Guys think we are over exaggerating. There were so many situations that I also had to make an assessment and came to the conclusion I should have a weapon hidden on me just in case. I keep a mini screw driver in my purse. It is an eye glasses screw driver, but it can do a decent amount of damage.
Artsy depression: haunted eyes, good at art, emo hair and eyeliner on point
Actual Depression: bloodshot eyes, no longer trust themselves with pencils, has not showered in five days
Quirky OCD: organized books, clean room, color coordinated outfits
Actual OCD: Intrusive thoughts, flipping the light switch 8 times so you don’t stab your brother, picking holes in your skin
Cute eating disorders: Slim trim and beautiful, shyly refusing a second helping, dancer aesthetic
Actual eating disorders: Puffy cheeks and eroded teeth from excessive vomiting, hair growing over your freezing body and refusing to eat carrots because they’re too high in carbs
Adorable anxiety: just a smol bean, soft, must be protected from the world
Actual anxiety: crying so hard you throw up, shaking, losing sleep over a period after the “okay”
RPG PTSD: flashbacks, vietnam, u don’t know what i’ve been through kiddo
Actual PTSD: Buying your first pregnancy test at twelve, flinching at high fives, i can’t feel my hands where am I what year is it
Cartoon ADHD: look a squirrel, something shiny, fidgety loveable bufoon
Actual ADHD: rereading the same page over and over because it doesn’t make sense, hasn’t done the laundry in four months, hyperfocusing on a mushroom knowing you have work to do
stop making terrifying realities seem cute. it’s disrespectful for those of us who are actually struggling
Fucking preach.
Uwu smol baby autism: adorably awkward, huggable, acts cute when confused, has some sort of rainman talent and a perfect memory in general
Real autism: worrying about whether you’re interpreting people’s cues correctly/making your tone sound correct for the context, or whether they’re about to get wierded out and uncomfortable bc of something you said, sensory issues that drive you nuts, not being able to adapt to sudden changes in plans and freaking out, melting down or shutting down when stressed by stupid things
Media psychosis: batshit insane, criminals, villains and antagonists, homicidal maniacs, “the voices made me do it” trope
Actual psychosis: literally normal people with no intention of hurting you, fear of being discovered, suicidal comtemplation because people think you’re a monster, insomnia, difficulty separating fiction from reality, depression, disorganized speech, panic attacks, paranoia, noticeable slip in school/work performance
idealized insomnia: Gets two hours of sleep and functions normally, wears sweatshirts and looks adorable, dozes off because they’re sleepy
actual insomnia: Cant function because they’re so exhausted, pacing around the house worried you’re going to wake your family, panicking every time you think about going to bed, giving up at 6 in the morning, constantly bloodshot/black bagged eyes, getting physically sick from sleep deprivation
also
wishful separation anxiety: whines when people leave the house, is mopey because they’re alone, is an attention seeker, *puppy dog eyes*
actual separation anxiety: worried that your family is going to die when they step out the door, unexplainable, random panic attacks when you’re home alone, feeling physically ill when someone goes out for groceries, constantly texting people and feeling like a nuisance, getting yelled at for interrupting everyone else’s activities.
people who can just plop their sweet lil heads down on their pillow and quickly fall asleep don’t know how lucky they are… i gotta construct a whole ass cinematic universe in my head with dramatic plot twists and in-depth characters to help me fall asleep
I was genuinely stunned when I realised not everyone told themselves elaborate internal bedtime stories every night without fail, inclusive of occasionally having to get back up out of bed to figure out a blocking issue in the mental scene that’s fucking up your ability to concerntrate on the narrative. It’s honestly only in the last few years that I’ve realised the amount of time I spend in various paracosms is not necessarily that normal, and for the life of me I cannot figure out what the fuck people who don’t do this spend their time thinking about?
My mum says she just thinks about real world stuff? All the time? Like jobs she has to do and the like?
I can remember lying in bed when I couldn’t have been any older than six mentally constructing self-insert Lord of the Rings AUs, I reckon a solid 90% of my waking life is spent with at least a background noise of some fictional scenario running through my mind, and I just find it completely fascinating how different people’s brains work because it had genuinely never occurred to me that that wasn’t just How Humans Functioned.
Brains are weird. Also I still can’t figure out what I’d do with all that time and brainspace, I can’t comprehend it at all.
Oh yes and mine lasts for weeks. When I do fall asleep it’s like a “To Be Continued” and then the next night it starts “Previously on”
Not to be dramatic but John Mulaney saying “every time I walk down the street, I need everyone, all the time, to like me so much–its exhausting” is quite literally my biography and I’m shocked he knows so much about me
