spoons?!? @still-arbietar - Tumblr Blog

there ARE ways to cut down on your private info being surveilled and commodified.

consider not owning an Alexa/Google Home or at least keeping it unplugged when it’s not in use. yes, the AI is shit but don’t be lulled into a false sense of security – the microphone works just fine and has been shown to record and send out your data even when the corp promises it isn’t!

that Amazon doorbell is constantly recording video and using it in who knows what unethical ways, including - this is verified - sharing it with ICE. owning one directly endangers your neighbors who aren’t consenting to this surveillance!

consider not using Google for everything – try an anti-tracking search engine like Duck Duck Go even if you have to resort to Google after. we can’t get a better search engine until we train it with use!

consider replacing Chrome on your phone and laptop with Brave, a browser built literally on the exact same software (Chromium) but which not only rips out allllll the bloaty tracking Google adds in, it also attempts to block a lot of the tracking that giant websites like Facebook do on every single web page you visit (even if you aren’t logged into Facebook). it runs literally identically to Chrome, only faster.

like basically as an individual you can start taking back control of your data by learning who steals what and how, and taking steps to curtail that theft.

consider checking the permissions of the apps in your phone. Facebook and others routinely steal your contact lists and even your text message and call history, and part of what they do with this info is to build highly detailed “ghost profiles” on your friends who have never been on facebook in the first place and don’t know they’re being surveilled through your phone.

resist the urge to give into apathy! there are things that can be done, and it is worth it to take back even a bit of your private life. we don’t have to just cave to the capitalist surveillance state.

importantly, once you’ve started looking at this shit in your personal life, it may seem more feasible to look at how to organise with others to more effectively resist capitalism’s ever-growing control of our private data.

thethingything

I’m getting to tired of people saying things like “There’s no need to worry about coronavirus. It only kills the elderly and people who are immunocompromised/chronically ill”.

It’s not as reassuring as you think. Just take a minute to think about how many people you know who have some kind of long term condition. Take a minute to think about how many elderly people you know. Even if the virus isn’t too bad for you, it will likely be very serious for them, and sure, they can take precautions, but if the only people taking precautions are the ones who are most vulnerable, that’s not going to be enough. We are your friends, family, neighbours, colleagues, classmates, and the strangers you pass on the street.

Saying that the virus is nothing to worry about because it only kills certain at-risk groups of people implies that those people don’t matter. It implies that you see us as expendable, like our deaths are fine and acceptable as long as it’s only us dying. Who knows, maybe that is what you think. It certainly wouldn’t surprise me. And if that is how you think, I can’t wait to see how you’ll react to the realisation that you could easily become one of us at any time.

vanillabat99

116 Healthy Coping Skills

Practice deep breathing - in through your nose, out through your mouth

Do a puzzle

Draw, paint, or colour

Listen to uplifting or inspirational music

Blow bubbles

Squeeze an ice cube tightly

Go to the library

Visit the animal shelter

Pet your cat or dog

Clean or organize a space

Make your bed

Play a game on the computer

Turn on all the lights

Sit in the sun and close your eyes

Throw rocks into the woods

Suck on a peppermint

Chew gum

Sip a cup of hot chocolate or tea

Compliment someone

Read

Listen to inspirational tapes

Practice a relaxation exercise

Jump up and down

Write yourself a nice note and carry it in your pocket

Play solitaire

Do the dishes

Go for a brisk 10 minute walk

Dance to music

Call a friend

Invite a friend over

Organize your CDs

Write positive affirmations on note cards and decorate

Go outside and listen to nature

Rearrange your bedroom

Work in the garden or flower bed

Plant a flower in a pot

Sew, knit, crochet

Do yoga

Watch a funny or inspirational movie

Make a collage with pictures of your favourite things

Make a collage showing a positive future

Journal

Write a poem

Paint your nails (not red or black, as those are typically sad or angry colours)

Make a gratitude list

Scream into a pillow

Swim, run, jog, bike

Jump rope

Smell a flower and touch the petals

Play a musical instrument

Do a good deed

Shoot hoops

Sing your favourite song out loud

Count backwards from 500

Brush your hair 100x

Squeeze a stress ball

Use some nice smelling lotion

Think of 3 foods for every letter of the alphabet without skipping any

Write down how you’re feeling and why, read once and put it away

Visualization - close your eyes and imagine yourself in a beautiful place, how does it smell, what do you see, what do you hear, what do you feel, etc.

