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Posts
17
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606
Joined
12 mo. ago

  • Disclaimer: I'm midway through my coffee, so I apologise if this ends up meandering toward a point.

    First off, I'm sorry you're going through depression, it's draining and it sure seems to have done a number on you.

    Secondly, yeah, it's a pretty bad sign... But it's a bad sign which can serve as a wake-up call, depending on how you look at it and how you choose to react.

    I can understand how frustrated and spent one can feel while going through it. It drains not only social batteries, but emotional ones as well, making it really easy to lash out at others out of pain. Your example seems to fit. But there are other ways to go about it. I know it's hard to make an extra push when all you seem to be doing is pushing that boulder uphill all day long, but you have to realise that, unless your friends are toxic and abusive (which they don't seem to be from what you've offered) thus basically one of the reasons which keep you stuck in depression, they're not to blame for it (and if they are, you should be reconsidering your friendship with them in the first place).

    As such, it's unfair to react aggressively toward them for trying to socialise with you. They're just trying to do what friends do, to connect and be with you. In this case specifically, it sounds to me that you had an expectation about how your friends should approach these attempts at interacting with you, but you've not said anything about communicating it to your friends before reacting to a perceived disrespect of said expectation. What your friend did is a pretty natural and normal reaction when faced with random hostility from others. They are not obligated to just sit there and take it because you're friends, it's quite the opposite of what a friendship is supposed to be.

    So, now it's up to you to choose how to deal with it. If you'd want to try to salvage the friendship and maintain it from now on, my advice for this would be really taking some time for yourself for a week or two, disconnect from socials and try to do some digging around how you're feeling and why, to put things in perspective for yourself. And keep it contained, give yourself a set deadline, because isolation and depression are best friends...

    Before that, though, I'd recommend writing out a short and sincere apology letter to the one who blocked you. If you have no way of otherwise reaching out to her digitally, make it a physical letter and actually deliver it. Tell her how you've been feeling - be honest and open about it, really - and inform her of your planning to take some time for yourself and be specific about the amount. Even if you'll end up needing more time for yourself, it's better to communicate an extension than to leave it vague from the start.

    The most important aspect of the above is not expecting a reconciliation. Apologise for the sake of it if you do feel inclined to apologise, but your friend is now fully within her right to decide for herself whether or not she wants to give you a second chance. And regardless of what happens with this friendship, try to keep in mind what I said about people not being to blame for how depression makes us feel, and I mean with everyone. Again, if they're toxic, the priority should be establishing boundaries and increasing the distance between you, but that's a different situation.

    Also, always keep in mind that human beings absolutely suck at mind reading, so you'll need to communicate expectations from the start. You really don't need to feel bad about setting expectations, because relationships are a two-player game at a minimum and the other person can always choose their own reaction. But it's important that you contextualise yourself for them, tell them what works and what doesn't work for you, what you need and don't need, the works. And it's 100% ok if you need some space, or some time to yourself, or you're not in the mood to chat right then and there, or you have other things going, but it's essential that you communicate that. The only type of bad texter is the texter who doesn't communicate their pattern (or lack thereof). A short "can't talk now, will drop a line when able" is more than enough to call a break.

    As a side note, the other end isn't much better in terms of maintaining relationships, and I'm referring to the vanishing act. That's the one I used to pull back in my early twenties when dragging myself through depression, I'd just vanish off social media and would not respond to anyone for months. They even used to joke that they were placing bets on whether or not I was still alive "this time," which is just as cruel a thing to do to people who are invested in your wellbeing...

    You messed up. And it's ok that you did, seriously. It's how we calibrate ourselves to the world around us. The important thing is what we learn from messing up and how we apply the lesson moving forward.

    I genuinely hope you'll be able to find some inner peace and clarity! And don't hesitate to ask strangers for their perspective, seriously. If you're not clear about an aspect of what you're going through, drop a post on one of the mental health boards, or relationship advice communities. And try to be honest about it with yourself first and foremost, give yourself some grace and compassion. Human life is a collective learning experience, literally not a single person who has ever lived on this planet has ever had it all figured out.

