Stages Of An Eczema Flare-up:

why do i have to find an actual job instead of being the apprentice of the old witch who lives in the woods?

Aromanticism often goes hand-in-hand with:

Low self-esteem, self-loathing, and/or feelings of inferiority

Feeling lonely, isolated, or like you’re an “other”

Shame

Anxiety

Fear of abandonment, distrust of friends and family

Constant second-guessing one’s own identity

Fear of the future or an inability to imagine oneself with a “happy ending”

Disassociation in the form of feeling “unreal” or “inhuman”

This is a huge problem that can really destroy a person, and the root cause is the way our society treats relationships. But the thing is, nobody ever tries to address this problem. People outside of the aro community (which is small and disjointed as it is) don’t discuss aro issues, and don’t try to think critically about the messages they put out, and then when aros talk about how much they’re hurting, we just get told that we don’t have it as bad as other people, so we don’t have any right to complain, and our feelings aren’t real.

God knows it’s hard to heal yourself without help from others, and aros aren’t getting that help. And sure, sometimes we can talk to each other, but that can only get you so far- it’s the emotional equivalent of two people simultaneously trying to save each other from drowning. The aromantic community needs outside support, but nobody is trying to help us aside from saying that we’re Valid™ every now and then. That’s a big problem.

can you imagine how freaky shark mermaids would be like unlike sharks, shark mermaids would have actual arms/hands and could rely on touching things with their hands to see if they’re prey rather than having to bite like sharks do. like youre just swimming in the ocean and suddenly you feel a strong grip on your leg, you freak the FUCK out because uh what????? the fuck??? youre swimming alone in the ocean??

a head pops out of the water, dorsal fin pointed from its back and it just points at you and says in a low whisper: “i thought you were a seal. please dont swim alone like this, im sorry i scared you i just wanted to see what you are” and then disappears back into the depth. what the fuck.

Crowns of weary ancients

Most ironic photos

being aro (for me; i can’t speak for everyone) means i live in constant fear. it’s a lingering feeling at the back of my mind, like a monster that hides in the crevices of my mind and waits to pounce. 

because i know that one day, my friends will leave me. my friends will find significant others and start dating and will one day get engaged and then married. and then they’ll settle down and have kids and that’ll be their life. working, being parents, and being married. and what does that mean for me?

it means that i’ll be left behind and abandoned. they won’t mean to, of course, but a significant other will always be first priority. they won’t think of planning an outing with a friend when they can plan a date with whoever they’re dating. they won’t think of hanging out with their friend when they have kids to take care of. they won’t think of their friend because i will never be as important to them as they are to me. 

because to me, my friends are everything. my friends are my chosen family, the closest people in my life. there won’t be anyone more important to me than my friends because i don’t feel romantic attraction. but also, there’ll be no one to look at me and love me most of all the way i love my friends, because to everyone around me the highest form of love is romantic and my platonic love will never be enough. 

my love will never be enough for them, not for my alloromantic friends, and they will all leave. and i am helpless to do anything but wait for the inevitable.

Part of being aromantic, at least for me, is always being the third wheel. Feeling awkward and left out whenever my friends leave to go on a date or whatever and I have no one to hang out with. I'm not saying that I want to intrude on someone's date or whatever, they deserve to have time to themselves. I get that. I just wish I didn't feel so alone when everyone around me has someone special to them and I don't.

And it's not like I want to be in a partnered relationship, either. I actually feel pretty squicked about the concept of being the recipient of romantic feelings, and I feel completely neutral about having a qpr (aside from the knowledge that I don't feel any sort of attraction and don't particularly want to have to make personal decisions only with the help of someone else).

I guess it just makes me feel a little like I'm not anyone's most loved, if that makes any sense. No one loves me more than anyone else. I'm nobody's best friend, nobody's dearest individual. And partly that's freeing, because I don't have to figure anyone else into my future, but it's also sad, too, because I'm nobody's favorite and I'll always have to take a backseat to other people.

Ugh, idk. I shouldn't be complaining. I have great friends who I love dearly and who care about me. I just have to constantly be aware that I'm never going to be the first one someone thinks of when they think of home.

7 Difficult Things About Being an INFP

There are certainly many great things about being an INFP personality type. We’re highly creative individuals who inspire others. We have a rich inner world that allows us to escape the dryness of a life filled with routine and structure.

