this post was submitted on 06 Oct 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.

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  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.

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  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 first improvement megathread of October! 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 goals or plans 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: "Knowledge will break the chains of slavery"

Good luck with your goals! solidarity

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[–] moonlake@hexbear.net 6 points 1 month ago (2 children)
[–] Comp4@hexbear.net 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] moonlake@hexbear.net 2 points 1 month ago

Welcome onboard comrade, we're happy to have you with us feral-hog

[–] DragonBallZinn@hexbear.net 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] moonlake@hexbear.net 1 points 1 month ago

Welcome to the based department, we're happy to have you! based-department

[–] Comp4@hexbear.net 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Not much going on, but I plan to start painting miniatures again soon. On a side note, I’m at least doing some light workouts (though the painting is more important to me, to be honest).

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

What kind of miniatures, are you a Warhammer 40k guy? squad-concern-1 squad-concern-2

[–] Comp4@hexbear.net 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yes, I’m a 40k guy. I’m finally in the process of painting again (started back in the early 2000s). In a roundabout way, I owe 40k for the fact that I’m in a lovely relationship, which is cool. I don’t consider myself much of an artist, but I want to get good (by my own standards) at painting minis—not just Space Bugs, but cool small-scale stuff in general

[–] moonlake@hexbear.net 2 points 1 month ago

Hell yeah that's cool! The best podcast in the world (Guys, a podcast about guys) has a fun episode on 40k guys that you might enjoy

[–] Cammy@hexbear.net 5 points 1 month ago

Staying sober, so that's good.

I'm working on my mental health and taking steps to start building a stable routine.

[–] moonlake@hexbear.net 5 points 1 month ago

October is one of my favourite months (spooky season specter ) so I kinda just want to relax and enjoy the vibes this month. Easier said than done, since I'm always trying to make progress. I want to touch grass with friends next week touch-grass

[–] CommunistBear@hexbear.net 5 points 1 month ago

It's been a few weeks since I've posted in one of these threads. After a sustained few weeks of increasingly worse mental health I fell off the wagon and fell off hard. I have been drunk every day for the past week and a half or so. I don't even really feel that bad about it tbh. In total, I went just about 6 months without drinking. My fall back into drinking happened pretty quick. On a particularly shitty day I saw a bottle that was kept around and decided "fuck it" and had 3 shots in quick succession. From that point on I quickly fell back into my old drinking habits. I know I should get back on the wagon sooner than later but I'm probably gonna indulge myself a bit before drying out again. It feels like the only thing in my life that I get to decide is my own drinking and as a result, when I'm feeling increasingly hopeless and out of control of my own life, drinking feels like a way I can have agency for once. I know it's a poor coping mechanism but it feels like the only one that I can have right now.

[–] blight@hexbear.net 4 points 1 month ago

Keeping up my daily average number of steps. Eating slightly more irregularly and weirdly but eating. Sleep maybe 2 hours messed up. Catching up on housework.

[–] LGOrcStreetSamurai@hexbear.net 3 points 1 month ago

I'm still trying to find more ways to reclaim my attention and free time. I have deleted a lot of the apps on my phone. So many of them serve ZERO purpose and do nothing for me in the short term or long term. I'm not see any real changes or impact yet but I'm thinking that all of those little "micro-interactions" with my phone will add up to lets say 3-5 per week.

I'm trying to find a better "routine" as far as cooking and cleaning as well. Keeping my domain orderly is a big help for me but finding a pattern that works still hasn't really settled for me. I'd rather keep it clean and orderly rather than having to clean and order things when they are in disarray.

Finding time to really lock in and do my game development was rough last week. I didn't make much progress on anything, I'm even trying to log my work in a journal/blog but it really highlights how little I have done and how far i have to go. Making even tiny micro lame-o games is far more demanding on my time than I would like. But still I want to make games as a hobby so I gotta find a pathway to fulfill this desire, because I'm worth the effort.

Diet and exercise remain on point. Doing more cardio, slightly less weight training and I'm seeing improvement in body composition. Still making sure to do regular heavy resistance days but I'm really hopeful to see my cardio endurance improve.

[–] Imnecomrade@hexbear.net 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

You can get a shirt of the post image, btw: https://spacedoglaika.com/collections/refinished-propaganda/products/knowledge-will-break-the-chains-of-slavery-refinished-soviet-literacy-propaganda-ussr-communist-t-shirt

I'm just mentioning it because I have been wanting this shirt, which is why this post caught my eye.

To be more relevant to the post, I do want to mention that I have been struggling with time management and burnout, but for the past month or so, I have been learning to play the guitar, and it's really helped my mood and focus as it's an easy thing to start doing with little energy. I practice guitar while I am waiting for my ADHD meds to kick in during the weekend, and it helps me feel more motivated when they do. I've learned 4 chords (sort of), and I tend to practice a riff with 3. I think forcing myself to play slower has a positive effect on slowing down my mind's racing thoughts. I also play guitar sometimes at night after work, and the mental roadblock for me to start tuning and playing is much lower than it is to hype myself to play a video game or work on a computer project.

I aspire to be skilled enough at guitar to casually sing and play commie songs.