Apologies in advance for consecutively posting multiple times in a row on the same topic. I wrote one reply initially, but I think because it had multiple links it was marked as spam and I wasn't able to submit, so I'm chopping them up now and posting them piecemeal (yes, it's still a lot of links, but they are relevant to the discussion, not promotional spam)

Public vs Private support

@Aryan15 see the screenshot, I'm having the same issue chatting with you as I did with @nmg625

Go to my and/or @Taraaa-2020's profile page and click the small green + plus button next to our profile picture to follow us. Then we'll be able to talk to each other privately 👍🏼

Either that, or you can talk openly on this public post about whatever may be bothering you right now and we'll try our best to help out however we can 🤝

Whichever way you both decide to do this, know that we recognize that we're all human here and we wouldn't judge you for whatever it is that you're dealing with -- so I hope you feel comfortable sharing what may be troubling you and we'll do our best to provide adequate support for your needs.

Here's a quick YouTube video summarizing my otherwise nonsensically incoherent and overly verbose meandering rambles 😅

Also, here's a link to the essay written by J.J. Thomson in case you're interested in reading through the original source material that popularized this problem and spawned all the variations of it that you've probably familiar with (I know I heard a ton of different versions of it when I was growing up)

@Plumeria Nice!

Mind if I ask what your mother tongue is? And long have you been learning french for so far? Are you very adept at it or are you still at a novice or intermediate level?

Oh, when I wrote that earlier the site said everything you wrote had been deleted.

At first I thought your account got banned for some reason but then I realized you were still on TWS, it's just the original poem as well your first reply to my poem that were missing. So I thought rather than a site moderator perhaps it was just you who deleted all your posts.... right after I wrote my response... so.. yeah, I was worried I might have said something that upset you 😖

I'm glad you decided to put them back up though. Because if you really think what I wrote was deep, guess what, it's cuz I was inspired by the depth of your own thoughts. So thank you for the compliment, but more than that thank you for sharing.

I noticed you've posted 2 more poems since. Don't worry, I'll refrain from barging in unannounced this time around 😅 Feel free to express yourself to your heart's content. That said, I did read through both of them, and I think all 3 of your works thus far are somewhat tragically beautiful. Almost haunting in their relatability. I can't speak for everyone of course, but I think it's safe to say that many people (if not most) have dealt with similar feelings at one point in our lives. It's unfortunate to recognize that about the human condition, but it's true.

So while I'm not gonna rap battle with you again lmao I did want to offer you a listening ear if you ever wanted to chat one on one about some of this stuff that you're dealing with.

And if you'd rather not open up to some random stranger like me, or you just don't think it'll help to do so, that's perfectly fine too. In which case, I'll point out that there are various different ways to get mental health support if you ever feel you need it.

One way or the other, I hope you realize that you aren't as alone as you fear yourself to be. You don't need to struggle through all this by yourself. You share more in common with other people than there are differences that divide and separate us. Empathetic encouragement can do wonders for a hurting soul -- trust me, I speak from experience.

P.S. I'd also like to implore you to please not delete your poems moving forward. Even if you get trolls dissing you or hate comments discouraging you for it, these are healthy and valid forms of your self expression. They are invaluable and they are telling and so uniquely you. Of course, I can't stop you from deleting it all again if you ever decided to do so, but if it makes any difference, I'm encouraging you not to. Even if you decide to leave the site and not participate anymore, please leave them be. (Who knows, you might want to look back on them someday just to reflect on how far you've come since)

My $0.02 cents, for whatever it's worth ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@Lake-Bodom : sudo pacman install ram upgrade && cpu upgrade then alt+f4

Pick up a hobby that interests you. It could be musical or artistic, baking or cooking, heck it could even be practical or pragmatic pet-project like furnishing or renovating a room in your home. Even new friends or relationships can count in this category, whatever captivates you the most and makes you feel rooted in the present rather than losing yourself and drifting in the borderline meaningless work-sleep-work-sleep cycle.

