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PaperclipPerfector  7hr ago (text post)   191 thread views

Wellness Wednesday for November 4, 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 resolution check-in:

  • Went to the gym three times last week. I can deadlift 1.82x my bodyweight, squat 1.33x and bench press 0.82x.
  • Have not consumed any pornography since waking up on January 1st.

How goes it @self_made_human, @thejdizzler, @birb_cromble and @ThomasdelVasto?

  1. Work: frustrating week at work because equipment keeps breaking.
  2. Fitness. Knee is still bothering me but I've started running again. Not sure if this is the greatest idea, so checking in with my PT and coach to see if it's safe to do so.
  3. Intellectual stuff. Wrote two blog posts last month, and have been continuing my study of history, although not making as much progress as I would like.
  4. Finances. Ended up spending around $3400 last month, which is pretty typical, giving me a savings rate of 13% after taxes. I apparently have been overcounting taxes significantly, so I'm really saving a lot more than this, but I'm going to keep it like it is this year to make sure I pay capital gains tax appropriately.
  5. Dating. Hung out with my girlfriend once on Thursday night and another time on halloween!
  6. Tarot. No session this week.
  7. Social: friend's halloween party.
  8. Screen time: 2.5 hours phone. Big new phone is really addicting and now I have to bring it to work so my screen time is really on the rise.
  9. Meditation: Have moved up to 15 minutes a day, sometimes twice a day. Looks like I've collectively meditated 7 times (15 minutes each) since the last update, which is huge!

Big new phone is really addicting

Sounds awful. Which awesome new phone is this? Asking for a friend.

Iphone 17e. The screen is much larger and more pleasant to look at, which means I look it at it more.

Thanks! It's always good to know which temptations I should be avoiding...

It's frustrating that apple continues to make phones bigger. I don't want to switch to an android phone because the iPhone is just such a good product, but at the same time I don't want to be spending 2-3 hours a day on this thing after spending 8 hours at work on my computer.

Big new phone is really addicting and now I have to bring it to work so my screen time is really on the rise.

In hindsight, I really appreciate my former job where I was literally not allowed to have my cell phone with me. It had its annoyances, sure, but for the most part the benefits outweighed it (especially since I had a corporate cell for any emergencies/minimal family texting).

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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."

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


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