#RECOVERY

[daily-reminders-that-ur-enough]

You are not doomed. The world is not hopeless.

[strawberrik]

🫶🥲

Growing.

[compassionatereminders]

When recovering from abuse, it's vital to turn around the narrative from "what's wrong with me, why am I not good enough, what did I do to deserve abuse" to "what's wrong with THEM, why do they think it's okay to abuse other people"

[curingourhearts]

Perfection won't make you happy. If you solely deem your happiness based on the circumstances of your life, of things that can be taken away you will never know peace. There are so many things that can be taken from us without our control. You can lose a job, a loved one, you can fail a test, you can dissapoint someone. A true sense of peace comes from the fact when you accept the unstability life can be. You will realize how much you've grown when you lose something big and realize how well you can handle it because you didn't base your life around it. It's normal to grieve such losses but it's so important to remember when to stand back up again.

[daily-reminders-that-ur-enough]

Things will be difficult, but our communities will support us. You are not alone. We are not alone.

[silverclawz]

I…. I think i need to either get this tatted on or get this framed…

You don't have to force yourself to bounce back so quickly. I read something recently that said "when you come in from a rainstorm, you don't expect yourself to be dry and warm right away", and it really resonated with me. It's okay to take time to dry off and warm up. Take the time you need to process what happened to you.

[of-wounds-and-woes]

From the Chinese Drama Lost Identity, episodes 1 and 18 to 21.

Johnny Huang goes through the wringer in this series. As a prisoner of war, he is tortured numerous times for information, gets experimented on with hallucinogens, and pulls off a hunger strike to save a friend. He finally escapes and recovers, but will lose a big chunk of his memories which he’ll try to recover as the series progresses.

This GIF set is extremely summarized, there’s so much more whump goodness that I couldn’t fit into this set 😭

I can’t get enough of this man, he hurts so good 🤌🏼

[howtomakeyousee]

[thoughtsonhurtandcomfort]

Shae & woodworker story cont'd

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 7 | part 8

Author's Notes: sorry it's been a while :')

Content Warnings: tiny whump, faerie whump, injury, difficulty breathing, caretaking, unintentionally painful caretaking

---

The first thing the human does upon bringing Shae upstairs is clean him off. He turns on the water in the kitchen - just a light trickle, checking that the water is neither too hot nor too cold - and then holds him under it, using his strong but gentle hands to wash away all the dust. Whenever Shae coughs the man holds him to the water so he can drink some. It is such a relief he could cry, if only he had the strength.

"Let's take a look," the man says calmly. He sits at the kitchen table and lies Shae on a folded apron. Shae winces and tries to roll onto his side, off of his splinter-riddled back. The man notices and helps him, drawing in a sharp breath when he sees the damage. "Ouch. Alright, let me get some things..."

He disappears for a few minutes, though Shae can hear him moving around in other parts of the house. Shae sighs and presses his face against the soft, clean fabric of the apron. It smells like the human, and he is surprised to find that that is a comfort to him. He even starts to doze off a little, but is woken by the man's returning footsteps.

"Still with me?" he asks, leaning down to look at Shae's face.

Shae opens his eyes and nods weakly.

"Good. So, uh - I'm going to pull these splinters out of your back and clean the wounds. And it's going to hurt, and I'm really sorry for that, but it has to be done. Do you understand?"

Tears fill Shae's eyes. He doesn't know how he can possibly stand any more pain, but with every shift and breath he can feel the slivers of wood in his skin like little daggers, and he knows the human is right - they have to go. So Shae nods again.

"It's going to be okay."

The man takes a pair of tweezers and leans close to Shae, who shudders a little at the feeling of being loomed over. He closes his eyes and clutches the apron in his fists as the tweezers grab onto the first and largest splinter. At the slightest pull sharp pain shoots across his skin. Shae lets out a hoarse cry and instinctively tries to pull away, but the human's hand closes over his lower half, not enough to hurt, but enough to keep him pinned in place. Still, it's enough to make Shae panic, and the man quickly steps away, withdrawing his hands.

He gives Shae several minutes to calm down, and feeds him water through a dropper when he starts to cough. When Shae is breathing evenly again, he picks up the tweezers. "I won't hold you down. But I need you to stay still, yeah?"

I'll try, Shae thinks. He bites down on the fabric and braces himself. He whines as the tweezers close on a splinter and once again start to pull. After a little resistance, the splinter slips free and Shae feels a trickle of fresh blood run down his skin.

"You're doing great," the human says quietly, giving his cheek a little rub. Despite his fear, the compliment bolsters him. Shae sniffles and remains still as the next splinter is removed, and the next, and the next.

By the end he is shaking like a leaf. But if he thought that was bad, it's nothing compared to when the human wets a clean cloth with something from a bottle and presses it to Shae's back. The stinging pain erupts into a burning one, a pain that darkens his vision and steals his breath. Shae lets out a feeble sound, vaguely aware of the human muttering apologies as he quickly cleans the blood from the faerie's scraped and punctured skin.

