People forget all the time that life is a collective experience. We don’t just do this ourselves - as many times as I’ve lost my shit there are plenty of others out there that have done the same.

I believe if we lift each other up every opportunity we get we will all be better for it. Within reason, don’t elect sociopaths, but as humans we all evolved by helping each other. I love people. COVID fucked that up for me for a long time but I still love people. It’s just… say hi once in a while that weirdo might be a nice person you can talk to.

I remember a lot from school where my peers did that as well - something they learned from somewhere obviously, we were all children.

My son is given that freedom - he gets to experience the same life my daughter does, be you and don’t apologize. His room is painted purple because that’s the color he wanted, he’s got longer hair than his mom, he gets to feel things and express them in a safe space with understanding. But I can’t control what others do, as much as I accept him for who he is does not mean others will. So I try to teach him that if he is happy with himself, that’s all that matters. Be true to you kind of deal. Because I definitely didn’t get that.

Fear is unbelievably important in this conversation.

Fear is linked to anger for me in a lot of ways because that’s just how I survived for a while. Afraid? Ok fight or flight time let’s go.

Disassociating those two is a massive part of my therapy lol.

I’m very stubborn so I don’t quit things I start. I’ll keep trying - thank you for sharing your story with me and for your support. It means a ton.

I think for me it’s just I’ve done it so long, I’m semi successful, so my brain is like “why change? Look at what you’ve done if you change now, what if it all goes away?” And rationally I know that won’t happened but that’s that mid-west upbringing biting me in the ass.

I’m fortunate to have a lot of very supportive male friends and we all tell each other this as often as we can: you only fail if you stop trying. So long as you get up and attempt the work, you’re not failing, you’re learning. I’m hopeful I can keep that mindset and keep trying, and hope you can as well.

I hate these green texts. Show me the comments!

Just that it’s fairly similar across other industries. It’s a pretty common thread in most industries when people try to force things through without planning properly.

Also I wasn’t ranting about other industries, just making a note that it occurs everywhere. Profit for profit sake has made a lot of industries worse, including the gaming industry.

Edit: do you think QA/QC and development work only occurs in the gaming industry?

It was exclusive to their sweepstakes. OP got super lucky!

Source: entered the sweepstakes, own the collectors edition of the game.

Thanks mate. I’m working on it and the first step is realizing you have a problem so I’ve got that behind me.

Another note - how long was your lockdown? I think I finally went back to “normal” the middle of 2022 but I stopped going everywhere in a mask (unless I have a cough or sneeze or something) the start of this year.

I have and am. Right now it’s not terrible. At peak I was averaging a 750 ml bottle of vodka every four days. I think my cap with beer right now is like 5 a night. A hand over fist improvement.

I’ve tried a lot of different drugs for different things - anxiety, depression, etc and I’ve found I’m much happier when I just work hard. I’ve taken to exercising regularly and having a physical project twice a week and it takes my mind off it, makes me tired, and I look forward to going to bed.

Obviously we are all massively different as people and we all deal with all our own things but I am taking steps to rein it in. I just still drink more than I want to is all. More a complaint than anything terribly scary.

Thanks for your advice! Keep being kind. We need more kind people.

Could be. Just trying to empathize with it is all. I get making decisions on emotion and it biting you in the ass, I’m just wondering has he ever tried to learn from being bit.