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PaperclipPerfector  2mo ago (text post)   1120 thread views

Wellness Wednesday for March 25, 2026

The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:

  • Requests for advice and / or encouragement. On basically any topic and for any scale of problem.

  • Updates to let us know how you are doing. This provides valuable feedback on past advice / encouragement and will hopefully make people feel a little more motivated to follow through. If you want to be reminded to post your update, see the post titled 'update reminders', below.

  • Advice. This can be in response to a request for advice or just something that you think could be generally useful for many people here.

  • Encouragement. Probably best directed at specific users, but if you feel like just encouraging people in general I don't think anyone is going to object. I don't think I really need to say this, but just to be clear; encouragement should have a generally positive tone and not shame people (if people feel that shame might be an effective tool for motivating people, please discuss this so we can form a group consensus on how to use it rather than just trying it).

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New year's resolutions check-in:

  • To make up for only going to the gym twice the week before, I went to the gym four times last week. Can deadlift 1.8x my bodyweight for 3 reps, squat 1.05x for 6 reps and bench press .85x for 6 reps.
  • Have not consumed any pornography since waking up on January 1st.
  • Have completed the SQL course.

How goes it, @thejdizzler, @birb_cromble, @falling-star and @Tollund_Man4?

  1. Work: Had a mild freakout at work when my (published) software wasn't working. Part of it was a quick bug fix, part of it was the user not exploring the parameter space correctly. Worked a bit extra today and fixed it. Planning on getting some Claude Code help with cleaning up the GUI (back button, fixing weird window pop up, etc.) by the end of this week. Other than that experiments are going to plan!

  2. Fitness: 11 hours last week again. Amazing workout this morning: 2 x 20 min at 5:55 and then 5:37 pace. Feeling on track to run sub 2:35 at Boston. Annoyed at the Baltimore youth for stealing my nice UA jacket.

  3. Intellectual Stuff: Very happy with Marx blog post. Wrapping up the last half of Toll's final Pacific War book, and then really trying to finish my Italian book. Spanish surprisingly has not suffered from my lack of practice, and I still speak fine during my weekly lesson.

  4. Finances: Expenses are no longer so low this month because I went to a jazz show when my friend was in town and booked a flight to Florida to see my other friend. Parent's transfer kicked off successfully, and will gradually be liquidating the assets over the next few years until I need to buy a house. Now that it's spring I'm realizing how little I actually need a car, so that may not be happening after all.

  5. Dating: Still seeing the same girl, but I'm no longer very enthused about it. She's began to come off as very childish/delusional which I don't want to deal with long term.

  6. Tarot: Good session last night

  7. Socializing: My friend Simon was here this weekend and we had a great time biking around Baltimore and hanging out.

  8. Screen time: 1.2 hours.

  9. Mental health: have been very anxious for some reason waking up. Would like to get to the bottom of this.

Mental health: have been very anxious for some reason waking up. Would like to get to the bottom of this.

Are you in any medications? I had amoxicillin clavulanate give me raging anxiety attacks for a few weeks every morning at around 5:30 am.

Medication free!

Alcohol: a bit better, I had a look at my budgeting app and despite all the free beers you get working in restaurants the cost over 3 months gave me more motivation to cut down.

Gaming: I've barely thought about it for at least a week.

Nicotine: the snus pouches are being banned in France in a few days and tobacco shops are running out of stock. It'll be a sharp withdrawal but the nanny state will do my work for me soon.

Overall I'm getting much better sleep, which was the overall goal in the first place. I have a questionably reliable guy promising me a job next month which would finally involve me not finishing work at 2am.

I'm sure I've asked you this before – are you a chef?

Yeah, I kind of ended up being one after moving to France but now it has gotten interesting and I wouldn't mind getting better at it.

Good job on the alcohol. I know how hard it can be. Not paying for it is a good way to limit yourself, when you can't commit to pure sobriety (me). I'll still buy drinks when I'm out, but I don't pay for alcohol to keep at home anymore.

Thanks. I never had a habit of drinking at my place, my main problem is always being around bars due to work and the ease at which you can end up going for a pint to celebrate a difficult shift/a birthday/a friend visiting/another birthday/someone quitting work etc. All these once in a while events can add up to a lot.

Can I recruit myself into your accountability scheme? I want to commit to going to the gym at least once a week, unless I have a very good excuse (exam pressures, sick etc).

I think someone asking me would help, but I would also be willing to ban myself for a week per infraction to make it sting (I'm too cheap to put money on the table).

Noted, I'll ping you going forward.

Thanks!

Spending is $2,272.27 less than the same time last year. I had a pipe develop a pinhole leak, so an unexpected plumbing bill slowed my progress down a bit. Tomorrow is the expensive dental appointment.

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