I also know not everybody will be fine and be able to cope better if left alone. I will, but it was a long damn journey to get to where I’m able to say that with confidence. If you’re somebody who needs to be alone but won’t be fine if you are, I see you too.

This should probably be my job description, but life got in the way before I speciated from generic backend software engineer. I’m doing something analogous, in that I’ve been putting together a ‘stack’ on top of Proxmox and super portable hardware so that I can self-host nearly everything I need on my own hardware while not having a permanent place to live.

webshit

anybody need a Wordpress site built, rehabbed, or tilled & weeded? help a homeslice not be homeless

Sony’s current cheap models are a lot better than the XM3s. I know that pressure sensation, I’d given up on all noise canceling headphones because I hate it, but tried a pair of (cheap!) Sony WH-CH720N and that sensation is 98% reduced, it only appears a little if there’s a ton of bass noise in the environment. But even then, it’s not nearly as bad as most other (older) NC headphones I’ve tried.

Aka “musicians earplugs” … which can be premade, or if you actually want the best fidelity, custom molded to fit your actual ear canal! Had a gf who was a post-punk musician once, she absolutely swore by her custom pair.

Hi, I would recommend the Sony WH-CH720N as punching way above their weight for a $100 pair.

I am someone who didn’t like noise canceling headphones which I tried before, since older models all seemed to cause a sensation of “pressure” on my eardrums which felt like having dead meat behind saran wrap smushed up against them. The Sony WH-CH720N have about 98% removed that sensation, which means I can actually wear them for more than 10 minutes.

The noise canceling feature isn’t perfect - you can of course still hear some noise - but it’s about as good as the Bose Quiet Comfort 3 pair which cost a LOT more than the Sony.

They feel the same about me when I decline the opportunity to get shitfaced drunk and banter over 17 games of “Mexican train dominoes” for the 59574th time.

The only person I have to babble at has level 2 autism and can only process a finite (and very small) number of words per day before she combusts 😭

when self-hating people who’ve learned a little about genetics and evolution pipe up with “why are we even still in the gene pool” sadposts … this is why. overall, this style of thinking is a net positive to the proliferation of Homo sapiens, and every now and then even a net positive to the people who embody it.

RIP Elijah McClain

I just wanted to say I read everything and you’re not crazy to be wondering what the fuck.

I realized that I do the ‘tell everyone’ stage because I’m trying to recruit a body double so I’ll stick with the project 😅

pls enjoy a recent research paper: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32538895/

This is because most therapists (in my loooooong experience) have absolutely zero understanding of executive dysfunction :|

Not the guy you’re responding to but I made a comment upthread that I found success by developing interlocking habits, or in some cases it’s fair to say rituals rather than habits … little sub-habits that guide you to the main one you want to develop, or briefly reward you when you’ve completed it. Items or processes in your environment which cue you and remind you that the habits you want to do even exist.

For example, 2 sub-components of what finally got me to remember to meditate (or skip, but intentionally 😒) were writing a brief journal entry of my observations after each sit with a piece of chocolate, and having a couple little succulents with a light on a timer by my altar, so that every time I’m in the room during the day the altar area, with a couple plants I need to keep an eye on for their health, is lit up to draw me in if I’m ready.

Doing things this way is very intentional and thus exhausting, and it requires a lot of trial and error to figure out the little sub-habits that all work together and that actually work for you (since some inevitably won’t), and hell as somebody explaining it I’ve only had a couple big successes with it because I often don’t have the energy/brainpower to figure all this out … but man when I can pull it off, it works sooo well.

I’m a huge believer in “prosthetic environments” which I believe is a concept Dr. Russell Barkley came up with, he annoys me a little but as an ADHD research he’s like 85% dead on target about this stuff, and thinks deeply about it.

Good luck!

I’ve been trying to develop this habit for 7 years because I know how good it is for me :(

I’m the same way. It’s ironic given that I posted this meme, but when I can use them lists really help.

In my case, if I travel somewhere for 3 days, when I get back, many of the routines I had at my original location will have evaporated no matter how long I had them, so I made a list, and have been trying to build a routine-recovering routine. It’s slow going for other reasons but I’ve been very slowly working on it for 5 years now and it has helped at times when I’ve needed it (and remembered it exists).

Here’s my additional tip to OP’s tip: if you are someone who holds habits like a sieve holds water, you have to be even more intentional about forming habits, and form multiple interlocking habits that cue you. I’m at a very stressful time in life right now so it’s hard for me to remember details but like, I wanted to develop a daily meditation habit. But what I had to do in order for it to actually stick, was develop a ritual out of interlocking habits: getting my tea, lighting some incense, doing the actual meditation, once finished immediately having a rewarding sip of tea, dusting off my cushion, writing a brief journal entry afterwards (this is the one that tipped it over the edge for me for some reason) with a piece of dark chocolate. I also put little succulents by my altar with a lamp on a timer that comes on in the morning, so just the lit-up presence of plants which I need to tend every few days draws me toward the altar if I’ve forgotten or postponed my sit.

You have to be like this with everything that doesn’t come naturally. Yes, it’s extremely intentional, which is exhausting. Yes it’s a lot of hit or miss, trial and error, because of all the little sub-habits I just described above, there will be a number you try which end up not working for you. So you have to be persistent at messing around with your habit-sculpture long enough to find a permutation which works for you, and being persistent at things like this can be very difficult for people like us. In that case, I recommend sheer desperation, it helps with the persistence.

Bullet journaling is fscking amazing for this, unfortunately after many years of hard experience, I’ve come to understand that I’m so receptive to environmental stimuli that I just haven’t been able to maintain such a system in a chaotic environment … I need a certain level of baseline peace / recharge in order to be able to stay on top of systems like these. But they do work so well when I can manage it

In my case, I decided to cut Big Tech out of my life which led to dropping Google Calendar in favor of an open source solution, which works exactly the same except for GCal’s one teensy little proprietary extension: reminders.

Living without that snoozable reminder stack for the past 4 years has been like walking around with a hole in my side.

it looks blurry because we’re just that exhausted