We show an amazing amount of compassion for others, despite being so different from the rest of the population. We’re deeply sensitive and caring, and the best part is that we usually don’t expect anything from anyone in return.

Yet, I feel there are a few challenges to being an INFP. Here are seven of them. INFPs, can you relate?

1. Never really being able to finish anything you start

We live in a world of endless possibilities, and we INFPs always want to explore something new. We are often good at starting something, but we are rarely able to finish as we expected — or worse, never at all.

If I were to write a list of things that I had started but left incomplete, I wonder if even that list would be completed. I have enrolled in tons of online courses over the years but I haven’t completed a single one. I barely finish any book I buy, and I don’t think I’ve ever watched a full season of any TV series.

I know our souls don’t know a thing about deadlines, but unfortunately, our bosses and professors do.

I was quite excited when I started out writing this article, but I feel really lucky to have completed it.

2. Not being assertive enough

When we’re alone, we often find ourselves playing a conversation with our best friend in our head, but when he or she shows up, we go quiet.

We have a rich inner world where we often speculate about ideal possibilities. But sometimes it acts more like a cage and prevents the words within us from finding their way out.

We are not assertive enough when it really matters, even if we were really excited and motivated going into the situation.

For example, I find it impossible to study the day before an exam even when I have not yet studied anything. I had not even started my physics project till the day before the submission deadline, but even on that day, I barely did anything. I am not much different from my peers, except that they do study the day before the exam, and they do complete the project before the deadline.

We usually procrastinate till the end, but even at the final moment, we make most of our decisions by either thinking, “Just let it go” or “Let’s see what happens.”

3. Over-planning or no planning at all

There are times when we check out every single book on a subject from the library, bookmark every single article available on the web, and watch every single video on YouTube. But we end up being confused and simply can’t figure out how to start planning our next travel adventure or writing our novel. Then we finally realize that this over-research was simply a way of procrastinating.

And there are times when we simply go with our gut feeling, with little or no planning at all. We simply move forward without caring about the details (thanks to our focus on the big picture), only to realize that we should have done a bit of research beforehand.

I wish I could be in the middle of this spectrum, but unfortunately, I often end up being on either extreme.

4. Offering compassion to people who don’t care about you

I don’t understand why I worry about inconveniencing the store clerk when he simply refuses to hear me. I don’t understand why I feel sorry for the professor who is correcting my not-so-perfect assignment who never seemed to care about my education.

I never understand why I feel guilty when I do not buy something from a salesperson (just because he used a few cute words), even though I know that it’s his job, and he just cares about his own profit.

5. Spending your energy constantly validating yourself instead of focusing on your goals

I don’t know how many I times I just keep telling myself that what I’m doing is okay, and I should not bother if someone does not like my idea. We INFPs sometimes move through a cycle of constant self-approval instead of working our way toward our goals.

For example, I want to start my own location-independent business rather than go to college. I know that in order to do that, I’ll need to develop some skills. I had this thought about four months ago, and a month later, I enrolled in college.

I have not taken any steps to start my business because I spend my time reassuring myself that I’m on the right track and I should just focus on the present. Today, I am exactly where I started. Had I focused on developing the relevant skills, I wouldn’t be enrolling for the next semester.

6. Worrying about helping others when the one who you should be helping is yourself

Even when we have no idea how we’ll pay our rent, we feel sorry for not giving money to a homeless person our own way home from being fired from our job.

I simply wish I could just let go when I come across moments when I find someone asking for help. But my highly sensitive soul simply doesn’t allow me to do so.

7. Having high standards but a low self-esteem

We think that we should be a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, but we do not want to enroll in a writing course because we feel we do not deserve that sort of luxury.

We think we should be able to code the next Facebook, but we are afraid of even trying to learn to code, because we feel we are not worth it.

We realize we need many things to achieve that “something,” but we feel unworthy of anything.

And that’s the only reason we feel like we’ve never achieved anything. Our high standards often backfire and lead us nowhere.

Despite all of theses problems, I love being an INFP. I just often find myself laughing at myself and wondering what on earth I am.

Source - Kumar Shashwat, IntrovertDear.com

That ace/aro feel when you're doing on online quiz and then inevitable Sex/Romance Question™ pops up like whelp guess i'll never know what kind of french cheese i am

I think I'll keep uploading flower pictures