Eventually the damp cloth disappears and the human gently rubs something onto the skin, then applies a clean, dry strip of gauze and secures it with a bandage. This dulls the fierce agony considerably, allowing Shae to catch his breath and wipe the tears from his eyes. To his relief, the human steps away, giving him some time to recover.

He is close to falling asleep when Shae feels himself being gently manhandled, turned over onto his back, which has gone pleasantly numb. Still, the rest of him hurts no less than before, and he groans at the movement.

"Sorry...just treating this burn..." The man smooths a gel across the inflamed, blistered skin of Shae's belly. It hurts only a moment before a cool tingling kicks in and the pain eases. A bandage is wrapped around his middle.

The human finds every injury, however small, until the wounded little faerie is clean, bandaged, and treated with medicine. He takes sips of water and apple juice, and soon the fits of coughing come less frequently and Shae feels less like he might faint at any moment. He is far from okay, but is so, so grateful for any relief he can get.

"Um..." While the man is capping a bottle, Shae sits up and timidly waves for his attention.

Clearly surprised, the human sets the bottle down and leans close. "What is it? Do you need something."

Unable to voice it, Shae simply points at one of the man's hand's - large, strong, scarred and calloused, he feared them all this time, when they have been nothing but gentle with him. At the request, the man places his hand on the table in front of Shae, remaining as still as he can. Shae crawls into it and hugs his thumb.

"Oh..." The man hesitates, then pets Shae's hair. "You must have been really scared down there, huh?" He cradles the faerie in both hands and holds him to his chest. It's warm, so warm, the fabric of his shirt soft, the beat of his heart strong and steady when Shae presses his ear to it and sighs.

He can feel movement, the human carrying him somewhere. Shae expects it to be the box in the living room where he has been sleeping, and is surprised when instead he is carried upstairs to the man's bedroom. Shae sits up enough to look at it - simple, a little messy, but cozy.

"I think you should stay up here until you're better, in case you need anything. I hope that's ok."

Continuing to hold Shae with one hand, the man puts together a new improvised little bed of blankets in the half-open bedside table drawer. He carefully settles Shae onto it, and after the last few nights spent in the cold, dark crevice in the wall, letting his body sink into the warm, soft pile of fabric is like heaven. Already drowsy, when the man drapes a scarf over him and shuts off the light, Shae begins to drift off to sleep to the sounds of the human readying himself for bed.

The last thing he's aware of is his hair being pet and a voice whispering, "good night". For the first time in a long time, Shae smiles.

[compassionatereminders]

Abuse isn't suddenly okay because your abuser is ill. Abuse isn't suddenly okay because your abuser is traumatized. Abuse isn't suddenly okay because your abuser is in a really bad situation. Abuse isn't suddenly okay because your abuser has good intentions. Abuse isn't suddenly okay because your abuser is nice sometimes. Your abuser does not have to be a literal cartoon villain for their abuse to be wrong. They likely have some good traits or mitigating factors, but that doesn't mean you have to excuse and put up with their abuse.

[lostsoulsdiehere]

*You Can't Put A Band-Aid Over A Bullet Hole*

Why Did She Run.

It is not as Easy as they Say.

Every Day feels like Doom's Day.

A Planet Of Decay.

They said, take a Pill and, you will Heal.

I still feel the Weight of my Soul Suffocating and, Holding me Down so, I can't Break Free.

All I want is Mercy.

Life Is What You Make It.

Everyone get's Thrown into The Snake Pit.

Are you going to Survive or, Be Swallowed Alive?

Time is something that you Cannot Replace.

Time is something that you Cannot Erase.

Time keeps Ticking and, Ticking.

How Much Time Did You Waste?

The Need to be Isolated.

It Only Feels Better being Intoxicated.

Discriminated because, of being Self-Medicated.

It Will Take Time to be Rehabilated.

♡hannah

[mathsbian]

Big pro tip:

If your relationship is holding you back from making any change to yourself you even just think could be kind-of-sort-of a good change?

Take the plunge. The relationship isn’t worth it. Your partner should want to see you grow+change (and there’s a reason those are always said together: you will grow in ways you can’t define now; you won’t just become more <thing_you_already_are>, you’ll become things you’re not at all yet), and if they can’t handle that, they’re not right for you.

my big tip is if you think you might be trans but a relationship is keeping you from transitioning it is always worth it to just break up with them/burn the bridge. i officially Realized i was trans in october 2021 but i was so obsessed with my partner at the time, who didnt want me to transition, and also scared of not actually being Trans Enough that i stayed with them until june 2022. the relationship wasnt even good by that last year or so i was just so scared of the unknown. i was so scared. but everything you want is on the other side of fear. my transition has been the most beautiful era of my life. ive become a happier person, someone im happier to be, warmer and kinder. being happy does wonders for your personality, and transition does wonders for your mood. its all hand in hand. it can happen to you. just break up with them. heart

[daily-reminders-that-ur-enough]

It's okay to slip-up, to relapse, to make mistakes and fall down. Know that there is always a way to get back up.

[thepeacefulgarden]

[coke4life]

the way vodka and a cig would cure all my problems right now.