Baby steps self care post

October 1, 2015 9:16 PM

This post on the Blue is pretty cool, but I'm frustrated as my amygdala (I call her Queen) isn't liking the restrictiveness of having to go through steps in the order set by someone else. Also, she's messing up my prefrontal cortex something shocking, the bitch. So does anyone have the steps in a static format, even if it's text based? On another day, I'd be able to work out how to do it, but right now, not so much. Thanks so much.
posted by b33j to MetaFilter-Related at 9:16 PM (9 comments total)

Maybe you could ask in Ask Metafilter. I bet you'd get a heap of responses. Much more than here. Take care.
posted by unliteral at 10:23 PM on October 1, 2015

It looks like most or possibly all of the content is available in the page source in an element called tw-storydata just inside the body tag. Check your memail for something that might be readable enough.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 10:29 PM on October 1, 2015 [5 favorites]

It's actually pretty much in plain text when you view source on the page. Once you get past some gibberish code, the questions are just there in the file. I'll memail you the text I copied. You could pretty easily clean it up by deleting the text that is surrounded by angle brackets <>, but there isn't a lot of that and you might just be able to ignore it.
posted by donnagirl at 10:30 PM on October 1, 2015 [3 favorites]

And preview might have been helpful, I see.
posted by donnagirl at 10:31 PM on October 1, 2015 [2 favorites]

Oh you're awesome, you guys. Thank you so much! xxxx
posted by b33j at 12:31 AM on October 2, 2015

A similar thing in blog form came across my social media a while ago, and I found it really helpful: Everything Is Awful and I'm Not Okay: questions to ask before giving up. I think the steps are a bit different, but it's the same idea.

And that same blog post is available as a one page PDF [Google Drive link], which I keep meaning to print out and stash in my desk somewhere.
posted by the turtle's teeth at 5:48 AM on October 2, 2015 [18 favorites]

Yep, a few of us have that "Everything is Awful" print out at our desks here at work. The first item is "are you hydrated?" and I swear 90% of the time that's as far as I get.
posted by tofu_crouton at 6:24 AM on October 2, 2015

Yeah, I have depression issues, and I know this stuff. I know what will pull me out of it or at least make it manageable). But I can't do it without a checklist.

Good sleep (probably the most important for me), exercise, doing something productive, eating, doing something creative, doing something recreational, doing anything, etc. These are the things that make me be able to go. It's hard.

So I first came across the idea of a list when some mefite posted a list of the things that made things better for them, and I looked at the list and thought, "Man, that's my list too." So I created my own (or modified a cribbed version). Then I came across the blog post the turtle's teeth linked above and it motivated me to continue some of the changes I was already making (my Apple Watch has helped with a lot of these).

Anyway, having a codified list of things I need to do to stay mentally healthy is nice. It's still hard, and sometimes I get frustrated at the amount of effort it takes to feel normal, but that beats feeling like crap and exerting the same level of effort to appear normal.
posted by cjorgensen at 7:08 AM on October 2, 2015 [2 favorites]

b33j, I had missed the post and am so glad you made this meta pointing it out. Thank you.
posted by zarq at 9:34 AM on October 2, 2015 [3 favorites]