    Just don't, y'know... like, doxx yourself, or something:)) And try to take everything with a grain of salt, actually think about how much sense one piece of advice makes when taken in the context of who you know yourself to be.

  • Some things off the top of my head would be the more dance-y contemporary side of Synthwave - something like Occams Laser - With You, or maybe more toward the Electronica side of things, like Birdy Nam Nam - Defiant Order. Daft Punk also work as a sort of Euro Disco kinda' distant cousin, too. At least these are the more upbeat proxies I know.

    There's always Darkwave (The Neon Droid - Braindance), but it's like going from mild Indie to Nu Metal, so YMMV.

    As a side note and potential rabbit hole, the first thing which popped into my head when skimming through that playlist was The Birthday Massacre - Science. I don't think they fall under Synthwave, but I find they do a wonderful job at incorporating the "synth" part into their unique voice!

    Edit: oh and give The Octopus Project a try! The Mythical E.L.C., for instance. Bit different, but very peppy and fun!

  • These are a lot of assumptions about a person you don't know.

    As a counterexample, if there were any other substance which could replace vodka and coffee liqueur in their entirety while not containing alcohol, I'd drink Virgin White Russians all day long. Same goes for Jäger. And I have already tried some non-alcoholic gins and they entirely miss the pungency, which is the very element which confers alcohol its unique taste.

    No, I genuinely do not like alcohol for its effects. It is not my jam. If I want to enjoy both the buzz and safe dips into my dark place, I smoke a doobie.

    As for your argument about music, I think this is the wrong point of comparison. If you're referring to a strictly emotional reaction, taste has that covered all on its own.

  • All due respect, I cannot speak for your situation, but neither does your situation for everyone else who likes to sip alcohol.

    I cannot stand the taste of cinnamon or licorice, but I don't believe addiction is required to be able to enjoy them.

  • This sounds like it starts from the assumption that it can only be consumed for the effect, not the taste.

    I drink once, maybe twice every year, and never more than 2-3 drinks. And I specifically either sip a finger of Jägermeister, a White Russian, or expensive gin tonics (Scapegrace is brilliantly rich and nuanced, for instance), because I enjoy the taste.

    What I do not enjoy is getting drunk. Not only because the following two days are worse than death, but especially because I don't like how my body slips out of my control and how it encourages my mind to drift toward the dark place.

  • Permanently Deleted

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  • Funny and sad at the same time, to be honest... That douche busted up a lot of awesome communities with wonderful people, and he's on the right track to ruin things completely...

  • From what I've managed to find, they seem to be on the same wavelength, yes! There is a lot of melancholy and nostalgia in "mi-e dor de tine," it's an ardent longing to interact with that person, or to simply have their presence around again. And it's not just related to people, it's used whenever referring to someone or something which generated profound satisfaction in us, like food, activities, music, etc. And I've noticed that few people use it outside of its intended emotional context (like "awesome" became a generalised superlative for "good" when it initially meant "awe-inspiring").

    As for the number of speakers, I didn't manage to find a lot of concrete or up-to-date information (although I am researching this halfway through my morning coffee, so I may have missed something), but Wikipedia (with this article from 2013 being cited as a source) states that about a quarter to a third of all Romanians spoke English a decade ago.

    Anecdotally, I'd say that number has remained relatively unchanged, as while more people have been exposed to English in one way or another, we've also seen a significant uptick in emigration during the same period. Plus we've started dubbing a lot of cartoons in Romanian, which I suspect has contributed to fewer children picking it up early on.

    As an addition to my initial comment, in which I focused specifically on people who have Romanian as their primary language, we also have significant portions of the population who speak Hungarian, Ukrainian and Roma as their primary languages, accounting for about 9% of the population (again, the numbers are taken from the sources listed above, so I take them with a grain of salt in terms of absolute accuracy).