fullmetal economist

ive done it, ive finally overcome my black-and-white thinking and established a gray area full of nuance. *looks closer* wait *notices my gray area is an illusion comprising smaller squares of black and white, and my nuance is just a more complicated set of rules* fuck

sometimes you invent mind prisons for yourself for no good reason and youre like "i really like being in the mind prison" even though you dont actually like being in the mind prison

I always loved how back in the day before cellphones, people were unreachable if they weren’t at home. You can call but I won’t be there to answer. You can leave a message but you don’t know how long it’ll be until I hear it. You don’t know if I’m home, but you will have to make the trip to come to my house and knock on the door, hoping I’ll be there. And if I’m not…you can’t reach me!! Now that everyone has a cellphone the expectation of being reachable 24/7 is so disastrous. And let’s not even get into read receipts. I think one of the worst times of my inner peace is when I had an apple watch and suddenly every text and phone call and notification was on my freaking wrist, even if my phone was giving the illusion of distance by being in my pocket or bag or charging in another room. I stopped using it in 2022 and I’d rather eat a jean jacket with no water than ever be so connected again. “oh you can just turn off notifications!” not the point.

A lot of people will judge their compatibility with someone off things like “do they have hobbies” “are they funny” “are they ambitious” “what music do they like” literally whatever the fuck. But even though someone could check all those boxes, a connection can never be appropriately formed if the answer to “do they make me feel safe” is ambivalent and unclear. Always ask yourself “do I feel safe around this person” when forming both friendships and relationships. Ask if you’re a safe person for them too. How cool a person is can never make up for lack of emotional safety on either end.