It’s really frustrating how little value so many adults assign to the thoughts and feelings of kids. I felt the effects of that a lot while growing up.

Idk. If it were up to me, I think I’d make the voting age maybe 14 or 15. It’s not that an 8-year-old’s feelings don’t matter (to me, at least), but you need to allow them enough time and brain development to be able to start to learn about and understand these kinds of things.

There should also be accompanying education surrounding different political ideologies, history, policies, propaganda tactics, ect., but I’m sure that’d be very unpopular with a lot of parents.

I’m horribly afraid of heights and can’t even stomach a normal wall climb (like with a harness and everything) without quivering like a leaf.

Also most BIG bugs, especially if they have a lot of legs… though I think I’d probably be fine with a tarantula, for some reason. No idea why. The small ones are usually fine, minus wasps and hornets.

I’m kind of afraid of the dark too, but it’s also not really about the darkness itself. I’ll find myself vividly envisioning things like a snarling wolf suddenly lunging from the darkness to tear my throat out, or a large, unhinged man sneaking up behind me, or some shit like that. It usually only happens outdoors in rural areas where nights are much darker, which allows my imagination to run more wildly than usual. Thankfully, I live in a city now.

Not needing to eat would definitely be a huge strength.

Of course not needing to eat would be a strength. There’s a significant difference between that and what I said, though. Not eating when you need to is not the same as not needing to eat at all. There is no choice but to eat if you are to survive, just as there is no choice but to cry when you need to in order to be mentally and emotionally well.

Crying IS the mental breakdown. It’s what you do when you need someone else’s help because you can’t do it yourself(weakness).

I strongly disagree. Crying is only a release of emotion on its own. Just because someone is crying doesn’t inherently mean that they’re having a mental breakdown.

I’m a crier. It’s extremely fucking annoying, but nevertheless a part of me. I weep when I’m sad, stressed, pissed off. On occasion, I even shed happy tears.

Am I having a mental breakdown when I cry while watching a sad movie? When I’m justifiably angry about an injustice in the world or my personal life? Definitely not.

I’ve experienced more than my fair share of real mental breakdowns, but that number is dwarfed by the number of times I’ve cried.

A The problem here is that people prey on you when they see that weakness, and a civilized society should not do this.

While that’s true, it doesn’t change the fact that we need an emotional outlet to be well. Those emotions will be there whether or not you release them when you feel the need to.

If you try to suppress them, you’re more likely to be incapacitated by them—even physically—if they eventually become too much to handle. It’s just postponing a smaller weakness for a larger one later on.

Sure. Though you could argue that needing food, water, and sleep is a sign of weakness, too.

Simply existing automatically comes with these “weaknesses”, so I don’t see the point in assigning them with a negative value, as your perspective seems to. I doubt many people would claim that not drinking water is a sign of strength. Why should crying be any different?

Now, having a mental breakdown because you haven’t allowed yourself to feel your emotions, though? Or lashing out at others because you haven’t learned how to regulate yourself? Now, that’s about as emotionally and mentally weak as you can get.

I’m sorry. That’s so shitty. I really don’t get women who are like that. The ability to express emotion (in a healthy way) is one of the most attractive traits one can have, imo.

My AMAB (and non-binary, though they didnt realize that until like 9 years into our relationship) partner has cried in front of me COUNTLESS times. Because they’re a fucking human being who has feelings. It’s really not hard to understand if you take even just one moment to empathize.

I didn’t struggle academically in grade school at all, with the exception of mathematics. And by that, I just mean that I had to put in a moderate amount of effort to learn it.

But when I started college/university in a new city, I was alone, wholly unprepared, and paralyzed by severe (and untreated) anxiety, depression, and ADHD. I didn’t know how to make friends by myself. The thought of having to interact with my dorm mates would send me into a panic.

Not to mention, I was not only having a crisis of sexuality, but I also convinced myself that I was an ugly, gross loser whom no one would ever want to be with sexually or romantically. (Jesus.)

I took a break for a semester because I was very suicidal. I started therapy again/taking Zoloft—the latter of which saved my life—and went back for another semester. But I knew, even before going back, that it just wasn’t for me. It really didn’t help that I already knew college in the US is a scam.

So yeah, I ended up dropping out. I have a lot of mixed feelings about it, now.

She was already named that when she was adopted :)

Cake:

1. why mom no let me lay on lap ALL time???
2. how to friend tuxedo one
3. why not pay all attention to Cake
4. how to cuddle tuxedo one
5. how more churu

MC Hammer:

1. how to dinner time?
2. why tiny gray one still here
3. why I see bottom of food bowl???
4. how get tiny gray one to go away
5. how more churu

I’d probably be concerned (and annoyed) that some unknown person violated my privacy to break into my home… just to fuck with my fridge???

That being said, if I knew who did it because of a long-standing tradition of mutual harmless pranks, or something, I’d probably be amused. But still a little bit annoyed.

Yeah. I mean, I genuinely do enjoy hanging out with the right kinds people. Occasionally. And for relatively short periods of time. I just have so little social energy and a lot of social anxiety. I find myself frustratingly uninterested in (and/or overwhelmed with) the idea of socializing, not even via text, and I pretty much rely on my SO for making/hanging with friends. So, not great.

I’ve always thought I could get a lot out of meditation, but I’m so bad at sticking to literally anything. Maybe it’s just a self-fulfilling prophecy, but I’ve tried so many things in an attempt to increase socialization or even generally just improving my own life.

I don’t really want to be this antisocial, but making and keeping close friendships seems so daunting and exhausting to me.

“Everything happens for a reason .”

No. Fuck no, and fuck you. I DARE you to say that to the faces of the endless innocent people—many of whom are CHILDREN—who have been murdered, tortured, abused, enslaved, raped, ect.