Of course, all of these will require an additional investment of time and energy from you, something which sounds to be on short supply in your life. So first and foremost I'd suggest -- if it's at all possible -- adjust your working hours and try to get a healthy sleep/wake schedule going. I realize that this may not be an option for everyone, but it is definitely worth mentioning. Even if you take a bit of a paycut, having the free time and energy to enjoy your life is just as important. It's what makes the work you're doing worthwhile.

And yes, suggesting that you make sure you get the requisite X number of hours to sleep sounds silly on the surface as that cuts out even more time. But, again, if you have a regular circadian rhythm that helps you to adequately recover not just from how tired you felt the night before but also from the compounded buildup of your weekly work fatigue, swapping out the accumulated sleep deficit from daily sleep deprivation with a daily feeling of waking up refreshed and rejuvenated ready to take on the day... yeah, that alone can make one hell of a difference.

Likewise, taking on a hobby will cost you some time and energy, but it's these small pleasures and interests we indulge in that makes life feel fulfilling. Even if we're expending effort to engage in these activities, as paradoxical as this may sound, it is strangely empowering and balances out the all the other repetitiously mundane banalities of "chores" and grueling "busywork" that have the opposite effect of acting as a tax on your body and mind.

But hey, all that other work needs to be done. You need money to survive. I get it. So if adjusting your work hours or sleep schedule isn't really an option for you, at the very least I'd suggest/recommend/implore you to save up on PTO and vacation days and then splurge on yourself every 4 to 6 months if you can. It's basically a concentrated dose equivalent of the daily time-off advice I gave, you'll be able to relax, enjoy your life a little more than the daily grind allows you to, and once it's time to return to work you wont feel as worn down as you currently do.

My $00.02 cents, for whatever it's worth. I hope you find a new friend or favored pasttime you can dive into that'll keep you feeling engaged and alive enough to truly thrive in all the time in between work and sleep.

P.S. if my advice wasn't helpful, feel free to research work-life balance in your own time. There are a ton of people who are way smarter and more articulate than me who've shared insights on the subject :)

Also, random fact, I'm not necessarily opposed to biting 😁😜

Preamble / Preface

I just reset my laptop a little over a month ago. I did restore most of my essential data from an onsite backup drive + offsite cloud storage. But I didn't have the foresight to save any of my "utilities of convenience" (my .zshrc config survived intact, but aside from that, nada)

So I figured, instead of just blindly stumbling through the interwebs to re-discover all those little tools that made life easier, why not brainstorm with everyone on here? Not just for my sake, anyone can benefit from what others share here, so feel free to pop open the proverbial hood and give us a peek at what makes your machine purr.

Call to action

Feel free to share:

• MacOS Applescripts, Automator workflows, shell scripts, etc
  • Cross-platform tricks like URL-schemes and Shortcuts etc should work universally across iOS and macOS, so feel free to share those as well so that mobile users can benefit as well
• I used to use AutoHotKey scripts when I had a Windows machine to rebind my keyboard or automate various things, if anyone wants to share those. Shell scripts either specific to that platform (and especially those which can work from the command line irregardless of which OS you run it from) are also greatly appreciated!
• Android automation via Tasker is very similar in principle to Shortcuts on iOS. I'm pretty sure it predates Shortcuts too (even back before Apple bought it from the Workflow team)
• I've not delved into any Linux distros yet because it seems like a bit of a rabbit hole 😅 but I definitely do see the appeal behind FOSS philosophy, so maybe one day I'll jump ship. In the meantime, if there are any Linux users here, feel free to share your .dotfile configs too!
• Heck, why stop and operating systems? What browser are y'all using to view this post right now? Want some recommendations for chromium extensions or javascript bookmarklets or other fun convenient little utility tools to help you manage your tabs?

You get the idea. Share whatever "simple systems" you use to help make your daily use of tech that much easier.

Why?

Way too often the "apps" get too much attention and press via blogs and YouTube reviews, when "applets" contribute just as much to your experience -- we just tend to forget about them because they work SO WELL that they essentially blend into the background and we take them for granted... right up until we have to navigate tech without them lol.

