Raising the head of my mattress ≥30° improved my sleep so much that I’ve made more life progress in the last 2 years than I have in decades.
I’ve had sleep problems my whole life (even as an infant). Did a home sleep test for obstructive sleep apnea, was negative so was sent to the in-person sleep lab. Got wires glued all over my head and did the full night + several naps the next day of testing. Nothing. No cycle dysregulation, no narcolepsy. Resigned myself to “guess I just suck at sleeping.”
A few months later I get an awful ear infection and go to an ENT. Something I mention (I forget what) leads him to check for a deviated septum (don’t have that either). BUT! He noticed acid damage in the back of my throat.
I have nighttime acid reflux that was not bad enough to notice, but just bad enough to disrupt my sleep.
Propping up my torso slightly and minor dietary changes were all it took to stop my stomach from slightly drowning me in acid every single night. FUCK I wish I had figured this out sooner.
I got a longer USB cable.
Yes! I got a 10 foot cable for when I’m on the couch.
Quitting Facebook. The decision was somewhat pushed for me after Mark banned me for “inciting hatred”, I kept sharing a gif of a nazi getting knocked out.
Blood pressure medication.
Was high for years. doctor said we should do this or you should get healthy.
I kept ‘getting healthy’ for years
walking up the steps was pain, knees where pain, i’m like jesus i’m just getting old.
new doctor: you need to stop fucking around and get the meds.
me: ok
i took the meds, 3 days in… I run up the steps like I was 20 years younger.
HOLY FUCK, why the ever-loving hell didn’t I do this before?
Eating healthier and lightly working out.
Eat less and healthier, do lots of sports -> lose weight.
At some point in university I started to eat too much and excercise way too little. There were no “real” reasons. It started somehow and I lost control. So for ~the first half of my 20s I was very overweight. To the point that I was ashamed of my body so I avoided situations in which my weight was obvious even more.
Gladly I was able to turn that around at some point and only then there where comments concerning my weight. (Some congratulatory and some concerned that I was becomming too thin now).
I’m almost 40 now and miiight do to much sports, but I think I found a healthy balance, don’t have backpain anymore and am rarely sick.
If I had found the strenght / inspiration sooner, I wouldn’t have “lost” quite as much time as I did.
A Bidet. Under $30, and makes every single day better.
Eating breakfast every day.
My eating habits were so dysfunctional that I can only describe them as a disorder. It affected all areas of my life, from sleep to energy to mood. I didn’t know the core problem was my eating habits, all of my problems just meshed together.
One evening I decided that my only goal for the next day was to eat breakfast. Not lunch, not dinner, not go to the gym, not get any work done or change the world. Just eat something when I wake up. I made a beautiful baguette stuffed with everything delicious and placed it by the bed before going to sleep, so I didn’t even have to get out of bed to achieve my goal.
Once I got my breakfast, I automatically got lunch and dinner too. Lots of other habits naturally fell into place when I wasn’t starving.
That as 15 years ago. I’ve not missed breakfast since. I’ve still got tons of issues. But this one, tiny thing, made a massive positive difference.
I manage to get a nice breakfast for like one or two weeks before i start to get lazy, then its downhill for a few months.
In my experience, it doesn’t need to be a nice breakfast. It just needs to be something.
LASIK.
I was scared of the procedure. What if it messed up and now I had permanent eye damage???
In reality, it took like 15 minutes and now I can see in the morning, ditch the whole contact lens daily ritual, and (most importantly to me) wear fun sunglasses right off the rack.
If you’re thinking about it, just do it. I wish I had done it WAY sooner.
how long has it been since you did it?
Got it done during the summer of the pandemic in 2020 - the LASIK place was offering an insane deal since their sales had dropped to like zero. Not just a crazy price but also lifetime touch-ups if the sight degraded to the point of needing it.
I can still see insanely clear and far. No need for a touch up yet and it’s been 5 years.
Only downside is that I am starting to hit the age where I need reading glasses - no surgery for that. But I love not needing distance glasses or contacts for driving.
estradiol enanthate 4mg/wk
me too girlie :3
Linux
I wouldn’t say changing to Linux changed my life so much as it preserved the life I wanted. The change was just some (thankfully) brief adjustments to get comfortable with it. Way easier than I thought it was going to be and so much of that is thanks to the gurus online leaving answers and blogs for us folks in the transition period.
The point was that I didn’t want my life changed by windows becoming worse and worse anymore. In a disposable world closing us off from each other with too much change too fast going on right now because of the heavy handed over implementation of AI hard yanking control away from user: Linux gave me an option to retain the permanence, connection and control I wanted from my experience.
Apparently windows AI update broke recently . I don’t even remember the last time I loaded windows. I think it’s been a few months. Now I don’t even want to look back. Just relieved that if something like that happened on a Linux distro, rollbacks are easier to accomplish on the user side. Already theorized, practiced and prepped my parachute for something like that. Ok maybe you’re right. It has changed me. I don’t think I would have thought and behaved like this had I stayed on windows.
Knives that don’t suck. Also getting chickens. I love them so much, great pets and they lay eggs :)
Dude chickens are the best. Some of them can be wicked smart too. I miss mine.
And I highly recommend sharpening your knives with a sharpening stone or whetstone. It makes such a huge difference to how fun it is to be in the kitchen.
To add too this, one of those rolling guys with the 15°/20° magnetic holder. I can’t recommend it enough! You might not be getting a piece of paper falling through without stopping. But I no longer have to make sure all fruits and veggies are skin side down when chopping, because I can’t tell the difference any more.
bokbok bok
Being gay³
Having boundaries
Thinking of myself as attractive
Accepting that a lot of advice is bad advice and that a lot of people are confidently incorrect AND heavily damaged
Accepting myself
Deciding to continue to actively try to be a better person
Learn about psychology
Going back to school
Stopping painting
Smiling more
Actually learning how to stretch
Getting a mini split heat pump system
I must know what being gay cubed is.
Why was painting bad for you?
Probably lead paints
I’ve been using a height adjustable standing desk for 2-3 years now. The option to switch between sitting and standing was a major improvement. It’s obviously not a replacement to active movement and I’m looking forward to get a walking pad soon. But I’m glad I even went this direction.
Cut contact with family and friends who were bad for my mental health.
