#this too will pass

[crabsnpersimmons]

"Slow down, Sunshine. You're not falling behind and you are loved for more than what you do for others."

[plumadot]

existential crisis hours kgjdfkgjf

[brunhielda]

A bit of light reading for you all-

A section from “Vigilance: The Life of William Still, Father of the Underground Railroad” by Andrew K. Diemer.

Imagine my surprise, when reading about the early life of William Still, mid 1800s USA, I come across a description of the daily lives of myself and most people I know:

Two lines in particular just slap me in the face.

1) “Though obtaining more predictable, long-term jobs remained the goal for most workers, employers often preferred the flexibility of casual labor that was contracted as needed and for as long as needed. Such economic relationships, often established orally and leaving little in the way of evidence, remain elusive for historians seeking to document them.”

Until that line I was reading about how racism made it difficult for a young black man starting out in even Philadelphia- a well known free city- to earn enough to survive.

Once I read that, I was reading the lives of every person in my generation. Like- crap. This book is published in 2022, and the author speaks as if writing about an entirely different culture and way of life.

Everyone I know in my area works seasonal work and 2-4 jobs at a time to survive. Everyone I know across the country skips from job to job looking for something that will finally pay their bills. The disparity between the rich and poor has either never changed at all or swung right back around and it gut punched me.

How will historians record our lives? How may of our jobs will they try to record before giving it up as too many to number or track down?

They call it free lance now. That doesn’t make it better.

There are other difficulties listed in this man’s life that I will never have to face because I am a white female in 2025, and I recognize that. But this? The way one survives poverty? I know this one. ☝️

2) “… there was no clear line between the work they did to make ends meet and the work they did to protect fugitives from slavery. The work of raising their own child… was not separate from their work to aid and uplift their friends and neighbors… This is not to say Still was bereft of personal ambition. He hoped to rise in the world. He hoped to provide for his family. But he always understood that his own success and failure was linked into the Black community in which he had made his home.”

That sounds like so many people I know- barely making ends meet but volunteering to help in the education of children, the uplifting of those struggling, to assist those unfairly treated by our current society.

I feel like I hear people asking how? How can I or others like me volunteer so much time to so many things when we are struggling to find work to eat?

Because if I rise but we don’t all rise just a little bit, what the hell is my survival for?! To see everyone else fall down before I die? Why would I want that??

Again, this very well educated and seemingly well rounded author- Mr. Andrew Diemer- writes in a tone as if these ideas are something of interest to view in the past. And they are. But the amount to which they exist now sucked the breathe out of me for a moment.

This is also how people living in stable, more privileged, situations view me. View the LGBTQ culture. View the disabled culture. View the immigrant culture. View anyone (most everyone) with less than them. If they have integrity and empathy, it is with a little “huh” of Suprise and a bit of awe/confusion that we would be working so hard for eachother while we continue to struggle individually.

Good.

Because, while we continue to see the prevalence of racism, classism, and all other types of discrimination, we cannot forget that the book I am reading is about a man who strived, little by little, to end legal slavery in the US.

That form of slavery did end. It is hard to hold onto that hopeful fact in the face of everything falling down on us, but it did end.

Little things matter. Striving matters. Confounding people who don’t understand community mindset matters.

The things we strive against will end too.

We will find new things to strive against, and that will hurt, but also, these things in front of us today, will end.

Because we work 4-5 jobs, and 2-3 of them are volunteering to better each other.

Keep going.

[tench]

Today is the day I look at my art and see only the mistakes I've made 🙃

[bluebellhairpin]

oh cool. what is this. haven't had one in a while. I think the worst is over but lets see if I can pull away from it a bit more.

[honeytuesday]

How to forgive ourselves for past mistakes ? :(

you're not going to get it 100% right all the time, you are human and learning how to live every single day. beating yourself up for too long just suspends you in that moment forever, so learn what you can from it and keep pushing forward. you are your first and last ally and owe yourself the same grace and understanding that comes with friendship. love you :(

[dreamingmantis]

corporate holiday late stage capitalism love core day

[patrice-bergerons]

Also please appreciate the self restraint I am showing in not flooding your dashes with broadchurch and or David Tennant posts it truly is a struggle

[whentherewerebicycles]

I feel unhinged with sadness I feel stupid and ashamed I feel hollowed out I feel like I will drown in my own snot from crying so much I feel like I am being punished I feel like I fucked up I feel I feel I feel I feel I feel I feel I feel I feel I feel I feel I feel I feel

[ominashii]

⠀

thought i got past this feeling a while ago but here we are again. at least i can draw a little this time but god is it crushing.

[favouritedave]

got harrow the ninth and also house if leaves the gay people in my phone are having a field day rn

[emperornorton47]

[thornsnvultures]

it's that time again.. when I am no longer manic and everything I write is trash. it will always be, and always has been, trash.

[tench]

I don't know what's going on this year. I am always, ALWAYS sick and it's kinda making a big fucking dent in my savings and my mental health, and my workflow.

[higgyriffs]

Okay if my shoulder is going to be acting up it's not fair for my bad elbow to start acting up to I am not even 25 yet

[antennatoheaven]