You can reset your voicemail, which on some carriers will result in callers getting the, "This voicemail box has not been set up yet," outgoing message (which will not let them leave a message). From the quick search I did, it looks like it's a pretty carrier-specific process, though, so you'll need to search " reset voicemail" to get anywhere.
Does your carrier's online account management allow you to block numbers yourself? That will prevent them from leaving voicemails. If they don't let you do it yourself online, you'll probably have to call, and regardless, there might be a charge per number - the last time I looked into it, it was $10 to block a number for my Verizon account.
I'm 41, so a lot of my age-peers are running up against the cumulative effect of decades of neglecting their bodies and starting to curse the aging process, but I'm secretly kinda loving it. I made a conscious choice to be more active in my 30s, and now I'm in the best shape of my life.
I have much less energy and so many fewer fucks to give, and this means I've had to learn to be strategic and learn when to cut out things - including relationships - that aren't edifying.
I'm a traditionally cute petite cis woman, and I had fantasized my whole life about shaving my blonde curls off and freeing myself from those golden chains, so I finally buzzed it this spring, and it looks great. And I am in stealth mode all the time now!! Nobody ever recognizes me until they see me with my husband, it's hilarious and awesome every time.
I know myself and my own capabilities better, so I am better about not getting myself in over my head, and I'm more able to ignore skeptics and naysayers. Most of the time, I no longer feel the need to be overly polite and accommodating to their desire to give me unsolicited advice, which is awesome.
I am having a tremendous amount of fun getting old, and I think you will too! I love your attitude. ✊
It sounds like you've never had the experience of being the woman used as a lesson, and I'm really glad for you. I'm sorry you think my lived experience is weird! Blessed be.
This is kinda my take, too; after reading OP's post, I was left wondering how much time they spend on here and what they're doing outside it.
I know everyone's ability and opportunity to be engaged with the world is different, so I hope this doesn't come off as a "touch grass" kinda thing, that's not how I mean it at all. For people with difficulties communicating or mobility issues, sometimes being online is the best way to engage with the world, and I totally get that. However, I think it's unwise to put all of our social eggs in one basket; we need multiple platforms for communicating and outlets for expression and connection. What ways are you connecting with people outside Lemmy?
When I'm feeling sad and disconnected, I like to work against it by sowing the kindness and understanding I would like to be reaping. This is pretty common advice - it's not unusual for someone going through a rough patch to be told to try volunteering for something they care about - and for me, it is almost always Super Effective.
So, maybe posting on a social media board could be fulfilling, if gone into with the attitude of finding a way to contribute instead of trying to find what is needed.
Idk, maybe that doesn't make sense, I'm not fully caffeinated yet and out of medication and I know I'm not totally with it. But hopefully I'm getting the gist across: posting/commenting would ideally not be your primary (or only) way of connecting with others, posting is usually not satisfying, but empathetic/meaningful commenting can be, and if there's not already a meaningful reply to something, try making one and see how it feels. It might feel better than you expected to be that first meaningful comment even if nobody ever replies; sometimes heartfelt expression can be its own reward.
I would be delighted to wear a Beehaw shirt out and about, and I'd love a Beehaw sticker for my laptop. I am happy to contribute labor to making these things happen - please let me know if I can assist in any way. My design skills are mediocre, but I am capable of taking an existing thing and turning it into a format that works for various applications, and I'm familiar with setting up basic online storefronts for print-on-demand etc.
Can I ask what is perhaps a very silly question - why are you advocating for cute cat gifs as thanks on BEEhaw, shouldn't it be adorable bee gifs? We contribute, and the little bee gathers up pollen and then poots a happy little glitter confetti pollen fart or something? Idk.
I'm allergic as fuck to bees and wasps, I had a bad wasp encounter last year that has left me with PTSD regarding everybody who goes BUZZ BUZZ, I vastly prefer cats and dogs as animals to share space with - but this is Beehaw, it just seems totally wrong for any official anything to not involve bees.
makes this feel more like an actual community or a co-op.
🥰 TOTALLY, and it makes me feel very good about my recurring donation - the people running the server care, I care, pretty much everybody interacting here really, truly cares about the community, I genuinely love supporting that. This is a beautiful place on the internet.
novelty comment bots don't bother me much either as long as they're not drowning out actual conversation
Same - honestly, I generally find them legitimately amusing! - but I worry that most Lemmy instances are too young/inactive for this kind of bot yet. I don't think we're past the tipping point where the people commenting will automatically outweigh the bots, and I don't think those bots are fun unless they're dramatically outweighed by normal human interaction. It's not novel if that's all the comment thread ever is, you know what I mean? And novelty is the true spark of humor imho; things usually have to be at least a little surprising to be actually funny.
The grammar bots were so annoying! I love good grammar as much as anyone, but really, what help are we actually adding to the world with the they're/their/there bots, the your/you're bots, the payed/paid bots, etc. I really can't imagine those changed anyone's behavior or spelling.
Maybe there could be a community on Beehaw where people could post about their bots and associated commands, so we could learn how they could be called into threads where they would be helpful?
people who bag groceries that aren't cashiers also clean messes, gather shopping carts, face aisles etc,
I misread this at first as referring to the customers who bag their own groceries, and I was surprised that there were so many other people like me that are happy to bag their own groceries and will also pick up trash on their way into/out of/through the store and tidy up the cart situation when stashing theirs that it is noticed as a trend by employees and also that the others are tidying the shelves too...?!?! And then it sunk in that you're talking about the "cart pusher" job title, not my fellow Tidiness Fairy customers 😂🤦
It says a lot about your character that your reaction to your own hardship is that you want to work to make sure other people are protected from it. We're lucky to have you in the world and on this instance. Thanks for being you.
Am I the only person who keeps meeting medical professionals and support staff who don't realize that insurance is unhelpful in some situations? The only insurance with premiums my family can afford has deductibles and co-pays/etc so high that we only ever paid premiums when we had it, we literally never once were able to also afford to go get care. Once the mandate dropped and we didn't have to pay premiums anymore, we could use that money to self-pay our appointments.
Sure, yes, if I get cancer or my husband is hit by a truck, we are fucked. But also, if we go bankrupt paying for insurance we can't afford to use, I'm gonna be pretty fucked for that cancer anyway because I can't afford the co-pays etc. Idk what part of "I can't afford to pay premiums and co-pays until I potentially reach a $1.5k out of pocket maximum," is so hard to understand.
I helped host a local protest to raise awareness about Single-Payer (anybody else remember SPAN, the Single-Payer Action Network?) back in 2004, and holy fucking shit that was almost 20 years ago.
Omg!! 😍 They're like a sunrise on clouds!! Incredible!
I don't need anymore roses in my garden, but also - I kinda need this rose in my garden.