#not even just around medical professionals

[sloaneloise]

"Suppose that makes it a lot easier when you go from one kind of cold to just another place of cold." At least she figured the transition was easier, where as she had to admit, she had forgotten how cold it could get in Merrock locally. Still, she would say, she appreciated the weather a lot more than just pure heat that sometimes Arizona could bring where it felt like you were roasting even in the winter time. "They do love to put on a good appearance for the holidays but I think that's why I love it so much. Think once the fall weather started I had been counting down to all of this." Gesturing around, it had been years since she was able to enjoy any of this. Sure, other places decorated for the holidays but it wasn't the same when it was borderline tropical trees compared to actual pine trees and that familiar feeling of holiday. "Oh good, I'm really glad about that, because I would be kind of worried." That was the inner medical professional in her, "Don't want you guys sending anyone my way with frostbitten fingers and toes." That was definitely something she could put on the list of did not want. "Plus I'm sure there's a peace to knowing who is out there wandering around then wondering if someone is just out there waiting to be rescued." While she worked in a high pressured job, in a way, so did Jason. "Has anyone ever snuck by not checking in? Think that would be my nightmare right there this time of year." When he said that he had left the moment he turned eighteen, "Admirable, you know, your service. I can't speak to any of that but I've had friends who joined the military when I moved down south." A lot of men and women often went that way to have education paid for. "So what, almost two years back then?" She knew that he had been in the same class as Kellan, at least she vaguely remembered that.

"It's just one cold to another cold," he said with a smile. But it did make life easier; Jason had arrived with his entire life in his camper, and thankfully that life was made up of warm coats and sweaters, so that he hadn't had to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe when the winter rolled in that first year. Now, he just felt like an old pro, although he had slipped back into that feeling pretty easily from what he remembered of living in town before. Funny how that works. "No, they're pretty upfront about it," he agreed with a light laugh, glancing around the park. Sure, Maine had warm summers and beautiful beaches, but most people thought of Christmas and winter and snow and ice. Beautiful, but definitely the epitome of winter when the season rolled around. "They do, actually. Now, anyway. Once we get the first major snow fall and temperatures dip below a certain point, we require all hikers to check in with the front desk and show us that they have the proper equipment." Thankfully, it cut back on how many unnecessary rescues they had to do, kept them aware of who did and did not return at the end of the day. Just in case he did have to step in to be the hero -- not that he wanted to in mid-December on trails covered in ice and snow. "I know what you mean," he agreed, letting his breath out through his nostrils. "Since I was eighteen, yeah," he stepped carefully down the path, keeping his eyes on the light displays as he talked. "Hit the ground running and just never looked back. Did the Army route for a while, then lived and worked in the parks, came back before my fortieth."

[whatwooshkai]

number three :D

Blades is hiding.

Yeah, he's not afraid to admit it. He'll hide all he fucking wants.

The only summons he's been giving over the past vorn have been either for random medical check-ups or more interrogations by the enforcers. And they're still having him train on a strict schedule, even though his "team" has been reduced to a solo endeavor.

A voice crackles to life over the P.A. system. "Someone find Blades, please." The voice sounds resigned and more tired than anything, lacking the usual professionalism but keeping the conciseness.

Blades curls closer to the crates he's hunched behind, knees-to-chassis, doing his best to angle his rotors so they're not visible.

They stick out so far behind his back.

The scar between them aches when he twists. Stupid rotors, stupid alt mode. He misses his wings, even though he barely had them. Helicopter is a stupid alt mode anyways, with stupid fragile rotors that could break at a moment's notice.

An odd, aching part of Blades- the one that lives in the gaping hole in his spark- desperately wants to go home.

But he is home. Or at least, the only living quarters he's ever known.

Unless home is with his gestalt... in which, he doesn't need that many more reasons to be convinced to go join them.

"Found ya."

Blades looks up from his hiding spot to meet the tired optics of one of the security-for-hires, who's doing his best to offer an inviting smile. His field brushes Blades', so he snaps it close to his frame.

Blades can't remember his name, they cycle through guards too often. Or at least more often when they used to, after a top secret government project turned into a glorified sparkling-sitting job.

The guard taps a beat on the crate he's leaning on. "You comin'?"

Blades just glares at him.

The guard sighs heavily, before walking around and reaching out a hand. "I don't wanna fight you, kiddo. Let's make it easier on both of us, alright?"

Blades doesn't move, but he lets the guard grab his arm and haul him to his pedes, then lead him down the hallway towards the Supervisor's office.

The Supervisor is an intimidating mech- black and gray plating, purple optics, and a faceplate twisted in a perpetual scowl. He must be three time the size of Blades.

Streetwise used to guess that the reason he went by the Supervisor is because he had a really stupid or embarrassing name that wasn't intimidating at all, instead of just being "classified" like he claimed.

Doesn't matter what Streetwise thinks now, though.

Blades squares his shoulders and walks into the office with his helm held high, keeping his rotors tucked close to his frame to hide their minute shaking.

"Blades," the Supervisor greets in his dark, intimidating voice. Blades frowns at him. "You're hardly a sparkling anymore, I thought you would have outgrown being a nuisance by now."

Blades, wisely, does not say anything. The less of a fuss he makes, the sooner he gets out of here.

"As you know, the Defensor project has been discontinued," the Supervisor continues, shifting slightly in his seat. "And therefore our funding for it has stopped. More specifically, our funding for you has stopped. So you are no longer of use to us."

Blades' tanks drop to his pedes. He knew this would happen eventually, but he thought they'd at least wait until the enforcers found out who- who- who's responsible for Blades no longer having brothers.

He's not even that being that much of a nuisance! He's following directions, goes to the places they order him to, shows up to training, all the stuff they need him to. He doesn't even hide half the time!

"You have three options," the Supervisor says, pulling Blades from his thoughts. "You can attempt to fend for yourself on the streets of Protihex, but you will not receive any help from us, financial or otherwise. You may join the military, which we do encourage. Minimal paperwork and it keeps you in the system."

Blades is going for the streets. He is not joining the military, he is not-

"Or," the Supervisor adds, "you can attend the Rescue Bots Academy."

Oh. That actually... that actually might not be so bad. That's a few vorns of schooling, and by that point, he could get a job and fend for himself, right? He wouldn't even half to finish. Just live there long enough to get himself on his pedes and to make sure he can get as far away from this Primus-forsaken facility as possible.

"I'll go to the Rescue Bots," Blades says, the static in his audials drowning out everything besides the Supervisor's, "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure." Blades shutters his optics. "Send me to the Rescue Bots Academy."

[semiotomatics]

bloodwork came back normal (derogatory) and its gonna be at least 2 weeks till i can talk to my dr abt next steps, tried to find another clinic to go to but got scared off by bad reviews/my own prior bad experiences for the close ones, the distance/inaccessibility for the far ones, and cant get a virtual appointment anywhere until august, so like. that sucks

[milo-is-rambling]

I can’t even imagine living without anxiety. Like. How. What?

[sa-bo]

Genuinely need a break from this arc real quick why does One Piece delve so deep into the ethics of war this arc, like holy shit I'm gonna fucking die

[thethingything]

also shoutout to the hospital for sending us a bunch of PDFs with information about preparing for surgery and what to expect, except the information was all generic stuff where most of it does't actually apply to wisdom tooth removal, so I had a huge panic attack where I nearly threw up because a bunch of the stuff mentioned in there is extremely triggering for us, only to then find out that stuff literally doesn't apply anyway, but now I feel like I have even less of an idea of what to actually expect because it's so hard to figure out which information does apply

[appleleef]

my hawkinsona Lee has definitely seen a demodog or a portal to the upside down and just went home. That's none of my business.

[royalreef]

(( Very funny to me that Miranda is, fundamentally, a fully licensed medical professional inside of the Merkingdom. There is some nuance, she's not really the type of doctor who sees the public or anything, and her particular line of work is very specific to her title and what role she occupies within the Merkingdom at large — but she's still basically a doctor. It would not be inaccurate to call her so.

Which is also fun to be because she's not at all the type of person that you would want to operate on you. Even in the Merkingdom, she has terrible bedside manner, even if she doesn't need to.

[feline-evil]

Allowing your oc's to be just sort of fucked idiot dickheads is great

This is my schmoopy, i made him up in my head, he huffs paint fumes and has never gotten over his ex and yes he's making it EVERYONE'S problem! I'm putting him up on a plinth with a gold plaque and telling everyone he is the best schmoopy around and im kissing his forehead and bestowing him with ribbons so everyone knows how wonderful he is. He will steal your wallet also.

[arctic-hands]

Never gonna forget my second round of scopes (a combined upper endoscopy and a colonoscopy all at once) where I was only put under partial anesthesia and could feel every moment of agony as they maneuvered the cameras and tubes up my nose, down my throat, into my digestive, and, oh yeah, up my ass too. I remember every moment of writhing around in pain and screaming and sobbing and begging them to stop but not being able to articulate clearly because of the tubes, not only in physical pain from this torture but also an emotional wreck because the elderly nurse who swore up and down he would hold my hand thru it all wasn't there at all like he promised. I remember the doctors mocking me throughout the procedure while I screamed because it was obvious I had cheated on my medical fast. Mostly tho I remember the head nurse screaming at me "Stop acting like a child!"

