site banner
PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   938 thread views

Wellness Wednesday for October 21, 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).

2
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

My personal magnetism and general vibes went way up recently. The amount of people approaching and talking to me in public has went up from basically zero to multiple per day. I'm getting a lot of compliments on my clothes, haircut, and dancing, but those haven't changed at all. I got a first date off a spontaneous interaction, first one in a while. (Didn't go anywhere though).

Internally, I feel a lot more Aware and clear headed. Going to briefly list out interventions I've been doing that I think have contributed. Hopefully this helps any lurkers that feel unpleasantly stuck in their head.

  • No recreational/performance enhancing drugs (20 days). Benefits appeared around day 5.
  • 2 drink max limit on social drinking.
  • Only focus on one thing at a time. No glancing at phone while watching TV. No listening to music while reading news.
  • Consistent sleep schedule. (Feel more tired on net, objectively getting more done)
  • 5htp daily, once in morning once at night.
  • Reading print novels. Whenever possible I try to sit in the sun while reading. Massive same day brain fog reduction.
  • Up class my youtube consumption. Anything that feels trashy or brainrotty I skip. I'm mostly watching animated films and lectures now.
  • Replace doomscrolling with watching anime/playing story based games.
  • Accept all social invitations by default. Host more social stuff at my house. Makes it feel less like a depression chamber and more of a home base.

Other effects/benefits

  • Much higher extroversion. Much higher social battery. I had people over at my house every day for six days straight before I needed a break.
  • General improved cognition. Improved coding/problem solving ability. Improved reading speed.
  • Becoming wittier and funnier. Faster at wordplay and quicker to catch things.
  • Lower neuroticism. Bad shit happens, I don't get as shook.
  • Posting more to social media
  • Much stronger preference for fruit and hot meals? Idk why but that's happening.

Any other medications you're taking other than the 5-hydroxytryptophan?

Not really. I have about 200 mg of caffeine a day, either as a single energy drink or some coffee.

What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.


Why are you called The Motte?

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."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats