And I’m really with you on all those “wouldn’t it be awful to have (your condition)?” comments. No, really, treating my illness is a lot better than being dead. And, you know what?–I am a worthwhile, intelligent, productive member of society, not that I would be any less worthy if I were neither intelligent nor productive. I am a human being with innate worth.

Oh, and I learned that I am articulate and can express my experiences and insights in ways that benefit others.

Do you know what else I learned this week? That actually, self-pity CAN have a function. That all this “people have it so much worse than me” and “it’s not that bad really” can actually be deeply unhelpful. And that it’s okay to give yourself a break, and okay to feel sad about your circumstances, and okay to grieve the loss of the life you used to have, and it’s okay to feel a bit sorry for yourself.

Also, I hear your 4th and 5th bullet points from my mother ALL. THE. TIME. She cannot seem to understand the effect saying things like that can have on the people around her, especially her children. I may be a (mostly) full-grown adult now, and fairly comfortable with myself, but damn, did that do some damage to my self-image. And bad self-image can lead to bad decisions. I spent most of my life until recently being about 30 pounds lighter than “average” for my height, age group, etc., so when recently, I gained about 50 pounds, putting me at the top end of the range she claims is healthy (because Weight Watchers said so…don’t even get me *started*!), I started getting lectures about all sorts of things. Especially wonderful was when, on a visit, I asked if the colors in an outfit I’d put on matched, and the answer I received was that it didn’t matter because I was “too fat” to wear the outfit anyway. I wore it regardless, and it led to a fight. She also loves to pick on a friend of mine. Luckily, never to the girl’s face, but that doesn’t make it much better. My friend has a few medical conditions that don’t allow her to be any weight other than the one she is, really (and I see nothing wrong with her the way she is!), but my mother has spent a good amount of time in the four years I’ve known this girl lecturing me on how, if she ate better, she’d lose weight. It doesn’t matter if I insist that the girl eats “normal” portions, or that she’s not eating anything particularly “bad” for her, the lectures continue. I particularly hate the comment/question “How can she stand to let herself be that big?” Ugh. How can a person be so ignorant?

Um, yeah, I have a problem with remembering.

Also that hipsters are fucking douchebags. But that was a relearning.

AND THAT NO MATTER HOW GOOD YOU THINK A GROUP OF ACTIVISTY PEOPLE ARE, THEY WILL INVARIABLY FAIL YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS LIKE A HALF BRICK TO THE FACE. I might be a little bitter.

Little ones with bad decisions need to be taught a lesson. A gruesome, sexualized lesson. It doesn’t matter what their reasons behind those decisions were. They need to be taught a lesson, so they will learn not to do it ever again.