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Weekly Improvement Thread - Dec 15th (hexbear.net)
submitted 1 month ago by moonlake@hexbear.net to c/self_improvement@hexbear.net
21 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Hello comrades and welcome to the third improvement megathread of December! bonfire

We recently had an influx of new users and I'd love to hear from them. This is the weekly improvement thread where you can say how you're doing, post your Ws and Ls.

As leftists, there are many excellent reasons why we should strive to become the best version of ourselves. This is the space where we improve together and share our progress.

Here are some of our usual discussion ideas:

  • Do you want to share something you've done in the previous week? Everything counts, nothing is too small.
  • Do you have any goals or plans for next week?
  • Do you have any streaks? For example, "sober for one day." Feel free to post your streak every day in this thread.
  • If you don't have a continuous streak, did you manage to abstain from something for a day or more?
  • Did you come across some useful information or resource that might help others?

Poster caption: "Conquering Space!"

Good luck with your goals! unity

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[-] TraschcanOfIdeology@hexbear.net 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

This feels crazy, but for the first time in months I'll be sleeping in a clean apartment. Depression and burnout are such a fuck, and it's weird how the right mood can come from strange places.

Last week my landlord called me to say "hey, can I go take a look at your apartment". I felt so freaked out, because my lease is up in the next weeks, and I can't afford any other apartments in town, so I wanted them not to have anything bad to say about it. My apartment was a pigsty, with the accumulated garbage and dirt of 9 months of depression and overwork just strewn everywhere. There were dishes in the sink that hadn't been cleaned in literal months.

I set time aside every day to try and clean something, for at least 20 minutes that I would spend doomscrolling or posting instead. And finally today, I asked a cleaning lady I know to give me a hand deep cleaning the apartment. We took out so many garbage bags, but we made it.

I feel like crying right now. It's the first time I've felt happy and at home in this space in God knows how long.

And speaking of motivation coming from strange places, I've been dogsitting the sweetest dog for the past week, and taking her out for a walk early in the morning and late in the evening has been soooo good for my mental health and energy levels. I'm walking between 3 and 5km with her every day.

When we're not going around town braving the cold air, she just lies next to me on the couch or on my bed and I just pet her while she chills around. I think my friend doesn't let her be on the bed, but I don't mind being the doting friend of the family that gives you 20 dollars, winks, and tells you not to tell your mother.

In other news, I started getting tested for ADHD last Friday, Yay! First round of tests was an IQ test, which felt really weird but whatever. @ReadFanon@hexbear.net, are you familiar with the WAIS being used as part of diagnosing ADHD and/or autism? It felt really out of left field.

[-] moonlake@hexbear.net 7 points 1 month ago

roll call soviet-chad

@SeventyTwoTrillion@hexbear.net

@Mokey2@hexbear.net

@FumpyAer@hexbear.net

@odmroz@hexbear.net

@Ufot@hexbear.net

@RonPaulyShore@hexbear.net

@Rojo27@hexbear.net

@Grebgreb@hexbear.net

@CommunistBear@hexbear.net

@TraschcanOfIdeology@hexbear.net

@LGOrcStreetSamurai@hexbear.net

@blight@hexbear.net

@quarrk@hexbear.net

@vehicom@lemmygrad.ml

@Aradina@lemmy.ml

@Tomorrow_Farewell@hexbear.net

@LanyrdSkynrd@hexbear.net

@LocalOaf@hexbear.net

@Wmill@hexbear.net

@Cammy@hexbear.net

@bazingabrain2@hexbear.net

@DragonBallZinn@hexbear.net

@orshelack@hexbear.net

@kittin@hexbear.net

If anybody else wants to be added to the roll call, just let me know hexbear-specter

[-] MoonElf@hexbear.net 2 points 3 weeks ago

I would love to be on this list thank you

[-] moonlake@hexbear.net 2 points 3 weeks ago

Welcome to the based department, we are happy to have you sicko-hexbear-crowd

I post the megathread every Sunday around 10pm Moscow time. Looking forward to your posts! soviet-heart

[-] MoonElf@hexbear.net 2 points 3 weeks ago

awesome, constant and never ending improvement is my life mission so i'm into this

[-] moonlake@hexbear.net 2 points 3 weeks ago

Hell yeah, that's my life mission as well (along with destroying capitalism lol) skeleton-motorcycle

[-] MoonElf@hexbear.net 2 points 3 weeks ago

moon twins!

