Super General Advice (the thread for advice without making a thread)

Same here! As for just walking, is there a specific place you could walk to? Commit to "today I will walk around the block" or "to the park and back" or something like that, reminding yourself that "get out more" and "get exercise" are goals to reach for. That's what I'm trying to do.

 

I’ve tried that, but unfortunately it almost never works for me. The length of distance isn’t the problem since I actually like walking quite a bit, it’s just that I have no real reason to be there. I’m not sure why that’s so much of a block since I have no reason to stay in my apartment either, but that’s brains for you I guess.

 

libraries also frequently have free or nearly-free community activities that provide a reason to Leave Home
ive found podcasts useful for walking for walkings sake, too

 

I have a library which I have yet to join because I always forget to bring a piece of mail when I go out! My next day off I’ll try to remember to do that too.

 

seconding the library! I give myself mini-errands that aren't super intensive, just helpful to get done early, and it helps a lot

 

Would a pedometer help, so you can use "beat my step number record" as a goal?

 

I don’t really like pedometers, because my parents always badgered me to wear one when I was in high school :P also I probably shouldn’t actually be walking too much on my days off, because I have a possible stress fracture in one of my feet and a slightly fucked knee which I try to rest when I don’t have to work.

I’m not necessarily trying to go out for the sake of getting exercise, though that is also nice to do, but more just to not always be in my apartment.

 

Do you like drawing or writing, or do you wanna practice more? Because even if going to a park for the parks sake isn’t enough, you could go out to people watch, either doing random life drawings or little flash fictions about things that inspire you.

 

I don’t write but I want to, and I’m very out of practice at drawing, so those are both good ideas!

 

I have that problem too. This is very long and I don’t know whether it would apply to you, but I promise I do at least have a relevant point at the end.

I was just reading the Unit of Caring’s blog the other day and there was a concept that really resonated with me. It was about spoons and momentum, and how for some people the amount of energy may not be as much of a factor as maintaining stable structures. Spoons are definitely a thing for me, but momentum seems like an extremely useful way to better understand how my spoon expenditure works.

It explains how I was able to work up from being almost completely incapacitated to carrying a full course load at school. It probably helped a lot that I started attending regular weekly social events with my fellow robot fans here. It was like a small peg in time that I could hang things on. Then I started cooking myself an egg for breakfast every time I woke up so I had something to build on for better nutrition. I got into habit tracker apps and started drinking water twice a day, and putting my medicine in weekly pill containers every Sunday so my irregular sleep cycle no longer meant I might get less thyroid medication over the week if I woke up six times instead of seven.

I started exercising three times a week, usually on the treadmill, cleaning at least once a week, and doing laundry at least every other week. I’ve been doing these things for over six months now. My success rate isn’t perfect but it’s very good.

After I had gotten my meds, food and water, exercise, dependable clean clothes, and reasonably clean working space taken care of, I had a good momentum going, with a structure that sustained me and made me more capable of taking on other things.

That’s when I went back to school. It was exhausting, but I managed because it was predictable. I could take it in weeks.

Anything that interfered with my conception of what my schedule looked like ran the risk of being overwhelmingly stressful. Emails, doctor appointments, group projects where I had to wait on other people and work around their unknown schedules, those were the hard things. Completing an unexpected and rather large number of volunteer hours was not actually that bad once I found a place that would let me come in all morning once a week. Making the arrangements was hell, but when they were confirmed I found I was able to add an extra predictable commitment to my predictable week. And that’s how I finally graduated from college.

But one thing I haven’t been able to do is go for walks more than once every month or two. I have a terrible time going to stores or even libraries. I haven’t checked out a physical item from the library in probably well over a year because I’m afraid to commit to going back to return it.

I think it’s because I don’t have any structure to support those things. There’s no concept of “this is when I should walk outside and I will also know when to stop walking”. There’s no pattern to when I should visit the store. It always feels like an unexpected expenditure of my spoon budget.

As far as walks, I’ve been getting regular exercise with the treadmill so I haven’t been overly concerned about it. But if I were going to try to incorporate outside walks into my life, I think I’d approach it with a purpose. I did used to walk outside very frequently, and my greater purpose was to be more familiar with my neighborhood. It wasn’t systematic but I definitely preferred going places I hadn’t walked before. It got less interesting when I started running out of places within walking distance that I hadn’t already explored. It started feeling kinda pointless.

I’d need a new purpose. It wouldn’t have to be fancy. It could be deeply ridiculous or very simple as long as it was clear, fit the activity, and was reasonably achievable. Setting out to walk around the block at least once a week for a year (barring circumstances like vacations or illness/injury or dangerous weather) would probably work just fine. It would give me a clear idea of what I would be doing. There wouldn’t be any surprise decisions about spoons or sudden need to rethink my general picture of how I would be spending my time. It’s also specific about how I’d know when I’ve done enough and can stop, which is nice.

So that’s how I’d arrange to get myself out of the house, taking walks and enjoying nature. I need a structure for it, and the structure probably needs some purpose, any purpose at all as long as I like it, to give it a workable shape. That doesn’t make it any less of a leisure activity or prohibit me from having fun. It just gives me an attack plan for actually making it something nice for myself that I’d feel good about doing rather than a huge unpleasant chore that I probably won’t be able to keep up with.

 

If I unwrap a thing of premade pizza dough and it smells kind of like beer, that’s... probably bad, right?

It was best by July but I Want A Pizza

 

yeah, it’s started to ferment. Do Not

 

well, I have... already put it in the oven. so. I guess i'll decide whether I actually want to eat it or not when it comes out. Based on your knowledge will the thing actually make me sick or will it just taste weird?

I cut off a little corner and baked it by itself as a test before actually making the pizza, and it seemed okay, just kind of beery-tasting. but. I know my judgement is not always the best when it comes to edibility of food.

 

the baking will prrrrrrobably kill any pathogens/cook off the alcohol, so you'll live, but i personally wouldn't risk it, unless you've got nothing else to eat

 

Cursory look up only but people seem to still eat the beery tasting bread (ymmv on that taste), bakers comments are that it doesnt bake as expected, but it still makes an ok pizza (some sources also made pizza)
Though I don't think any of them had dough as old as "best by July" so yknow
Grain of salt

 

well, in a couple of hours my dumb ass will let you all know if this was a bad idea or not

 

The main problem with it would be that the bacteria may have made toxins in the bread, and those wouldn't necessarily cook out. The bacteria themselves aren't the problem in this situation, as long as the bread is cooked properly.

 

Yep, that's why you can't just cook the hell out of spoiled meat and kill the microbes and eat it safely.

 

hey @vuatson you still good