I can't count the number of times I migrated to a new machine (or reset it in this last instance) and all my purchases from the App Store automatically installed again without any issue, but it inexplicably still felt cumbersome and difficult to use as various points of friction I forgot was the default behavior kept reminding me "oh yeah, I solved this particular pain-point a while back with duct-tape and zip-ties, didn't I?"

P.S. Be classy kiddos

Lets try to keep this "action-oriented" rather than focusing on the tools themselves too much.

For instance, I think that Keyboard Maestro and BetterTouchTool are absolute lifesavers on my Mac, but I'd rather not just promote them out of the gate because they're SO versatile in their functionality that it could actually be a bit daunting for a novice to figure where to even start.

So instead, I'd encourage everyone to outline a solid use-case for that tool (preferably in response to someone else's comment suggesting they need help solving problem x... but I'm not gonna police you all on that, you can post about these tool recommendations preemptively too I guess).

In the case of my preferred tools mentioned above, I might respond to someone and say "you know, you can accomplish this same thing by just pressing the shift/caps/whatever key twice or swiping from this corner on your trackpad, right? This same 7-step process you're describing, triggered by just one finger ☝️🤯"

• Clearly showing how these tools relate to resolving some conundrum helps to showcase why they're so useful.
• Simply acting like an advertisement and saying "Product XYZ is the greatest thing to happen since sliced bread! Because... reasons?!?!!!!" isn't really beneficial to anyone, you just come across as more of a tool than the tool you're trying to promote.

@snowdragon nope, just a fellow human alongside you on this globe, awkwardly stumbling my way through life, making mistakes along the way and learning from them as I try to figure out how to "adult" properly 😅

So when I see a fellow human also struggling with some of the same or similar stuff that I've also grappled with, I try to help out with some advice or insight I've gained along the way in the hopes that others find it beneficial too 👍🏼

After all, if we don't look out for each other, who will? We're all we've got 😤

P.S. if it helps, feel free to keep posting updates on here

• on how your work-life balance and self-care regimen is going,
• any fun hobbies you've picked up
• or how some side-project around the house is progressing,
• et cetera.

You know, basically anything that'll give me/us an excuse to cheer you on and keep encouraging you to become a more holistic and well-rounded individual (rather than a worn-out workaholic) 😁

But if you don't feel you need that sort of accountability partner and would prefer to just work it out solo, that's perfectly fine as well. Either way, I wish you the best of luck! （ ^-^）o🍻o（^-^ ）

This is a difficult question that I've actually been trying to come to terms with for the past 2+ months (well before I noticed this poll right not). If I had seen this poll mid 2021, maybe even Q3 of '21, I'd have easily answered with the "nonreligious (secular/agnostic/atheist) option. And that answer would've held true going back the past half a decade or more.

The problem is, that isn't really an accurate summation of my present day situation anymore. Because it's entirely possible for people to be "religious" while simultaneously identifying as "agnostic and/or apistevist and/or atheist". Case in point:

• Confucianism
• or Daoism
• the Bahaii faith
• Some sects of Buddhism as well (such as the Theravada, for instance) lack belief in any deities in the traditional Western sense (the Buddha was not a god, although stories of his life often have supernatural aspects).
• Some traditional schools of Hinduism, such as Carvaka, Mimamsa and Samkhya, are generally compatible with atheism.
• LaVeyan Satanists almost exclusively deny the existence of God, although it's a very tongue-in-cheek religion.
• Then there are the Raelians who take the Bible and the Quran and the Torah super seriously... they just attribute it all to ancient aliens rather than divine wisdom.

And so on and so forth (and there are several others besides) each of these could serve as an adequate example of a non-theistic religion.

For the sake of full transparency: I'm an unbeliever, but I recently realized that my disbelief doesn't necessarily preclude me from returning to church, i.e. I'm not a "devout Christian" so much as a "cultural Christian" who continues to attend with, participates in and contributes back to the group - but more for the pragmatic and practical mental-health benefits afforded by being an active part of the social community rather than being caught up in adhering to all the spiritual teachings and ritualistic aspects of biblical theology within christendom

(although, with that being said, I do voluntarily meet with my pastor on a weekly basis -- outside of the regular Sunday service -- wherein we engage in thought provoking dialogues that explore various concepts such as faith, belief, knowledge, truth, history, science, psychology, etc etc. I remain deconverted to this day, but they're fun convos all the same, for sure!)

