Sure Looked Strange To Me

It was her responsibility as a mother to ensure that Ada didn't turn out like her father;

Fundamentally, the thing that was wrong with Lord Byron is that he was a poet; and

The opposite of poetry is math.

Tumblr post: xyz is proof you're irredeemable

Me to my therapist in college way back when: It's awful to admit this but I... I experience xyz. It feels horrific and shameful and I don't know what to do

Said therapist: xyz is extremely common, and it means nothing about you as a person. But since it's making you miserable, here's how you can work on experiencing it less

.

Every. Single. Article. just talked about how narcissists are evil and their traits are a red flag and all of society should avoid them. We don't KNOW what causes narcissistic personality disorder, so prevention is nearly impossible and treatment is nebulous (no offense to the common treatment of talk therapy, but it has varying results for people suffering from narcissistic personality disorder).

And yet narcissistic personality disorder is on the list of disorders, illnesses, and conditions that I often see blamed entirely on those living with them. There's a stigma to being diagnosed, which is one of the many reasons narcissistic personality disorder sufferers don't seek treatment. Instead, they just have a high likelihood of alocholism and suicide because the way they relate to other people is "wrong" and they usually end up very isolated and lonely.

A lot of people assume that, because my blog is themed around hope, that my posts don't apply to things that are typically considered (or that actually are) severe or upsetting or etc.

But that's very much not the case.

So, I'd like to clarify that this post specifically applies to and includes all of the following!

Sources include: I edit psychology and mental health books for a living; I have both a therapist and a social worker in my immediate family; I've worked with multiple comprehensive sex ed programs and organizations. I like verywellmind, Healthline, and Google Scholar as starting points if you would like to do your own further research and/or verification.

The following are all things that have no moral weight or moral valence:

Having low empathy

Having no empathy

Having strong emotional reactions to things

Emotionally "underreacting" to things according to most people

Expressing emotions differently than other people

Having a mental illness

Having a stigmatized mental illness, including personality disorders

Having intrusive thoughts, regardless of type (relatedly: thought crimes are still not real! what matters is your actions.)

Experiencing psychosis or having a psychotic disorder (note: contrary to popular belief, "psychosis" simply means experiencing hallucinations or delusions, or otherwise having trouble telling what's real and what's not)

Having a chronic illness or disability, including stigmatized ones, such as an intellectual disability, facial differences and limb differences, conditions with a lot of support needs, conditions that require a caretaker and/or full-time care, and conditions that affect sleep, hygiene, or bodily fluids/waste

Having an addiction or substance use disorder

For that matter, using substances without an addiction or substance use disorder

Drinking alcohol, caffeine (yes some people absolutely believe this has a moral valence), etc.

Horoscope or birth sign (yes this has been completely proven; astrology can be fun but it is not real)

Physical appearance

Weight

Eating lots of sugar / fats / whatever

Not eating lots of sugar / fats / whatever

Eating lots of healthy food

Eating lots of "unhealthy" food

Having sex

Having lots of sex

Having no sex

Having sexual trauma

Wanting sex

Not wanting sex

Being LGBTQ, queer, trans, nonbinary, intersex, asexual, aromantic, genderqueer, genderfluid, multigender, etc.

Being straight; being cis; being perisex (that is, not intersex); being allo

Being a man; being a woman; being nonbinary; having no gender; etc.

Genders, sexualities, pronouns, etc. that other people think are unusual or "cringe"

Being into kink

Not being into kink

Having kinky sex

Not having kinky sex

Experiencing sexual attraction (or not)

Experiencing romantic love (or not)

Wanting either of those things

Liking and reading/watching horror or dark content

Liking and reading/watching porn or mature/sexual content

Enjoying reading, not enjoying reading, and being bad at reading

Enjoying shit that's cringe

Being cringe

Much more

Don't let tumblr, social media in general, stigma, fears based on myths and stereotypes, or Moral OCD or Harm OCD (whether your own or someone else's; also, etc. on the types and other mental health issues) scare you out of living life, or into treating other people as dangerous. Or into being a massive jerk.

Tumblr post: xyz is proof you're irredeemable

Me to my therapist in college way back when: It's awful to admit this but I... I experience xyz. It feels horrific and shameful and I don't know what to do

Said therapist: xyz is extremely common, and it means nothing about you as a person. But since it's making you miserable, here's how you can work on experiencing it less

.

How are we more than halfway through 2026?! Wasn’t it just January yesterday? 🥴 Either way, each new month brings new positive news headlines, and July was no exception! ☀️ Come recap five good news stories from July! 🩵🌺🌊

1. ❤️‍🩹😷 Uganda has been declared free from Ebola!

Authorities in Uganda declared the country free of Ebola following the discharge of the country’s last patient! The country reported cases in May alongside its neighbor Democratic Republic of Congo, which continues to deal with the outbreak — Uganda, however, only ever recorded 20 cases and two deaths, with authorities finding no indication of further spread within the country! Uganda responded swiftly to the public health threat, including contact tracing and postponing potential superspreader events. Part of the reason the response was so successful was due to Uganda having experience in swiftly responding to health crises like Ebola. Uganda for now can breathe a sigh of relief as it continues to educate the public on prevention measures as well as send healthcare workers to Congo to help tackle the virus!

2. 📍🗺️ 7 natural wonders just became UNESCO World Heritage sites — and one country gained its very first!

These newly-christened landmarks highlight Earth’s cultural and natural diversity, from the massive ancient landscape of Greece’s Mount Olympus, to climate-resilient coral reefs in Jordan, to fossils in Denmark that provide clues into the evolution of life on Earth! Joining the World Heritage List’s 26 new sites for 2026, these natural landmarks include the first ever World Heritage site in South Sudan, which annually hosts the world’s largest land mammal migration of six million antelopes!

3. 🚫🧪 Sweden plans to ban all forever chemicals in everyday products by 2028!

PFAs, or “forever chemicals,” are synthetic chemicals that take thousands of years to degrade and pollute the environment, all while being linked to harmful health impacts. The ban’s prohibition of PFAs in commonly-used products like kitchen appliances, clothes, and cosmetics is a victory for both the environment and human health!

4. 💧🌱 Water is returning to the African Sahel!

Groundwater reserves are rising after decades of drought in the region, restoring water to dried water sources! While part of the shift unfortunately comes from increasingly stronger rainfall due to climate change, it is also largely in part to rain-water harvesting. From Ethiopia to Senegal, the drought of the 1970s and 1980s fueled hunger and disease, but as monsoons now grow stronger, today the region shows a vastly different story — near-extinct wildlife are resurging, farmers are planting thriving trees and harvesting higher-yielding crops, and wells and new ponds are filling! One of the most notable transformations can be seen in Lake Chad — one of Africa’s largest bodies of water before drying up during the droughts, the lake is now almost as big as in the 1960s, and is 10 times its mid-1980s size!

5. 💉🍼 Childhood immunization continues to grow globally!

Despite vaccine efforts being threatened by conflict and vaccine hesitancy, in 2025, 90% of infants globally received at least one dose of a diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis vaccine, and 85% completed the full three-dose series, an increase from 2024. Compared to 2024, the number of unvaccinated children with no doses fell by nearly 750,000! These numbers reflects the strides made in protecting children's health — in just the past 25 years, government investment, community efforts, and public trust have reduced the annual number of unvaccinated children by 40%!

A longnose gar (Lepisosteus osseus) surfaces the Thames in Ontario, Canada