“Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childish days; that can recall…”

“Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childish days; that can recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth; that can transport the sailor and the traveller, thousands of miles away, back to his own fire-side and his quiet home!”

- Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers.

laura's mathom house 2021-12-21 16:14:39

mental–healthawareness:

For everyone with social anxiety, this is a reminder that you don’t have to be perfect in your interactions with others; you just have to be kind and that’s literally it. That’s all that’s necessary of you. You don’t need to say the perfect thing or anticipate what they would want you to say or even exude confidence if you can’t.

Social anxiety tells us that we have to be perfect in in our social interactions, but no one is. Social anxiety sets us up for a level of expectation in our social interactions that we have no choice but to fail at, and then fall into a cycle of self-hate for failing and striving even harder for perfection.

pigcatapult:A kind person whose social justice vocabulary is outdated or inadequate for the concepts…

pigcatapult:

A kind person whose social justice vocabulary is outdated or inadequate for the concepts they’re trying to communicate is a better person than anyone who’d rip them down as a bigot for not keeping up with the euphemism treadmill. Morality is measured by how you treat people, not how well you’ve memorized a continuously evolving set of shibboleths.

laura's mathom house 2021-12-19 09:26:13

heavyweightheart:

The dominant culture lies about aging. Losing my youth is one of the best things that’s happened to me. In spite of some devastating personal and global circumstances, my brief time in my 40s has been fucking wonderful.

I’m kinder, wiser, and more present than I’ve ever been. Grandiose narratives that always led to disappointment are being replaced by a compassionate engagement with what is. I know and love myself and other people and the earth better. I have less to prove and more to appreciate. I’m less objectified and this is freeing up my subjective experience. I do work that has meaning to me and I’m respected in it. I’m increasingly connected to my ancestors.

The human life course can be very hard, and we live in a world that makes it much harder than it ought to be. But clinging to youth isn’t the answer. So much more becomes available to us when we loosen our grip on what we think we should be and open ourselves to what we are: creatures who need care and are here, miraculously, for only a brief time.