Idk. This is probably a lot more in-depth answer than you bargained for lol. TL;DR version is just that, sure, I'd agree that atheism isn't a religion (any more than theism could be considered a religion by anyone). However, while the top-level category-labels of "a/theist" doesn't in and of itself entail religiosity, it doesn't necessarily preclude identification with any number of religions that could fall under those umbrella-terms either ¯_(ツ)_/¯

To make matters even more complicated, in my particular case, I didn't opt for one of those non-theistic religions I mentioned above. Rather, I've decided to become involved with a monotheistic religion -- while still very much seeing myself as an agnostic/apistevist/atheist 🤣 but that's just the background I came from so it just happened to be the most convenient choice to make ¯_( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)_/¯

Idk if I'll stick with it long-term, but for the time being, feeling a sense of belonging (with the palpably present people in the pews -- not talking about holy "ghosts" haunting my "soul" as such, nor buying into a divine "spirit" acting as an all-seeing supernatural specter per se -- just practicing being present with another person) is doing wonders for my mental-state and well-being after such a long period of social isolation.

America's Obsession With Being Productive Is Hurting Mental Health

• A simple side-effect of the pandemic?
• Or is it symptomatic of a deeper problem endemic to 21st century capitalist culture?

As someone who is in a highly competitive field + who personally happened to be a productivity nerd long before I decided to go down this career path (I can tell you how many pomodorii I allocated for TWS today vs how many of those cycles I spent on R&D. That's right, that's how geeked out I can get on the daily about efficiency and time+task management) I can definitely relate to some of the sentiments shared in this article.

That said, while this seems to be a widespread phenomenon, my experience isn't necessarily the same as yours: I'd be curious to hear others' thoughts, ideas and insights on this topic.

Those questions are open to anyone from the general TWS audience who may find this topic either timely or relevant, by all means feel free to chime in!

But I'm especially encouraging any of my fellow "productivity pr0n" enthusiasts who employ all sorts of methodologies and techniques like daily Pomodoro cycles and weekly Agile sprints or GTD project-plans for the month plus quarterly reviews etc etc in their jobs and/or life to keep themselves focused, effective and highly performant individuals:

• What's your work-life balance like? or is it actually a myth to pretend that there is any such a line of separation between the rat-race and your need or drive to hustle?
• In retrospect, has your mental-health and well-being suffered for constantly being under this state of daily+weekly+monthly+quarterly performance-pressure? Also is your sense of self-worth somehow tied to your net-worth (or some other metric of measurement indicative of how much value you output)?

Again, it's open to all, but I'm hoping to find others like me on here who perhaps owns a bunch of books dedicated to productivity and/or has a dedicated RSS feed for productivity blogs and/or has a Read It Later section tagged with productivity articles and/or has a notbook full of book and article highlights as well as personal scribbles on how to be more productive and/or listens to podcasts on productivity and/or is in a Discord or Slack community centered on productivity and/or have taken courses on productivity and/or have started their own accountability group to encourage my fellow peers and underclassmen with weekly coaching on productivity... as if I somehow knew more than them lmaoooo I'm just caught up in this craze that's it, point, blank, period.

If I'm the only freak who got this hooked on phonics productivity and all the meta-strategies one could take towards that end -- feel free to ignore those last few questions. But... I have the sneaking suspicion that some of y'all got bit by this bug too. Perhaps not as bad as me lol but I'm willing to bet that some of y'all have books/blogs/whatever on the topic bookmarked in the name of self-betterment -- when, potentially, there's an element of self-sacrifice at play here "but it's in the name of productivity and producing profits so don't question the American capitalistic worker-drone dream" ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

@DaNii CTRL C to copy CTRL V to pastejaja

Yep! Thanks for sharing @DaNii

The benefits of utilizing key-combos

This may seem like a super simple tip, but it's actualy a great place to start since

1. there are often corresponding keyboard shortcuts for

   • various actions you take,
   • buttons you click,
   • menu-items offered by apps
   • etc

   and these can often go overlooked. But learning to memorize and regularly use the keyboard shortcuts of the ~5-10 of your most used frequently used commants (e.g. cut/copy/paste actions) can drastically speed up how you operate daily.