Write something positive about yourself for every letter of the alphabet, decorate it and hang it somewhere where you’ll see it every day

Slowly eat one piece of your favourite candy

Write a letter to someone

Do extra credit homework

Volunteer

Offer to walk a neighbour’s dog

Find a safe, quiet place to sit and stay there until you know you can be safe

Look at pictures in a nature magazine

Write a fairytale

Draw a cheerful picture outside with sidewalk chalk

Pray

Recite the serenity prayer

Print your favourite religious verse on a card and memorize it

Decorate your locker

Decorate your mirror with positive affirmations and your favourite photos

Do a crossword, search and find, Sudoku, etc.

Visit and inspirational website (try www.values.com)

Write a thank you note to your best friend

Call a hotline

Put on your favourite outfit

Do your makeup

Read comics

Draw a cartoon

String a necklace

Make friendship bracelets and give one to someone who looks lonely

Slowly sip a glass of cold water

Go on a walk and take photos of flowers (cell phone or camera) - challenge yourself to find 15 different kinds

Bite your pillow as hard as you can

Talk to a stuffed animal

Clean 1 room of your house

Ask a friend to meet you at the park

Wash and style your hair

Go to McDonalds and order an ice cream from the dollar menu

Buy or check out a fun magazine and read it front-to-back

Window shop

Shred blank sheets of paper

Talk into a tape recorder

Play a board game with a friend or sibling

Throw a foam ball at an empty wall

Stare at a picture - notice all the details and create a story using those elements

Play hacky sack

Draw random designs and colour them in

Turn your designs into cards

Go to the movies

Go to the mall and people watch

Write a list of compliments about a friend or teacher and give it to them

Make and decorate a foam or paper frame for your favourite photo

Write an inspirational quote on your mirror with an eyeliner pencil (or another writing utensil)

Read a joke book

Pick out 5 of your favourite jokes and tell them to 3 friends

Play with silly putty or modeling clay

Make an inspirational banner for your room

Blog!

Write poetry

Submit your best piece of poetry to a website

Think of 10 more coping skills to add to this list

These are from a list my hospital outreach person gave me! I have a few other pages of coping skills and strategies if you’d like me to share those too. I hope you’re all doing okay 💕💕💕

whitepeopletwitter

anxious-and-in-pain

I am stubborn as fuck and I’m gonna build the most beautiful future just you wait. I’m fighting for a good life with every fiber of my ill body

mrrightandmrbubble

Please: When someone wants to share their experience of illness and/or chronic pain with you, they need you to simply sit, listen, and bear witness to them. I know it’s easy to feel the pressure of finding the ‘right’ things to say but tripping over yourself to barge into their story with “have you tried -” interrupts the very vulnerable moment they’re asking to share with you. This time and space are theirs to define and describe their experience in their own way; it’s not a time for you to plant seeds of guilt because their framework for wellness is very different to yours.

Don’t take away an opportunity for intimacy with someone who trusts you enough to be raw with you.

armitaggehux-deactivated2021030

Me: eats anything

My digestive system

chronicbetween

Having consistant chronic symptoms that are “normal” things for non spoonies to experience is so odd. Saying “My head hurts” to someone and then having them say “oh ME TOO” but youre sitting there going… but its not the same though… ive had this headache since 2012…

catchymemes

nirtonic

Malignant compliance is an effective tool to keep in obese quiver

unbossed-deactivated20251218

It’s more commonly known as “work-to-rule” and here’s a great story about one case of its successful use.

