Couch 250: An August Couch

Thanks, LT.

Next Thursday feels a long way away, and although R seemed to understand when I said that I needed to rebuild my sense of safety, beginning that process took up the whole session.

Hard to believe that I said to H on Monday that I was ready to stop the weekly check ins.

She honoured that, but said: 'Just because your regular support is back, please don't ever think that you aren't worthy of this space.'

This kind of backpedalling is somewhat normal in the field of mental health support...I hope?

Oh, I imagine it's very normal! I certainly do it... So that makes at least two of us!

arrived safely in Missouri last evening, neither flight was full so that was nice. and both were uneventful. i slept in til 9:30 this morning (well, that's 7:30 arizona time) but it still felt luxurious.

Today my sister & I went clothes shopping, I found a really cute dress. We got Indian food for dinner, well our mom and I did, sis got thai food and her bf got mexican. Mine and my mom's indian food was SOOOO overly spicy we could barely eat it, even after adding sour cream to it and we both ate ice cream right after. My mom NEVER eats ice cream - that's how extremely hot this food was! She was shocked cuz she's gotten the same dish from that same restaurant before and it wasn't nearly as hot.

I love indian food and once was at a restaurant where I picked something I had not had before and the waitress (who was indian) was like "no" - I was 'you don't have it?"- and she said they could not make it unspicy enough for people not used to a lot of heat.
My partner and I laughed about how she really saved me because their non-spicy was super hot to us.

Ha, amateurs! I dont go crazy like for death wish peppers or whatever they call them, but i used to like the 4-pepper items on the menu.

Couch Workout Club day 51

I took a short walk around the block this morning.

H from the helpline responded to my email this morning and offered a slot to talk.

I appreciated the opportunity to speak with someone who understood the background, rather than having to go through it all over again.

We had a helpful conversation about the 'cost' of Steve stepping into his truest self.



I asked whether we could debrief on Monday, and H said my 'usual' slot is available, so we'll speak again then.

She also gave me some information about a YouTube channel with somatic practices for releasing emotions.

I'm going to try and use one of them tomorrow, I think.

Other than that, I don't know what I need, and should probably try to work that out.

Hugs, Lost. I'm glad H was helpful and that you can speak again Monday.

We had to have a parent of an adult grad student removed from our building because they came to yell at a colleague about their offspring's not being treated like the special little flower that they are.
It is nuts and unfortunately, it is probably going to happen more. Parents are ensuring their kids never ever grow up.

Wow, that's ridiculous.

Well said, LT.

A graduate student should be well aware of the demands of the institution...and parents should (respectfully) butt out.

Couch Workout Club day 52

Not sure whether this is cheating, but I got some steps in when I went to meet my nephew at the park for his birthday.

Steps are steps! So they count. Hope you had a nice time.

Thanks, LT.

It was good to see him, albeit briefly.
His new bike was the main event, plus there were lots of his friends present.

I still feel strongly about kids having access to creativity, so I gave him some handmade crayons (by someone with crayon-making expertise) and a space themed colouring book.

Good rainy day activity, perhaps.

Those seem like nice gifts! Crayon-making seems like an interesting hobby.

I wanted to ask more about the process when I bought them, but the event was well-attended so I didn't want to keep the woman talking.

Im picturing this duo at the kid's first trial!

Between parents and the fact that so many now want to trauma dump/come in and tell you their diagnosis - "Prof. Stopdog - I have X - so you have to..." Me "no" -My position is if you have anxiety, depression, hammer toes, or a hang nail -it is not my problem. It is your problem to figure out how to learn with whatever challenges you have because we all have challenges. And the stupidity of "no upsetting topics" or "you have to warn them when sensitive topics are coming up -thing is a hill I will die on - attorneys have to handle upsetting info - if you are too damn delicate then go be something else.

SD-When I took a year break from my regular career to work in a school I had a co-worker who was 24. The 24 year old co-worker was reprimanded one day. She must have went home and told her mom that she got reprimanded at work because her mom called the director and told her not to bully her daughter. (The director didn’t bully her). 24 year old coworker probably should have been embarrassed that her mom called her job to yell at her boss but she wasn’t. She was proud of her mom and bragged about it. I just stood there and shook my head.

After two years of collecting stamps on the Aunty Anne’s pretzel loyalty card. I finally got a free almond pretzel!

I kept starting and losing them or not having my card on me when I bought one. They used to have a buy 6 get one free card. Now they’ve reduced it to buy 3 get one free. I have the older 6 stamp card too.

They don’t give the cards out in the parts where I live but they have a regular deal where if you buy 3 you get 1 free, but who’s going to eat 4 pretzels at 1 time? They only taste good the same day.

Pretty much.

I wanna know when they started making parents who took their kids' side! I noticed my cousin did this, and i was like whaaaat?

Had a pretty good day today. Got back on the exercise bike, for 20 minutes. I havent been feeling great this week, not sure why, probably the hot weather. But it should be done now.

Googled self care avoidance, some good insights.