   Sure, they may seem like incredibly small and minor points of convenience, but if it's a repeated action that you do often enough, trust me the time you save quickly starts to pile up (compared to how much time it takes you to navigate menus and sub-menus to accomplish the same thing)

2. Another reason I think this is a solid starter tip is because it literally requires 0 new software installations.

And besides, certain shortcuts like CTRL/CMD/SUPER+X for for "cutting" content to the clipboard (as well as the CTRL/CMD/SUPER+C and CTRL/CMD/SUPER+V variants mentioned above for "copying" and "pasting" respectively) are kindof universal across various OS platforms like Windows (uses CTRL) or macOS (which uses CMD) or Linux (uses the SUPER key).

So it's incredibly useful to learn some of these keyboard-combinations, especially since some of them are pretty much app/platform-agnostic.

SHIFT + combo ≈ "reverse uno"!

My addition to this discussion (besides the X variant I just mentioned above) would be to point out that... adding the SHIFT modifier key to many different shortcuts often has the "reverse" or "opposite" effect of what you just did 🤯

Go ahead, try it out. Copy some rich-text formatted content and then past it with CTR/CMD/SUPER+V into a word-processor. Now, add SHIFT when to that same "paste" keyboard shortcut. Notice how all the fancy formatting like bold and italics etc gets stripped away and a plain-text version just got pasted instead?

Now try this one. You're viewing this page on your browser, right? Hitting CTRL+T opens a new tab... but did you know that adding SHIFT (i.e. hitting CTRL+SHIFT+T) reopens your previously closed tab?

Similarly, CTRL+TAB navigates your browser tabs from left-to-right. Adding SHIFT allows you to navigate from right-to-left.

And that's just tab-switching. What about switching apps? ALT+TAB on Windows and CMD+TAB on Mac brings up a translucent HUD of all currently open applications (fun fact which may not be readily obvious right away, but they're displayed in most-recently-used order, i.e. you can quickly switch between your last 2 apps quickly by invoking this command consecutively... but I digress) and while that main trigger-key is held down, if you just tap TAB a couple of more times the selection hops to the right (same as the browser-tab traversal trick). Now, hold down SHIFT and ALT+TAB or CMD+TAB and voila, it reverses the direction of which app you've selected in the "MRU-sorted switcher"

You'd be surprised at how many different places adding this SHIFT key to a keyboard-combo you already knew does an "alternate" or "opposite" version of the action you're already familiar with. So go ahead, experiment and discover new SHIFT variations to your currently known shortcuts and add them to your arsenal 👌🏼

Discovering/learning unknown combinations

These final tips are sortof geared towards Mac users only (sorry! But if anyone knows of a Windows and Linux equivalent, by all means, feel free to share it!)