[-] kittin@hexbear.net 5 points 1 month ago

My goals & intentions for December

Status report:

  • strength training on point
  • haven’t joined a gym or started rowing machines yet. That’s actionable.
  • weight goal unclear
  • booked appt with new ADHD psychiatrist
  • booked screening call with therapist
  • I booked and visited a dentist but went to the wrong clinic so rebooked another visit
  • steps at 10k average and I’m cycling a lot so this is on point
  • 1 social dinner with friends. I bailed on another to have a date night so need to focus on friends for at least 1 more
  • cardio goal achieved

Overall tracking very well.

Actionables:

  • 1 more social evening just with friends
  • join a gym for row machines
  • strength training can be more consistent
  • should be tracking weight goal and should admit it was probably too ambitious, consider adjusting this goal now with half the penalty (lose only 1kg from whatever it is now, and no drinking in January)
[-] LocalOaf@hexbear.net 2 points 1 month ago

lets-fucking-go

I should use rowing machines more, I normally do incline treadmill or stair master for cardio and neglect arms kinda

(I do cable rows and pulldowns for a pull day but I want a bigger lower body and less prominent shoulders and torso proportions so I get kinda gunshy about arms and shoulders)

[-] moonlake@hexbear.net 5 points 1 month ago

My tip for the week: Matcha tea is a great replacement for coffee. You don't even have to brew it, you can just put some in a bottle and shake it since it's a powder. I started doing that recently and it's pretty great. I was inspired by this section from the book How Not to Die:

[-] LocalOaf@hexbear.net 3 points 1 month ago

You recommended that book to me earlier didn't you? I should check it out, put it on a list but I haven't been reading much lately and my list keeps growing faster than I can get through it

lenin-tea

[-] moonlake@hexbear.net 4 points 1 month ago

Yes, I recommend it any chance I get. My list is also forever expanding so I feel you. But my question is how many books do you have on that list which are going to extend your life by 5 good years? Take the broccpill broc

[-] LocalOaf@hexbear.net 4 points 1 month ago

I do like me some good broccoli

🥦 xok

cronch

[-] Rojo27@hexbear.net 2 points 1 month ago

I had recently been talking to a coworker about matcha and I'm really giving it some thought as well. At most I've reduced my intake of coffee and replaced it with energy drinks. I've been pretty selective with which, but I think matcha would take it a step further.

[-] moonlake@hexbear.net 3 points 1 month ago

Matcha is great because it's basically zero effort, I just put the powder into a bottle and it's instantly the healthiest beverage in the world! It's a zero effort habit that has a lot of benefits so I'm gonna be doing it regularly now

[-] Rojo27@hexbear.net 3 points 1 month ago

Had a dip my number of workouts this past week. Kind of predictable since I'm back at work now. I was afraid I may have reinjured my knee on my last gym visit, but it ended up being fine. Just got back today with a [mainly] leg day, with some back exercise reps. Knee is feeling just fine so far.

Need some new weights for an adaptable dumbbells, but I've been slacking with that little task.

Generally still struggling with some of the social stuff that I've been hoping to work on. I'm weighing whether or not to just wait for the holiday season pass, but IDK... Just sucks not hanging out with people.

[-] CommunistBear@hexbear.net 3 points 1 month ago

Probably not the place to post my repeated L's but I have been continuing my downward spiral. I just can't seem to give a shit about anything and the future feels non-existent which completely kills whatever drive I had to better myself. I'm just not doing great in a multitude of ways and I have no idea how to steer the plane out of the nosedive that I feel myself in.

[-] moonlake@hexbear.net 2 points 1 month ago

This is definitely the place for posting L's, we all have them and it's important to share them as well. I had a bunch of L's this year, mostly related to health issues. My turbo unsolicited advice: I remember your comments when you were posting massive W's in the thread week after week, maybe it would be a good idea to read them unity

[-] CommunistBear@hexbear.net 2 points 1 month ago

My problem is that all of my W's felt hollow. They didn't make me feel any better mentally nor change the structural shit that are the real foundational problems for me. Yes, physically I felt better. But that didn't cross over into other aspects of my life and that juxtaposition is part of what made me spiral. I'm still broke. I still hate my shitty job. I'm still not happy with my life in general. There are aspects of my life that are going alright and I do appreciate them but the big, foundational stuff feels even more like an unchanging monolith.