https://libcom.org/blog/work-rule-11052014

“The day after Starbucks workers met at the Bat Cave we found ourselves working an understaffed morning shift but this time it was different. Instead of feeling the normal frustration, those of us who were at the meeting exchanged knowing glances and began implementing our plan of following every rule, thereby slowing down service. We also whispered to partners who were not in the know to slow down, don’t kill yourself. It was as if everyone took a deep breath and began working at a safe and thorough pace. The effects were instant. The speed of service dropped immediately. We ran out of brewed coffee because we were only brewing when the beeper signaled it was time. Everyone stayed in the positions they were assigned and acted only at the directions of the Store Manager. Every 10 minutes when someone was assigned to clean the lobby, we did a thorough job, ensuring everything was clean and properly stocked. Every drink and food order was perfect.

Dan, the Store Manager, lost his mind.”

apocalyptic-mailman

Also sometimes referred to as “malicious compliance”, and it’s my favorite thing

gahdamnpunk

THIS

tranquilhawke-2

this was in the netherlands and there were also two at my local bus stop, its been the poster ive seen replaced the fastest :/

cuteandbrammatical

What’s funny is that the Netherlands is known as a super progressive and pro LGBTQ country (they were the first country to legalize gay marriage, pride here is a huge deal, and many of my friends deem it safe to be out), but even in my friend’s ultra-leftist neighborhood these posters were vandalized. It makes me so mad when people say “you don’t need more rights//you can marry, what else do you want//what oppression lol everyone is equal in the West :))))” because it’s so fucking ignorant and false.

nope-not-straight

Exactly this.

whitepeopletwitter

lifewithchronicpain-original

By Pat Anson, PNN Editor A promising new pain medication once touted as the “opioid of the future” because of its low risk of abuse is be

“A promising new pain medication once touted as the ‘opioid of the future’ because of its low risk of abuse is being abandoned.”

This is infuriating. I’ve dealt with so many people who have been like “well they need to make them safer” and they did, but because there is still risk (or probably assumed risk as an inherit bias) that pain patients are denied a pill that could ease our suffering and reduce addiction risk.

The idea that something needs to be perfect to be worth doing is the nirvana fallacy. An example often used is seatbelts, because in the majority of car crashes they save lives, and in a tiny minority of freak accidents they are deadly. Does it make sense not to use seatbelts? Of course not!

Not only that we risk death every day in cars but convenience outweighs risk. I could go on with the examples but point is, opioids are an integral part of medical treatment. Not treating pain is inhumane and has been proven to cause suicides. This aspect of opioid use is never considered, it’s only the concern for potential risk of addiction we ever hear about.

Now I’m not saying addiction isn’t important but we shouldn’t only consider this when deciding whether a new drug that has greatly reduced addiction risk should not even be considered for public use. If we truly put patients first we should always unequivocally ease pain and then be prepared for those who become addicted. This is to me is the more logical choice.

I doubt anyone who turned down this drug considered any of that. Opioids have a black mark on them that it may never recover from. For everyone on this panel to dismiss the drug like that, it points to a view that the pill is what ultimately causes addiction crisis, while ignoring that poverty and oppression are common indicators of drug use.

But they can say they worry about the addiction and com out looking to many (who have no idea what chronic pain is like) as sensible and concerned for addicts. I’ve said it before and I say I’ll say it again, restriction is a security theatre that does shit to help or prevent addiction and makes obtaining drugs more life threatening.

You want to treat people with dignity and empathy? Not giving pain patients shit for having opioids and let them have pain relief; support drug addiction services that actually work if controversial.

Help and treat the addict and the pain patient, stop making it one or the other by acting like addiction isn’t an acceptable risk to those who have no quality of life without opioids. Because trust me, it very much is worth the risk and it should be our choice to make!

lightheartedsuggestion

“Take a shower, wash off the day. Drink a glass of water. Make the room dark. Lie down and close your eyes. Notice the silence. Notice your heart. Still beating. Still fighting. You made it, after all. You made it, another day. And you can make it one more. You’re doing just fine.”

— Charlotte Eriksson