• In any given app, you can hit CMD+SHIFT+/ to invoke the last "Help" app-menu.
  • The great thing about this is the cursor is already focused on the search-box. The benefits of this is twofold.
    1. If you forgot the keyboard combo to an action you can just type the name of it (like "cut").
       When you arrow down in that fileted list now presented within the help menu, the selected item gets shown in it's corresponding menu (i.e. I hit the down arrow to select "cut" and simultaneously the "Edit" menu is shown with "Cut" highlighted there too).
       Now you're able to see the shortcut next to the command name (I'm literally doing it right now and I see Cut ⌘X when it gets highlighted. So now I now I need to hit Command plus X in order to cut content)
    2. If the command you searched for doesn't have a dedicated keyboard shortcut, you haven't wasted any time as you can just hit Return and that action will be taken.
  • So this method is a win-win, you either remind yourself of old shortcuts you've forgotten or naturally learn to pick up new ones if you happen to use the command frequently enough. And on the off chance it doesn't have a key-combo associated with it you can still invoke it without delay.
• Ah, but what if you're doing this "search" trick frequently, and you notice a pattern in how often you invoke a certain command now... but it doesn't have a pre-programmed key-combo you can learn or use - you're forced to keep typing it out or manually click on that menu item with your mouse each time?
  • Create a brand new keyboard combo for it!
    1. Launch the System Preferences app
    2. Open the Keyboard section
    3. Select App Shortcuts from the left-hand column (it's the very last entry at the bottom of the list)
    4. On the right-hand side, hit the + button.
    5. Select the application, make sure you've typed in the name of the menu-item you want to invoke correctly, and press the keys you want to use to invoke that command.
• Ah, but the above 2 tips are all well and good when I know exactly what command it is that I'm looking for / want to learn / want to create a shortcut for a particular and already well-known command... but what about the opposite approach? Not drilling down to something specific via search, but passively scanning all available shortcuts that are currently available? A sortof "cheat sheet" approach to discovering and/or learning new key-combos, if you will?
  • Download CheatSheet and then hold down the Command key for a few seconds, a literal cheat sheet will be displayed showing any/every available shortcut.
  • I personally prefer to use a much more powerful and customizable variant called KeyCue but CheatSheet.app is free so I'd recommend starting with that first.
    • Just invoked KeyCue and took a screenshot to show you what shortcuts are available to me.
      • The reason certain commands are in yellow is because I was holding down CMD+SHIFT in order to take this screenshot and so KeyCue was visually highlighting them to distinguish the next potential keypress from the rest. If I hit CMD+CTRL or just CMD etc, a different set of commands would be highlighted.
      • The if you mouse over the "legend" at the very bottom it actually turns into a text field which functions pretty much identically to the "Help" search box (albiet, the filtering is done via visually using highlights while dimming other commands)
      • It's theme-able, unlike CheatSheet. etc etc, many other bells and whistles besides. You can read all about it on their site.

So there you go, 3 new ways to discover and learn new commands and associated keyboard shortcuts on the Mac:

You can use CMD+SHIFT+/ to invoke the Help menu and drill down to what you want to use within the app-wide menu items.

If any of those results don't have a key combo already you can just hit enter, or if you find yourself doing that frequently enough then just create a new user-configurable key-combo in System Preferences > Keyboard > App Shortcuts > +

Finally, utilizing 3rd-party tools like CheatSheet.app or KeyCue.app, you can get a visual overview of all possible shortcut offerings to scan through rather than having to remember what keyword or phrase to type in search each time

#CoolStoryBro but it's still unsolicited spam

If you just created a dedicated topic and shared the info+link... why do you feel the need to copy/paste it on another topic? just cuz you spotted it got some renewed visibility from a brand new reply?? It's sus af.

Someone call Dunkin'Donuts and get this man a job on the marketing team, cuz seeing the light glisten off this PRISTINELY PERFECT doughnut amid a shower of sprinkles instantly made my mouth water. If that doesn't count as successful advertisement, idk what does... this is borderline #FoodPorn :face_with_tears_of_joy:

@alan2let you literally JUST created a dedicated topic and posted this 4 minutes ago on Get paid directly to your btc wallet address and cash app get tf outta here with your crypto pyramid scheme spam my guy 🙄

@Dirty-Dimond someone on here called me a cynic the other day lol so just to be crystal clear, that gif was just posted as a joke.

That said, I do think it's true enough, because we tend to overly romanticize the idea of "love at first sight" when whatever role it is that your hormonal drives, your aesthetic preferences, etc play in that initial impression you get from a prospective partner - it doesn't last forever, it's just that, an impression (a momentary, skin-deep and superficial impression at that).

But can that first impression give you an intuition as to whether you'd like to pursue him or her? Sure.

• And if you do decide to go in that direction,
  • can we not also consider all of the time you invest and energies you expend for the sake of that relationship to be a form of love too?
• Does "fall in love" refer to a singular momentous event?
  • Or are you continually falling as you gain a deeper understanding of that person, both their virtues and their vices, their flaws and their graces?
• Are not the actions that you take to make him or her
  • cry with laughter,
  • or feel comforted when they cry,
  • to be a calming touchstone of stability when they lose composure in anger or frustration,
  • to be source of encouragement and inspiration for them to strive and thrive in life,
• also expressions of love?
  • Is love not an ongoing process, a verb you continue to engage in inasmuch as it started out as a noun you felt some type of way about when you first saw them?