[-] LocalOaf@hexbear.net 3 points 1 month ago

nicotineGonna make myself quit smoking after this pack

(SpongeBob narrator voice) This time, for sure

kiryu-pain

Have a vape and tried zyn but they're just not the same ughhh

6th(?) times the charm though?

fitnessGone to the gym everyday since November 11th, sometimes multiple times

Hit my old 2020 PR 1rep max on leg press again recently and scared the hoes lady-doge

It was at the end of reverse pyramid sets too, so my fresh 1rep max is probably even higher, but I'd have to steal like all the 45 plates to hit that and I'd have to have a couple spotters and like nobody else in the gym lmao

Down 4 belt notches, face and tummy slimming and ass and legs lookin' p good ngl

Need to do more core conditioning, want to program a push day that doesn't suck to me (least favorite by far, achy shoulder joint and forearm/wrist issues from my career at the hog cranking factory. I got retaliation fired for trying to salt the floor, fuckin' pigs)

Want to be able to do a dragon squat and a muscle up and bench more than my bodyweight, squat and deadlift 2x leg press 5x (I'm a leg press sicko) sicko-fem

Want to feel more confident free barbell squatting and deadlifting again, might want to learn Olympic lifts, those seem cool but I'd want a trainer for technique and that costs extra and I'm not really swimming in dough

mental healthVery lonely and stressed dealing with family shit

Been meaning to reconnect with best friend from years ago, miss friend dearly but we went silent for years and it's scary and overwhelming

Gonna send friend a Christmas present and letter and hopefully reconnect

Have a homemade gift I think friend would like and a thing to ship it in that was originally gifted to me from them

Need to come up with what to say in the letter and practice my handwriting, I hate my ugly pen(enby)ship

gender stuff, presentationActually getting happier with how I dress? Got some clothes recently I actually like? Getting slightly femmier in my day to day and kinda like it? I feel more confident at the same time I feel more acutely weird to normies which feels kinda weird but I'm doing better with that mentally

Got a cute raincoat and new boots and gym clothes I like a lot

sobriety, alcohol, drugsRelapsed on alcohol last week, had a tallboy and a small black box of wine

Stayed away from spirits

Clean this week

Unsure I really want to try being a teetotaler long term and think I might enjoy the occasional beer or wine but I was (or am, but dry mostly now) a pretty heavy alcoholic for awhile and falling off the wagon even a little kinda scared the hell out of me

Been micro dosing shrooms and taking kratom and those both have been really helpful for me

I think I'm unconsciously funneling my addict impulses into exercise and worry I'll burn out at some point but things are coming up LocalOaf for now milhouse flag-non-binary-pride

[-] blight@hexbear.net 2 points 1 month ago
  • certified ass mood
  • i’m trying to not drink coffee, so any coffee is failure, but even then i drank way too much
  • ate real food 3-4 days
  • baked a cake with some pals
  • planned a party
  • porn binges in some mornings but i didn’t let them ruin the entire day
  • got a house appliance fixed
  • had a shitty meeting with a hostile clerk
this post was submitted on 15 Dec 2024
17 points (94.7% liked)

Self Improvement

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A community which focusses on improving yourself. This can be in many different ways - from improving physical health or appearance, to improving mental health, creating better habits, overcoming addictions, etc.

While material circumstances beyond our control do govern much of our daily lives, people do have agency and choices to make, whether that is as "simple" as disciplining yourself to not doomscroll, to as complex as recreating yourself to have many different hobbies and habits.

This is not a place where all we do is talk about improving "productivity" (in a workplace context) and similar terms and harmful lifestyles like "grindset". Self-improvement here is intended to make you a generally better and happier person, as well as a better communist, and any other roles you may have in your life.

Rules and guidelines:

  1. Posts should be about self-improvement. This is obviously a wide category, and can range from advice, to finding resources, to self-posts about needing to improve in a certain area, or how you have improved, and many other things.
  1. Use content warnings when discussing difficult subjects.
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