#shaw talks

[shawsnires]

ok guys quick question! I have a lot of photos backed up waiting to be published - would you all prefer a “long post” format for each bunch(maybe 10 pics per post), or one or two a day in the queue so it’s spaced out more?

[shawsnires]

so this blog’s been dead recently, but I’m starting a project observing and learning about the ducks in my local park! Photos to come soon and I might switch up the blog a little to focus on them 🌟🌟

[shawsnires]

Apologies for the pause in posting recently! I was on vacation for a week, and immediately after that I got sick, so I haven’t been able to get out for hiking and photography as much as I’d like. Regular posting schedule should resume next week!

[shawsnires]

Hey all! Sorry for the hiatus - the weather’s been super bad, and as it turns out, I’m not the only animal who wants to hide out once it hits subzero temperatures.

More photos coming as soon as things start to warm up around here!

[rainsnires]

I work in fast food, and I love it when people start their orders with “I need...” because it implies that they may perish if they don’t receive their large curly fries and medium coke and honestly, mood.

[shawsnires]

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while guys! I still don’t have a decent camera so I’ve been feeling kind of uninspired with my limited photo material choices. I’ll be back and posting shortly, but here’s a nice view of the Missouri River I took in the meantime!

[rainsnires]

Shoutout to all those people who are openly and unashamedly LGBTQ+ in workspaces. Thank you for your little bubble of queerness that makes everyone else around who may be LGBTQ+ feel a bit safer.

[rainsnires]

Anxiety, thoughts

I know a lot of people talk about anxiety/depression as the whole “which dog do you feed” thing, and that’s great if that works for you, but I’ve found that that way of thinking isn’t particularly helpful to me. I tend to think of my anxiety as an entity, sort of like a ghost, almost? A part of me that genuinely sees things as threatening and scary and is trying to protect me and stop me from getting hurt. And if I’m cruel to it, if I tell it to “shut up”, or if I try to starve it, it just gets more scared and confused and paranoid.

So I tend to talk to the buzz of anxiety in me as if it were a child. A confused child who genuinely doesn’t understand that meeting new people or trying something put isn’t a realistic threat. I explain to it that it’s ok to be frightened, and I appreciate its help and insight, but I know how to keep myself safe and it is not allowed to stop me from doing the thing I want to do. That’s a boundary I can set - if I’m feeling anxiety, but logically I know there’s no legitimate danger, I try not to let that voice tell me what to do. It doesn’t always work, but thinking of it that way has been a valuable coping mechanism for me, and has encouraged me to be kinder to that worrying side of myself that sometimes I’m tempted to resent. In the end, it’s trying to help, but the important thing to remember is that that doesn’t make it right.