And, quite frankly, part of that "deeper understanding" and "love in action" also entails sometimes letting go of that person.

• Again, the idea of "together forever" is often romanticized,
  • but what if after years together this person is no longer happy (whatever the reason may be)?
  • Even a bird in a cage gilded with gold will eventually become a bird without song.
• So do you cling onto them with a deathgrip for fear of losing that noun which you love?
  • Or can we consider it a form of love if, for the sake of their well-being, you let them feel free enough to explore and express their lovesong once more... as they fly out of sight and sound from you?
• And, in the absence of him/her, is this sudden aching pain of overwhelming loneliness welling up deep inside your chest cavity as your heart gets stuck in your throat and a sinking pit forms in your stomach... is that not symptomatic of that same love too?
  • The noun you loved is no longer here, so you can't express verbs of love any longer and all the time and energy doing so seems wasted and for naught.
    • What you're left feeling isn't a new emotion like hate or rage. Perhaps despair or anguish, but seated in and borne out of lost love.
  • And it's not just an emotional feeling, you bodily react from time to time.
    • fluctuating imbalances in your brain
    • Tears.
    • Shortness of breath.
    • Hyperventilation.
    • Cold sweats.
    • Visible shakes.
    • Bodily convulsions as you curl up and cry once you're out of sight from judging eyes.
  • I mean... this is nothing short of psychological and physiological withdrawal symptoms,
    • very much akin to what we see when someone tries to wean themselves off of an addictive substance like heroin.

And yet, all of this is part and parcel of the package called love that many of us come to process at various points in our lives.

• So... is it a noun?
  • Or is it a verb?
• Is it a "on sight" person+place event?
  • Or an ongoing process of understanding in action?
• Is love nothing but pure joy, elation and ecstasy?
  • Or can those ecstatic expressions of physical and emotional intimacy somehow give way to the anguish of heartbreak?

The answer is "all of the above." Love is a fantastically frustrating and frustratingly fantastic phenomenon. The quirks and curious idiosyncrasies of their love for you and your love for them will make you both smile and laugh yourselves to tears. But your love will also eventually, inevitably, invariably lead to tears driven by your heart aching and breaking in painful longing for each other and loneliness when without one another.

TL;DR - love is a brilliantly chaotic and chaotically brilliant hot mess

Once upon a time, long long ago, in a land far far away, there was a protagonist. S/he was adjective and liked to verb. But then one day... an antagonist appeared! The plot points progresses, as does each characters' development since they act as a foil to each other. Suddenly -- one could even say in a suspenseful and dramatic reveal -- a plot twist occurred! The protagonist is perturbed and starts to question their identity, the meaning of life, their place in the cosmos, etc. Cue the inspirational speech from random side character. Followed by a musical training montage. No more identity crisis! Final battle sequence against the antagonist. HUGELY expensive CGI special effects. The antagonist is defeated (possibly even killed, though there is enough room for ambiguity and interpretation in case the studio execs decide it's worth bringing them back for the sequel) but s/he violently vows vengeance before their screen time is up. No more special FX since we blew through our entire story budget for that final showdown. So we rush to wrap this up in a nice and neat bow with a not at all realistic happily ever after ending. Roll credits. The End.

Since you didn't know what #2 was referring to, here's a clip explaining the holy war you've apparently not yet taken a side in :P

Oh, and this next clip doesn't really relate to any of my questions, nor your answers, I just saw it in the related videos listed to the side on Youtube and I think it's a hilarious scene (from the same show) so I thought I'd share it with you too 🤣 Enjoy! 😁

If you're i interested in all of the calculations that go into the "Middle-Out" T2O threshold = DxMJT/4 (where MJT = D arranged in a T2T configuration, sorted by girth+D2F ratio) formula, here are a couple of stillframe screenshots of the whiteboard. You're welcome! 😤