site banner

Wellness Wednesday for May 27, 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).

1
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

New Year's resolution check-in:

  • Posted my twelfth blog post of the year last night, also cross-posted here in the CW thread.
  • Went to the gym three times last week. The weather's been so nice the last few days I haven't been able to summon the resolve to go any evening this week. Will have to go this evening. Can deadlift 1.84x my bodyweight for 3 reps, squat 1.22x for 8 reps and bench press .87x for 6 reps.
  • Have not consumed any pornography since waking up on January 1st.

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

  1. Work. Caved and used Claude to help me fix my code. It found the big bug in about 2 seconds, and helped me fix some other problems, although not without me having to do some trouble-shooting. I'm definitely impressed, but this thing seems to me much more like a very smart junior dev than an actual genius.
  2. Fitness: Did 2x tempo sessions last week and hit 54 miles. Also went to the gym once which was great Weight is still in the 170s and not really budging much. Planning on maintaining calories and upping the gym and mileage a bit.
  3. Intellectual Stuff: Have completely fallen off the wagon with all of this. Think this is because I'm just completely overwhelmed with work and exercise.
  4. Finances: I should be a hair under 3k this month, and that's with flights to Germany and a new Oura ring payed for. Will update with specifics next week.
  5. Dating. Second date on Friday went really well too. I ended up having sex with this girl which broke a pretty long dry spell. Have another date this weekend and excited to see where it goes.
  6. Tarot. No session this week
  7. Socializing: Artscape in Baltimore this past weekend and hike with my roommate. Again too much socialization.
  8. Screen time: 1.2 hours phone. Definitely noticing a very strong relationship between screen time and energy levels.
  9. Mental health: sleeping well and feeling good.

I ended up having sex with this girl which broke a pretty long dry spell.

My man! Where's she from?

She's Brazilian but she's also American. She also knows Italian. A very sexy combination for me

No gym, some exercise, my excuse is that I'm overworked and depressed. At least I get cardio when I catch my bus or when I run around the hospital.

ever tried the opposite? do lot of physical work and your depression may reduce or you may become too tired to be aware of your depression.

I do a lot of physical work, if running around a hospital counts. Absolutely getting my steps in. Working out at home irregularly.

But no. I just hurt and ache all over. I suspect it's somatoform and a strong indicator of depressive relapse on top of undermedication for my ADHD.

Sadly, I can tell you that being too tired doesn't hide the depression.

dunno, why it has an Elijah under the Juniper tree feeling.

The physical work I was referring was either:

  1. Heavy Kettlebell Work (it could be 16K or 20K but not above that). The simplest is goto a shop, swap your credit card, pick it and walk back to your home. start with 10 minutes (= set a timer for 10 minutes, pick it with one hand, two hands, exchange hands while moving around, and move around without putting it down till the bell rings; that's all). Just for 1 week, do it daily 10-11 minutes. Do it any time in the day or night. Hell, do it before sending the first message into TheMotte. Seven Days.

  2. Heavy Resistance Training: 70-80% of your Rmax, 10-20 reps (in whichever way) within 5 minutes each, for Squats, Benchpress, and Deadlift. If interested, add Overhead Press. The Intensity (in terms of weight, not in terms of inducing fatigue) should be high.

Walking, running in hospital, mandatory steps all are low intensity workouts <-- not what I was suggesting.

Spending is $824.69 lower compared to the same day last year.

I was able to badger a reimbursement out of my dental insurance company. I'll be counting that as negative spending once I get that to the bank.

I've been lazy this week, haven't gone to the gym once yet. Trying to hit 2x per week. Planning to go today, then try for another workout Saturday or Sunday.

Wrote a couple of random fantasy short stories, enjoying that. I just want to write more than publish, necessarily.