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PaperclipPerfector  16hr ago (text post)   330 thread views

Wellness Wednesday for April 15, 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:

  • Posted my ninth blog post of the year last Thursday, about the reflexive urge to assume that apparent public gaffes or mishaps were deliberately engineered as publicity stunts. Lightly edited from a comment originally posted here.
  • Went to the gym three times last week, focusing on cardio. I've realised I've been neglecting cardio for the last few months, which is having a negative impact on my energy levels, mood and waistline. For the last few weeks I've spent my lunch breaks working on my novel, but having now completed a fourth draft, I think my time might be better spent exercising. My plan is to do strength training in the gym three times a week, then run at least 5k on my lunch break, at least twice a week. Did my first 5k on Monday and felt energised in the afternoon, and my good mood carried over to the next day. Went to the gym again last night. Can deadlift 1.84x my bodyweight for 3 reps, squat 1.15x for 7 reps and bench press .87x for 6 reps.
  • Have not consumed any pornography since waking up on January 1st.

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

Met my criteria, thanks for the reminder!

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A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

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