Hi I’m Rachel

40s USA 🇺🇸 She/her, Watercolor hobby artist and body positivity advocate. “my physical appearance is the least interesting thing about me.” If you want to look at my art go to the blog artsy-biggirl-myart.

[artsy-biggirl]

[s0phslibrary]

I think you can absolutely still have hope while acknowledging we are in multiple forms of collapse. You can be hopeful you’ll get a job. You can be hopeful solutions will arise. You can be hopeful you’ll make friends. You can be hopeful that there are people who care for the world amidst the world being beat and bruised.

You’re allowed to care even though lots of things are going bad. Some things can’t be fixed or saved. But it’s okay to hold onto hope for something good to happen tomorrow. Good things are always going to pop up like flowers in war zones.

“The world is not on fire, there are just lots of fires.” Don’t lose hope that some fires can be put out. So much is still easy. Build a safe zone within the flames, and persist putting them out. Accepting we are in a bad place does not equal rolling over to let it get worse. No matter how bad things will get, you can still put out flames in different spaces.

You can give yourself the freedom of acknowledging life right now is in a state of unrest and we don’t know when the chapter will close, while also being happy we are here with other people and things that make it worth it. Because it is worth it. All hard things are worth it.

Allow yourself gentle mercies that will keep you alive.

[socialjusticeinamerica]

[rosieandthemoon]

Gwrych Castle in Wales

[foodffs]

[foodffs]

The Best Buttermilk Pancakes

Follow for recipes

Is this how you roll?

[museiums]

maëlys chay

[crabussy]

small tips for Enjoying Being Alive from someone who went from wanting to die to genuinely loving life. these won't fix your life but they'll make it a lot easier to want to live day by day. I promise.

tell yourself things you do not believe. it feels stupid at first but I've done this for years and now I believe it when I say "I'm good at this" or "I love myself" or "I deserve good shit!"

make a note of every mundane good thing that happens to you. mental or literal notes! could be as little as "the sky is a nice shade of grey, it's calming" or "I ate a piece of fruit today, I'm looking after myself" or "I talked to a friend". again, feels stupid at first, but I genuinely believe this is part of why I have so many "good days". trick your brain into storing things in your long-term memory that you wouldn't otherwise remember.

diet deficiencies can make you properly miserable. your physical health impacts your mental health more than you'd think. get some vitamins, some omega-3s and so on. whether from food or supplements. they can make quite a difference! your brain is responsible for a LOT of the way you feel, and giving it the fatty acids it needs to function at its best can go a long way.

[crabussy]

I know these all sound like stupid junk people who have never wanted to die tell you. I know they sound like dumb "self-help" tips written by people who have suffered mild anxiety at worst.

they're coming from someone who had multiple daily panic attacks for half a decade. someone who genuinely felt like he did not deserve to live. someone who hated himself so much he convinced himself he was irredeemably evil. someone who loves being alive these days, even though it's difficult sometimes.

you truly don't have to follow any of this advice. but just read through. store it in the back of your mind. come back to it when you want. best of luck. [:

[nedzira]

These are genuinely great! If I can add a small comment it would be to try to change scenery every now and then, take a different route home and go for walks. And make appointments to meet your friends!

[crabussy]

ABSOLUTELY. anytime I feel myself descending into a slump where everything feels wrong and bad and gross and hard, I go on a Weird Walk. I choose a familiar destination (the dairy, the beach, a specific hill) and intentionally choose a route I've never tried before. it's crazy but it makes me feel better almost instantly, even if the new walk is worse than my usual route. your brain CRAVES new stimulation! you are a member of a species with one of the most active brains in the animal kingdom. please try not to live like a hamster.

[irishmansdaughter]

https://pin.it/madjhtGSG

[fullcravings]

Chocolate Glazed Donuts

[hceinart]

Self-portrait as Ophelia

[fleurdulys]

Unknown - David Hettinger

[griipysockgang-deactivated20241]

You’re either meowing with me or meowing against me

[herearesomedrawings]

Molten Abstraction, acrylic on canvas, 10 x 20”

2020

[joeinct]

Mississippi Highway patrolmen arresting Anthony Quin, 5, son of Mrs. Aylene Quin, during a voting rights protest in Jackson, Miss.; when Quinn refused to give up his small American flag, patrolman went berserk and wrenched it out of his hands, June 17, 1965, Jackson, Miss., Photo by Matt Herron, 1965

[chubbymuffinclub]

daniellelucker

Chillin’ you?🖤

[my-dailydreams]

[theroyalgardens]

Ian McEwan's enchanted garden in Cotswolds, England