my favorite thing about growing up is being able to look back at old content i consumed and to be able to point at specific things and say ‘yup that’s where THAT kink came from. the signs were fucking there’
All-or-nothing thinking – Looking at things in black-or-white categories, with no middle ground (“If I fall short of perfection, I’m a total failure.”)
Overgeneralization – Generalizing from a single negative experience, expecting it to hold true forever (“I can’t do anything right.”)
The mental filter – Ignoring positive events and focusing on the negative. Noticing the one thing that went wrong, rather than all the things that went right.
Diminishing the positive – Coming up with reasons why positive events don’t count (“She said she had a good time on our date, but I think she was just being nice.”)
Jumping to conclusions – Making negative interpretations without actual evidence. You act like a mind reader (“He must think I’m pathetic”) or a fortune teller (“I’ll be stuck in this dead end job forever”)
Emotional reasoning – Believing that the way you feel reflects reality (“I feel like such a loser. I really am no good!”)
‘Shoulds’ and ‘should-nots’ – Holding yourself to a strict list of what you should and shouldn’t do, and beating yourself up if you don’t live up to your rules.
Labeling – Labeling yourself based on mistakes and perceived shortcomings (“I’m a failure; an idiot; a loser.”)
Ways to challenge negative thinking
Think outside yourself. Ask yourself if you’d say what you’re thinking about yourself to someone else. If not, stop being so hard on yourself. Think about less harsh statements that offer more realistic descriptions.
Allow yourself to be less than perfect. Many depressed people are perfectionists, holding themselves to impossibly high standards and then beating themselves up when they fail to meet them. Battle this source of self-imposed stress by challenging your negative ways of thinking
Socialize with positive people. Notice how people who always look on the bright side deal with challenges, even minor ones, like not being able to find a parking space. Then consider how you would react in the same situation. Even if you have to pretend, try to adopt their optimism and persistence in the face of difficulty.
Keep a “negative thought log”. Whenever you experience a negative thought, jot down the thought and what triggered it in a notebook. Review your log when you’re in a good mood. Consider if the negativity was truly warranted. Ask yourself if there’s another way to view the situation. For example, let’s say your boyfriend was short with you and you automatically assumed that the relationship was in trouble. It’s possible, though, he’s just having a bad day.
Nah, I never joke about Jello, Popsicles, and Soup Broth…
Indeed, I am!
I’m a disability advocate whose triggers are Jello, Popsicles, and Soup Broth.
I legit just lost a follower over this.
They must be really big fans of Jello and/or Popsicles and/or Soup Broth.
For those who have trouble detecting sarcasm - the last sentence about them being fans of said foods was sarcastic. But a few people have really unfollowed me over this.
The other three replies, including the original, are serious.
Jello, Popsicles, and Soup Broth are my legit triggers. I would never joke about that.
I know it sounds bizarre. But trust me, I’m serious.
(I’m also not a big fan of fluorescent lights.)
It should be noted that I haven’t received this many death threats since the Great Snape War of 2013.
This is by far my favorite reply:
All right, folks, take your seats, because class is now in session! Let’s have a little talk…
Yeah, yeah, I know it’s Saturday, but learning is fun.
I’ve had seven surgeries in my lifetime and will probably have many more in the future. And one such surgery, which happened about nine years ago, involved really fun (*sarcasm*) things like tubes that are shoved up your nose and end up in your stomach (I know, I didn’t think it was possible either until they did it), eight gallons of really disgusting fluid, pain, lots of pain, and the direct order that I had to evacuate every single bit of food that was inside me.
And that was before the surgery even began!
After the surgery, I had to stay in the hospital for about a month.
And I was on what’s called a clear-liquid diet.
What’s a clear-liquid diet?
For this particular hospital:
Water, Jello, Popsicles, and Soup Broth.
A meal that was delivered to my hospital room three times a day.
That’s all I was allowed to eat.
For those of you who enjoy doing math: I was in the hospital for a month, which is roughly 30 days. I had to eat this meal three times a day. That’s 90 bowls of soup broth, 90 containers of Jello, and 90 Popsicles. Ninety times I had to eat these things. In the span of a month. 90.
Which means that nine years later, I am actually physically unable to eat these three items without vomiting. It’s a sensory trigger.
So why didn’t I talk about this from the beginning instead of enduring four death-threats, six unfollows, and nineteen messages/comments (not including the death threats and the ones that just said ‘Popsicles, Jello, Soup Broth’ over and over again)?
Well, there’s two reasons.
A.) I don’t have to. People don’t ever have to explain why something is triggering to them. Once they say that it is, it should just be a given.
And
B.) The above comment is right. I am a disability advocate. And part of that advocacy includes advocating on behalf of people with triggers. And so, you’ve all been part of a social experiment for the past few hours - an experiment to see how people react when they see that someone has really bizarre triggers (out-of-context).
And I’m a bit sad to say that many of you have failed. Even other people with triggers and/or other advocates.
So listen because this is really important:
I know that triggers are a sensitive subject and I know that there are people out there who do joke about them.
But there are even more people out there who have triggers that seem really bizarre and even silly.
And you know what?
You cannot invalidate those triggers.
You cannot assume that someone is joking, you cannot assume that they’re mocking other people with triggers that are more commonplace or ‘sensible’, you cannot assume that they are anything less than genuine.
If someone tells you that they have a trigger, you need to believe them, no matter how bizarre it might seem.
Class Dismissed.
I have a similar response to chicken broth/soup, graham crackers, jello, applesauce and pudding, and a lot of my friends who have stayed in the hospital for long periods of time with massive diet restrictions have the same or at least similar triggers. A trigger isn’t always the result of abuse, it’s the result of a bad time. But even some triggers from abuse are weird too. Staplers are one for me because when I was little my abuser would threaten to staple different parts of my body. It’s really immature of people to assume that if its not a ‘normal’ trigger (wtf does that even mean??) it’s not really a trigger.
If anybody of you are triggered by anything I post or reblog PLEASE TELL ME, I will answer your asks privately and tag any post needed. And I’ll try and remember to tag any post containing such content. Also if you feel the need to, unfollow me if my content is constantly hurting you, your safety is more important than me.
The best video ever posted on the internet is the scene from american psycho where they’re comparing business cards but someone edited it so they’re comparing like ridiculous forum signatures
