YourHeroes4Ghosts

Honestly, when I left Reddit I was extremely excited by the potential of federation, but at least in the case of Lemmy, my enthusiasm was premature. I mostly stay on Beehaw these days.

I'm a member of a few communities on other instances- for example, I'm super into aquariums and "Pets" just doesn't quite do it for me as it lacks in-depth discussion of aquarium fish, and as an autistic/ADHD adult "neurodivergence" doesn't quite meet my needs as it seems to be strongly focused on people who only have ADHD.

The communities I've joined on other instances don't have a lot of traffic, so I end up back here 99% of the time, and that's okay. If Beehaw decides to become a non-federated community I will still be here. I have a few other accounts I can use to access the Fediverse should I want to do so.

I've lost 40kg in the past year, but currently cannot afford the new clothes I both need and deserve (I'm still a "plus" size so secondhand shops don't have much for me). So this winter will be all about layering. I have thermals in several sizes, I'll just wear the smallest against my skin and the largest on the outside! Next summer I'll be able to get new clothes and with any luck, by then I'll be a size that can be found anywhere!

I agree with the "don't use your autism as an excuse" side, but as a middle-aged AuDHD woman who can no longer hold any kind of paid work due to burnout caused by years of faking it in a high pressure career that I loved dearly and would have done for life if burnout hadn't disabled me- I'm really repulsed the idea that all of us should just try harder to fit in. I did that, and it eventually destroyed me. It is not something that I'd advocate anyone else doing.

I got some really nice chai from the local Indian supermarket. I gave up coffee a few months ago- or Ozempic put me right off it- and I had a hole in my life where a hot drink belongs. I'm glad to have found something I like.

It's looking like it'll be a stormy autumn and winter and honestly I'm here for it, even though I know the reasons for it are ungood on a global scale. I love wind and rain to a ridiculous degree.

I think I've finally worked out all the CPAP bugs but I'm still waiting to feel better. I suspect that part of the problem is that the dose of my blood pressure medication needs to be lowered and that's making me tired, but I won't see my GP again until next month so I have to deal.

Yes, it's so important to listen to your body. A HSP should not just ignore what they're feeling or fight to endure discomfort, especially long-term discomfort like unsafe housing...if you are able to move, I hope you will, because constant negative overstimulation can lead to burnout, which can have a really severe mental health toll over a lifetime. I was rendered pretty much non-functional for much of my 40s because of it. Now I know I have to put self-care first or i will pay for it.

I identified as HSP for many years prior to my ASD/ADHD diagnosis, but for my entire adult life I've done the same: first, I've made my bedroom a haven, with a weighted blanket, blackout curtains, fairy lights, etc. and I feel free to retreat to my room when the world is too much. My room is my space, designed for my comfort. (I have a house, but naturally it's family space and when I'm overwhelmed I really need to be alone).

I don't force myself to stay on overstimulating situations because I "should"- if there's a pressing reason I have to stay a bit longer but I just can't, a five minute breather outside can make a huge difference.

I already mentioned the weighted blanket, but if you don't already have one, you should get one- and make sure you get one that's around 10% of your body weight for best effect. I bought mine at the start of the Pandemic and I swear it saved my life, it allowed me to feel safe when absolutely nothing felt safe. Another tool in my box that I would never trade is good noise-cancelling headphones. I'm so glad it's acceptable to wear them in public nowadays, they have been a lifesaver.

As an autistic who has been online since the early 90s, this article didn't speak to me at all. My autistic internet comprised IRC and USENET, and it died when LiveJournal died. I still have close friends from those days, when I have no close friends "IRL"- I can't say that for anyone I met on Twitter or Facebook, in fact I found both of those platforms to begin enshittifying looong before any of the NTs began to notice it.

I don't think it's just because I'm an older AuDHD woman, I think the existence of Facebook and Twitter from the mid to late 00s killed the autistic internet.

I know I'll die with student loan debt, because I dropped out of college after four and a half years, never have had a decent job, and finally moved to another country without leaving a forwarding address. They found me once after I filed an absentee ballot, then I moved again. Welp, guess I can't vote in the US anymore.

However, I refuse to be held back for life because of contracts I signed when I was 18 and too stupid to know what I was getting into. I didn't even want to go to college but my mom made me.

The whole thing is ridiculous and stupid and it sucks that the way I took is the only way out, as most don't have the option to leave the country and never come back.

Most wildflowers need full sun for at least part of the day. Must houseplants are species that do reasonably well in shade.

So yes, they'd likely just die. You could always experiment if you've found some shade-loving species or if you have a window that gets full sun for a good part of the day.

Once I learned that the thing had been unrefrigerated overnight, it was no longer going into my mouth. My husband was hoping I'd rethink that, so I was actually pleased when the melted plastic made it inedible even by his very lax standards.

This was not actually my mistake, but last year we bought an expensive fresh turkey two days before Christmas, and unbeknownst to me, my husband decided to store it in the oven (mistake #1) then my son turned on the oven to cook something else, causing the turkey's plastic bag to melt to the turkey (mistake #2).

We had ham for Christmas.

In 1981, I won a goldfish at the fair. My parents were annoyed about having to buy a bowl for it. It died within days (no living creature should be kept in a half gallon bowl), but I pestered my mom into buying a ten gallon tank for the replacement. This was the beginning of a lifelong hobby- I now have nine aquariums in my living room, and in the past forty-some years have spent many thousands on tanks, fish, plants, fish food, and so on. My most expensive tank cost me €5000 to set up.

And all this began because I spent a quarter and managed to get a ping-pong ball into a cup.