I was twelve

[thebiballerina]

I mostly concur with the above reblogger, but I wanted to add one thing:

I wouldn't say that anything you do will have zero impact. There are SOME things you can do that will have an impact, if you choose to put your time and energy into this issue. (Which you are not obligated to do, to be clear, unless you have some sort of role or job which implies that sort of responsibility.)

You aren't necessarily helpless. But subscribing to OP's mindset is a really good way to make yourself helpless.

I've seen that mindset, repeatedly. I had that mindset, at one point in time. You know what changed that, more than anything else? Becoming an actual activist.

The activists who hold on to the mindset that a mental health break is selfish? The ones that can't or won't emotionally distance themselves? The ones that don't acknowledge their right to care for themselves because someone, somewhere is suffering worse than them? They don't last, and they don't help.

The good ending for that road is to burn out, and then not be able to help anymore. The bad ending is to fall heavily into compassion fatigue, and then be so desensitized and unable to care that you cause real harm. Or there's the other bad ending, which is that you neglect yourself so thoroughly that you end up hurt, sick, or dead (and maybe hurt others while you are at it). You might even manage to do all three of these things.

If you want to make a real impact on more than a minuscule scale, you not only need to allow yourself mental health breaks (which, yes, sometimes include disengaging completely), you need to accept that they aren't selfish at all. They are sometimes the only way you'll be able to preserve your ability to help. Feeling personally affected by an issue is valid, and sometimes unavoidable, but it doesn't correlate to how much of a difference you make.

Hurting yourself doesn't automatically help others. Many of us have heard metaphor which references the airplane safety instruction to put on your oxygen mask before helping others do so. It's a good metaphor. A suffocating person isn't going to thank you for the valiant gesture of suffocating yourself alongside them, when you had the option to save the both of you.

I believe in sacrifice, in some cases. I believe in acknowledging my privilege. But sacrifice generally implies that you are giving something up to help someone else. If you are just giving something up… it's more suffering in the world, not less.

Do you want to actually help? I bet you there are activism campaigns that would love to have you, in a variety of forms and levels of commitment. Including entirely remote efforts, if you aren't in a position or location to engage in in-person efforts. That goes for any cause, not just this one.

And you'll make a lot more difference in that sphere if you prioritize your impact, instead of your devotion to the issue.

i think anyone who is genuinely worried about their mental health bc of the situation in gaza probably needs to reformat their way of thinking about it. the answer is not to take a “mental health break” where you pretend whats happening in gaza doesnt exist and stop being vocal and refuse to hear people around you who are vocal. the way to do that “mental health break” much more effectively and not selfishly would be to remove yourself from constant streams of idiotic and/or murderously evil people. stop watching tiktok debates. stop reading genocidal reddit comments and news articles from sources you KNOW want palestine dead. stop putting the focus on the murderers and keep your attention on sympathy and love for the murdered, on hope and optimism (even if naive) and activism to do your part in making things better. dont get me wrong the murderers still need to be dealt with but if you as an individual feel like you’re getting too overwhelmed with despair to be helpful, the answer is to shift your focus away from those causing the despair, not to ignore and abandon those who have to actually live through it.

[minminambus]

Runs around!!! The pharmacy!!!!

[sillimancer]

I feel like my body has given up completely

[glassballdinosaurs]

Ugh

[iscratchdoors]

i know this is the trans website and im preaching to the choir here but there is something to be said about the medical gatekeeping around transition being largely based on the idea that transitioning medically is the risky, dangerous option, while denying that transition to people actively seeking it is safe and harmless. all the medical professionals i've dealt with so far seem to understand the harm that comes to a cis person who mistakenly transitions and makes irreversible changes to their body, but the idea that that same suffering is also experienced by trans people who have not yet been allowed to transition, to a greater degree even, seems basically non existent. a cis person's ideal gendered appearance is treated as a thing inherently worth protecting and maintaining, while that of a trans person is treated as something they deliberately chose to pursue and don't actually need. the harm that comes to a trans person through putting off any sort of medical (and as a consequence, legal) transition is a thing that does not exist to these people. only the harm that comes to people who regret it is deemed worth considering. that's been my experience anyway

[britneyshakespeare]

why has working two days in a row started to do that to me again? i got out of work almost four hours ago but i cant move