Sleep tight. Don't let the bedbugs bite. And if they do? Bite them back!

I've read about a variation of this and do it faithfully! Except you have to be driving under an overpass with train tracks, and there has to be a (preferably moving) train on the tracks above you. The idea is that when you press your hand to the car's ceiling, you get to send a wish to hitch a ride on the train going by above you. The moving train takes your wish along with it, giving it quicker travels, more exposure to the world, and thus more opportunities to be fulfilled.

"Cis lesbian" here. I guess. It sounds weird to say, even though "cis" has been around for some 20 years. I came out 40+ years ago. It wasn't a thing when I came out, let alone trans, enbie, etc.

I get SO mad when I hear about any people hating on anyone for their sexuality or gender identity. Have we learned nothing from closets, AIDs, the Stonewall Rebellion, conversion therapy, witch hunts, mass shootings? WE were the Martians, the aliens, to be exterminated or at best hidden 40 years ago. I hear that feeling loud and clear, and I do not forget. Apparently, the haters have repressed our history.

I love you. Just as you are. And I will be first in line to point out the utter hypocrisy of any group with a history like ours that so much as raises an eyebrow at you.

None of us is free unless all of us are free. Anyone who says otherwise is deluded into thinking that they are safe, now that the line has shifted and "gay" is tolerated, if not completely accepted. We all need each other. Now, more than ever.

Hold your head up, brother. I got your back.

Saw your previous post in this community.. I hear you. I've been learning and practicing (by no means yet mastering) being gentle with myself, setting small goals and appreciating small achievements. Like, if you can't get up and run around the block, can you get up, take a shower, get dressed... and then go back to bed? Sometimes doing that one step today can allow you to do the next thing, tomorrow.

From my grandmother: "Essen! Essen!" (Eat! Eat!) Followed quickly by "You need to lose weight! You're getting fat!"

There's a saying in the caregiving community, those of us keeping loved ones with dementia and various disabilities afloat, alive and (hopefully) thriving.

Don't set yourself on fire to keep your loved one warm.

Meaning, if you don't take care of yourself, you cannot help others. You could set yourself on fire, but the flames go out quickly, and then you're a crispy, crunchy mess—and both of you are far worse off than when you started.

Put your own oxygen mask on first, before trying to help others.

And… sometimes that means saying "no." Which is hard, but necessary.

Retired college professor here. I can't address everything you've written, although my heart goes out to you.

I did want to point out that you say you've worked with college mental health counsellors and found little help.

Please know that college counsellors are not set up to address long-term, deep issues. They are very effective working with exam anxiety, roommate spats, grief and coming-of-age emotions. However, as powerful as many of these may feel to the people experiencing them, they are often fairly short-term issues when addressed well and quickly.

In other words, I'm suggesting that you see your experiences with college counsellors as being like a visit to a corner convenience store. You can get a soda, chips, maybe a hot dog. A good place for such items fast, a good stop-gap for you.

But for more substantial fare that will last you a while and keep you healthy, you'll want to visit a large supermarket with more options. A long-term therapy commitment is designed for ongoing health and nourishment, and can offer you deeper resources.

Just about 10 years on Reddit. My visits to Reddit dropped by 99.9%; still do a few check-ins with support communities I've used. Here on Lemmy, actively contributing and minor role as mod in a couple of communities. Building a new home in the stars.

Sigh. I hear this very deeply. I’m pushing 70; both parents died a few years back.

First, as you likely know, you’ve opened the door, but it’s up to her to walk through it. It may take more time leaving the door open; it may never happen. “It’s not you, it’s her.”

You mention sexual abuse in her past. I’ve lived with that with my current partner for many years. It’s always been a 600-lb gorilla nobody wants to talk about, because what is there to say? I know it can distort relationships in odd ways.

My mother and I also had teen angst issues. And she had other forms of trauma in her youth which informed our issues as mother & daughter. After years very low contact, she broached the issue when I was in my 50s, and she was mid-80s. But she did so in a place or at a time where honest, open discussion was impossible—in a very public venue, or at a time when we needed to leave for another obligation. So she both wanted to get it off her chest, and really didn’t want a discussion she couldn’t control completely.

By that point, I realized she’d done her best as a mother, and it wouldn’t benefit either of us to have her Go to Glory feeling like she’d screwed me up. She had—but there was no way to fix or repair the damage, nothing to be gained by rehashing shoulda, coulda, woulda. And she had done the best with the resources she had. So I said “okay.” And let it go.

Language, other than one's native tongue.

It was a rather discordant experience reading this article after reading OP's other post on LGBTQ+ people and depression. (No shade on OP; both articles provide useful insights, and are worth a read. Thank you!)

The representations of "boys" and "girls" in this article are configured as strongly gender-conforming, cis and hetero in terms of their "typical" responses. That's not a bad thing, but it is very limited.

People who are non-binary, transgender, or even gay/lesbian with some gender non-conforming personality components are likely to present with differing constellations of presenting symptoms, and thus to be overlooked.

That we've been to the moon and back, and that they can casually toss into their pockets a device with enough "thinking" power to do the necessary math for the task and then some.

And that we still can't make nylon stockings that don't "run," but that nobody cares because we don't wear them anymore.

That, and transgender is normal.