Tangentmind

Tim Fucking Follin: Yeah I got ya, check this out.

Software Creations: *barely seconds in* Ohhh yes finally, something that isn’t an overwhelming banger. You done good, Mr. Follin.

Tim Fucking Follin: *waits for it*

Software Creations: *ten seconds later*

- Starbucks actually did the hard work of figuring out how to donate perishable food in a foodsafe way.

- 500 elephants were relocated to a better, safer and bigger home.

- “Unadoptable” cats (who are usually killed) may have a really important place in the world in their traditional area of work, given we’re thinking maybe poisoning stuff all over the place is a bad plan.

- We made massive strides in Alzheimers’ prevention.

- We found out that the ozone layer is repairing itself and that all the work we did to get rid of those aerosol chemicals was actually worth it.

- This therapy could cure radiation sickness.

- The Anglican church resolved to solemnize same-sex unions the same as opposite-sex unions, which required a super-majority of all three orders of the church (lay, clergy, bishop) and got MORE than that from both lay and bishop.

- The Rabbinical Assembly issued a resolution affirming the rights of transgender and non-conforming individuals.

- The Liberal gov’t changed the Canada Child Benefit so that it’s actually helping people who NEED THE FUCKING HELP. (I am sorry if you are a six figure income you do not actually fucking need this make some fucking lifestyle adjustments for fuck’s sake.)

- Highway of Tears is finally getting some regular fucking bus service.

- Eastwood donated a bunch more land to the Carmel River restoration project.

- We have developed gene-therapy for autoimmune disorders.

- Precision treatments for cancer are hitting clinical trials and WORKING.

- Dentists are once again providing free care to veterans who need it.

- The Anglican bishop on the Islands made an Eastern pilgrimage walking from Alert Bay to Victoria to stop at every First Nations community and personally, unequivocally apologize for his church’s involvement in fucking them up.

- Canada is actively attempting to increase and improve refugee resettlement.

- It has been determined that the manatee population has bounced back so much (500%) that it can be moved from “endangered” to “threatened”.

- This guy got to see his kids again.

- The Orlando Shakespeare Festival showed up with angel wings to block funeral-goer’s view of hate group so they wouldn’t be disrupted.

- Net Neutrality has been upheld by the appeals court. (No that fight isn’t over BUT THIS IS STILL A FUCK OF A GOOD THING.)

- We may have cured MS. (LET ME REPEAT: WE MAY HAVE CURED MS.)

- New short-treatment-period cure for HepC is huge success.

- Rise Women’s Legal Centre opened.

… . and this is just what I came up with in a pretty lazy google search in an hour, including distractions where I went down the research rabbit-hole for a bit because holy crap some of that stuff’s NEAT, guys!

And I know I’m missing stuff, because I wanted a citation for every single thing I put on there.

Yes, there have been some really bad things that have happened in 2016. There have also been a number of huge fucking miracles, and SIMILAR bad things have always happened, just about every damn year - maybe not to you, or maybe they didn’t make the news, and maybe you just don’t remember any of the good because of that whole massive Negative Bias problem that human brains have, but?

A lot of good shit happened. A lot.

And like I do actually get the sudden overwhelmed feeling of EVERYTHING SUCKS? but that mindset is, at this point, literally our worst enemy. “Everything is terrible somebody do something” helplessness is what will in fact consign us to everything BEING terrible. 

Everything is not terrible. In fact there are new ways, every single month, wherein new opportunities and miracles are happening and no that does not balance out the bad shit but it gives every reason to FIGHT the bad shit, and to get past the bad shit, and to make sure the bad shit ISN’T the overwhelming stain. 

- Giant pandas are no longer endangered.

- Solar plane makes complete trip around the world without a drop of fuel.

- ISIL is getting weaker.

- Mother to child HIV transmission has been reduced to zero in Cuba as of 2015.

- Ice Bucket Challenge directly contributes to gene discovery for ALS research.

- Volunteers in India smash a world record planting 50 million trees in one day.

- A hairdresser in New York offers free haircuts for the homeless, sparking the movement #DoSomethingForNothing.

- A permanent cure for sickle cell anemia has been found.

American Horror Story, Freakshow (via itsmicca)

Look we all know you wanna ask questions now and then different things. Our illnesses, our lives, our opinions on controversial topics, or even if we have plans this weekend. However the common way people do this is saying “Hey can we talk?” or “Hey can I ask you a question?” which seems really harmless yeah? Well it’s not at all. 

You don’t intend to but the minute I and may other people see that all we can think of is 2 million scenarios mostly bad about what it could possibly be. And we always say “go for it” or “sure” or “go ahead” but at the end of the day i’m panicking and shit like that can actually send someone into a panic attack especially when you don’t respond immediately. No one is trying to upset anyone usually but it can.

Now how can you help? Easy. there are a few options.

Option A: Just flat out ask the question. I will take “Can I ask you if you’re allergic to anything?” over “Can I ask you something?” any day because then I’m not assuming the worst.

Option B: Include a subject. “Can I ask you something about your dad?” is better than “I have a question.” because we can prepare in advance and again less likely to assume the worst.

Option C: This is the lesser option but you can literally just add “it’s nothing bad I promise.” and it will help a little bit.

my therapist taught me to start thinking of my anxiety as my panicky friend

Fear not, I’m still alive. Have a dragon!