tell you a thing.

This woman saved my life last year. Actually saved my life. I had a piggy bank full of change and that’s it. Many people in my fandom might remember that dark time as when I had to hock my writing skills in exchange for donations. I cried a lot then. 

This is real talk, people: I marked down exactly what I needed to buy, totaled it, counted out that exact change, and then went to three different stores to buy what I needed so I didn’t have to dump a load of change on just one person. I was already embarrassed, but to feel people staring? Utter shame suffused me. The reasons behind that are another post all together. 

AgirlcalledJack.com is run by a British woman who was on benefits for years. Things got desperate. She had to find a way to feed herself and her son using just the basics that could be found at the supermarket. But the recipes she came up with are amazing. 

You have to consider the differing costs of things between countries, but if you just have three ingredients in your cupboard, this woman will tell you what to do with it. Check what you already have. Chances are you have the basics of a filling meal already. 

Here’s her list of kitchen basics. 

Bake your own bread. It’s easier than you think. Here’s a list of many recipes, each using some variation of just plain flour, yeast, some oil, maybe water or lemon juice. And kneading bread is therapeutic. 

Make your own pasta–gluten free. 

She gets it. She really does. This is the article that started it all. It’s called “Hunger Hurts”.

She has vegan recipes.

A carrot, a can of kidney beans, and some cumin will get you a really filling soup…or throw in some flour for binding and you’ve got yourself a burger. 

Don’t have an oven or the stove isn’t available? She covers that in her Microwave Cooking section. 

She has a book, but many recipes can be found on her blog for free. She prices her recipes down to the cent, and every year she participates in a project called “Living Below the Line” where she has to live on 1 BP per day of food for five days. 

Things improved for me a little, but her website is my go to. I learned how to bake bread (using my crockpot, but that was my own twist), and I have a little cart full of things that saved me back then, just in case I need them again. She gives you the tools to feed yourself, for very little money, and that’s a fabulous feeling. 

Tip: Whenever you have a little extra money, buy a 10 dollar/pound/euro giftcard from your discount grocer. Stash it. That’s your super emergency money. Make sure they don’t charge by the month for lack of use, though.

I don’t care if it sounds like an advertisement–you won’t be buying anything from the site. What I DO care about is your mental, emotional, and physical health–and dammit, food’s right in the center of that.