this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2024
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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.

  1. Do not make medical decisions solely because of a discussion you have had with any person here (e.g. whether to take or not take medications; diagnoses; etc.) as we do not vet people. All medical problems should be discussed with a real-life medical professional.

  1. Do not post harmful advice here. If this is seen, then please report it and we shall remove it. If you are unsure about whether it's precisely harmful advice or not but feel uneasy about it, please report it anyway.

  1. Do not insult other users and their lifestyles or their habits (unless they ask, I suppose). This is a place for self-improvement. Critique and discussion about a course of action is encouraged over shit-flinging. Don't talk down to people.

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Hello comrades and welcome to the last improvement megathread of July! bonfire

As usual, some 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 plans or goals 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: "Woman, to the locomotive!"

Good luck with your goals! rainbow-has

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[–] LGOrcStreetSamurai@hexbear.net 10 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Not gonna lie Self Improving Hexbear comrades, I fell of this week. My room is a wreck, my journal unwritten, my books unread, and my meals unprepped. All I did this week was go the gym and thug it out because it was just a rough one. I'm going to start rebuilding my winning streaks both big and small today and start with the basics. Cleaning up my room and getting my laundry done. I can't be a big communism builder in dirty socks. Hygiene and organization are for me the two best ways to secure that mindset of "Yeah I can accomplish things because I'm clean, don't smell bad, and know where all my shit is because it's where its supposed to be".

[–] moonlake@hexbear.net 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I have also fallen off in some areas but the most important thing is to not get discouraged and to get back on the horse solidarity

[–] LGOrcStreetSamurai@hexbear.net 2 points 3 months ago

Yessir! Getting back at it with enthusiasm and optimism is the way we grow! anarchy-heart

[–] moonlake@hexbear.net 7 points 3 months ago (1 children)
[–] LanyrdSkynrd@hexbear.net 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Could you add me to the list?

[–] moonlake@hexbear.net 2 points 3 months ago

Of course, welcome to the based department comrade, we are happy to have you with us soviet-heart

[–] Rojo27@hexbear.net 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Went to the gym just twice this past week. Made up for it with bike riding a bit and walking.

[–] moonlake@hexbear.net 2 points 3 months ago

That's still two times more than me and 98% of people so good on you rat-salute-2

[–] LanyrdSkynrd@hexbear.net 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I'm training for a 10k race and it's going pretty well. I'm running farther and faster than I've ever done. I probably won't actually compete in the race since it's $60, but I'm going to run the route and try to hit my goal time.

On other fronts I'm not doing as well. I've got to go back to work sometime late this year after 15 years out of the workforce. I've been trying to simulate what'll be like by volunteering, but I'm having trouble getting along with people. I feel like quitting because it's making me more anxious.

I'm just going to try to stay positive and not worry about it.

[–] moonlake@hexbear.net 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Good luck with the race and the job search comrade! And remember that lying on your resume is cool and good skeleton-motorcycle

[–] LanyrdSkynrd@hexbear.net 2 points 3 months ago

Thanks for the support, I appreciate it

[–] ped_xing@hexbear.net 5 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I cleaned my sink. At some point, I realized that I really only need a fraction of my dishes for myself and kept washing basically a setting for one while letting everything else in the sink grow increasingly gross. Today I finally washed the accumulated gross and it was so gross I'm putting everything through the dishwasher again after a thorough hand-clean because it was clean-twice-or-throw-away gross. Barring a change in my social life, I'll probably go back to just washing a setting for one while letting everything else sit, but this time I'll let everything else sit in the cabinet.

[–] moonlake@hexbear.net 4 points 3 months ago

Life pro tip: put on some podcasts while washing the dishes and cleaning. I like washing dishes now because that's my podcast listening time lol. I recommend Guys, it's a podcast about different types of guys. It's hilarious and the hosts have good politics (it's Bryan from Street Fight Radio aka the guy who invented podcasts)

[–] CommunistBear@hexbear.net 2 points 3 months ago

Rough week this past week. This was the closest I came to drinking again out of a sheer sense of despair. I'm tired of feeling like I'm stagnating in life. I've made improvements for sure but from time to time it all just feels meaningless and like I'm not really doing much. I wish I had a formal education. I wish I had a job that paid enough to actually afford real things. I wish my life was different. But some of that really isn't possible to change and that feeling is what brought me low.

I didn't end up drinking. Instead, I did some borderline reckless shit and took my motorcycle off-road for a bit. It was immensely fun and did help bring me out of my funk but I can't help but think that I've replaced one borderline self-destructive coping mechanism for another. It was sweet as hell though and off-roading is absolutely something I will seek out more.

I need to find a physical outlet again since just doing body weight exercises is boring as hell to me. And I hate going to the gym because it's always crowded as shit and a cesspool of breathing each others air. I want to rock climb again but the price is a huge disincentive for how regularly I would want to be going. Thankfully my job still keeps me active but I'd prefer something more recreational and not just moving 5000 lbs stacks of barrels.

[–] Tomorrow_Farewell@hexbear.net 2 points 3 months ago

What I've been doing:

I studied some topology and probability theory. In particular, I revisited Smirnov transform.

Continuing to work on the Blender project.

Have been trying to gain employment. Unsuccessfully so far.

I did not get to trying to read 'Capital' on my own.

I did not resume physical exercise.

Plans for this week:

Keep re-learning math stuff. I nominate probability theory as the sole math focus this week.

I have noticed that I have been neglectful on learning theory regarding software engineering. I will begin reading some textbooks on the matter.

I intend on studying some php stuff.

Fix the Blender model's arm thickness and begin working on the head.

Keep trying to regain employment.

Try to resume physical exercise.

Streaks:

Still touching grass every day.

Duolingo Putonghua 16-day streak after a couple of years of pause.

Resources for others:

I can be your resource if you have math questions. I can also find you actual math resources and textbooks.

[–] vehicom@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 3 months ago

still in china camp. got some running(while singing terrible ass karaoke w a friend but it was really fun). Hoping to get some rock climbing in before my flight(to a different part of china) tomorrow

[–] blight@hexbear.net 2 points 3 months ago

Walked every day except when said walk was upgraded to a run once or twice instead. Did laundry, dishes and bought groceries. Went to bed basically on time, with bonus attention to reducing evening screen time. Fighting the creep in our org on the astral plane constantly and it’s really draining my focus, but I am indeed fighting.