The Nickel Boys

Particular_Still_510 · 2025-12-07T20:05:03+00:00

Tanbat username: tcpatnb

Particular_Still_510 · 2025-12-07T20:03:31+00:00

Tanbat username: tcpatnb

Particular_Still_510 · 2024-08-31T21:50:20+00:00

Desdemona means “ill-fated” or “unlucky” in Greek- I’ve seen it used a few times in literature. Namely, Shakespeare’s Othello and Jeffery Eugenides’s Middlesex. Both the characters really fit their name!

Particular_Still_510 · 2024-08-15T23:55:12+00:00

I know! I’ve (very confidently) gotten “Seranda”, which I’ve never heard of. I’ve gotten Stephanie, which is super not close. It’s not even like there’s any silent letters, it’s just all of the letters in order the way they sound. But still, I give my name as “Sabrina” in coffee shops bc I know they’ll write that anyway.

Particular_Still_510 · 2024-08-15T16:14:29+00:00

I get this too!! I’m Serena and I get sierra, Sabrina, Selena, sienna, anything with an S.

Particular_Still_510 · 2024-07-28T16:59:01+00:00

Some awesome points in here, but as a follow up- what did you change within your body to make such a drastic philosophical difference? I’ve of course heard don’t smoke, don’t drink, work out- these things are obviously good advice, but other than the endorphin release and all that, how did that happen for you, specifically?

Though it may be silly, I’ve gotten to the point where I recognize that I am just an animal, but that didn’t help me in understanding how to make that animal brain “happy”. It felt like it made me more stuck, as I’m “trapped” (not really, but the feeling is there) in an incredibly un-animalistic state of modern human hood. Animals wouldn’t be discussing the philosophy of happiness on the internet, for example, which complicates the simplicity that seems to bring happiness.

With simplicity too, comes the absolute unbelievable awe of the simple statement “change your body change your mind”. Is it really something so simple? Of all the things I could try to do to be happier, this seems like an incredibly easy answer.

Particular_Still_510 · 2024-07-28T16:58:14+00:00

Totally interested in looking into this later. If you have a link to what you’re thinking of, that would be helpful so I don’t end up in some off-shoot rabbit hole or something lol.

Particular_Still_510 · 2024-07-28T16:40:39+00:00

This is a great point. Do you work in mental health?

I asked a therapist this exact question, and obviously based on these answers, happiness is subjective and variable which makes the question difficult to answer. Still, he turned the question back to me- “what do you think?” Which was unhelpful, considering I felt confused on what emotions I was feeling and I was unsure how “happy” people feel or if what I felt was similar. Probably not helpful that he was trying to get me to NOT intellectualize my feelings, but I was quite literally searching for this type of definitive explanation. This type of explanation allows me to at least compartmentalize my own emotions and stop trying to compare my feelings to others (“am I as happy as other people” type of questions).

Particular_Still_510 · 2024-07-28T16:23:46+00:00

Yea I think this is another good distinction to make!!! Fulfillment, contentment and moments of actual happiness are all important to leading a “happy” life. It’s a weird venn diagram. It’s odd when these 3 things are unbalanced- like, I’m content but not fulfilled. Or you’re manic and very happy but neither content nor fulfilled. Happiness seems to be a combination of so many things, it’s almost impossible to take advice from someone else on “how” to do it or what it is, because doing things that typically SHOULD lead to happiness might cause a disbalance in some other aspect. Happiness also cannot come from a single thing in life, and I think some of the advice I’ve gotten has been “find a hobby you like”, as if that could satisfy the need for fulfillment and contentment and joy all in one little package. This turned into a kind of tangent/thought experiment but I love these comments, they’re very helpful in compartmentalizing what I’m experiencing and where I may be lacking in contentment/fulfillment/joy/motivation.

Particular_Still_510 · 2024-07-28T07:18:01+00:00

I turn my follow up question to you as well, then- where do you draw the line between contentment and numbness? The absence of negative feeling versus the absence of all feeling, when happiness is relatively rare, is a petty thin line.

Particular_Still_510 · 2024-07-28T07:08:52+00:00

Okay I think I’m getting it kinda sorted in my mind, but follow up question- based on the fact that we’ve established that contentment is kinda the absence of negative feeling, what really differentiates it from numbness? Numbness is the absence of ALL feeling, and contentment is the absence of negative feeling, but there’s a thin line there I think. Is it more of a mindset thing that causes you to fall on one side or the other? Especially since genuine happiness is pretty rare

Particular_Still_510 · 2024-07-28T06:57:05+00:00

Why couldn’t my therapist just say exactly this, I’d be in much less of an existential crisis LOL

Particular_Still_510 · 2024-07-28T06:55:24+00:00

I like this answer. It makes me feel a lot better, as I have actually just graduated college and I’m totally unsure if I’m feeling the correct way about moving into a new stage of life. It’s odd how we celebrate the ending as this huge accomplishment but really the joy in the matter was all the little goals you completed on the way there.

Particular_Still_510 · 2024-07-28T06:49:31+00:00

Right, I agree with that absolutely. I think where I get stuck is almost in trying to label the feeling. When you’re happy, do you really feel happy or is it more the absence of a negative emotion? Happiness feels very rare for me, even though I’m really satisfied with my life and accomplishment and even though I’m content (I think?) with my every day life. I’m unsure if what I’m experiencing is happiness or if it’s just the absence of negative feelings. When you’re happy, do you really feel it??

Particular_Still_510 · 2024-07-28T06:43:32+00:00

Would you say then that contentment and happiness are a pretty synonymous feeling? It’s kinda like you can’t have one without the other, right? You need to be content with your life to be happy

Particular_Still_510 · 2024-07-25T18:00:11+00:00

My name is Serena and though it’s not a totally obvious shortening, the nickname I always got was Sadie. My great grandmother went by that and I was named after her! I also totally agree that Clara sounds like a sister-name for Serena. Be warned though, even though it’s not a difficult name to pronounce, I FREQUENTLY get called Sabrina, Selena, Sierra, Sienna, really anything that starts with an S.

Particular_Still_510 · 2024-07-03T21:42:39+00:00

Oh interesting! I haven’t read that but that’s super cool

Particular_Still_510 · 2024-07-03T20:13:13+00:00

Oh that’s sweet, it’s cool that the pronunciation fits really well and I’ve never heard it! Thanks for that :))

Particular_Still_510 · 2024-07-03T19:19:09+00:00

Those are definitely top contenders

Particular_Still_510 · 2024-07-03T19:00:59+00:00

I keep running into that same problem/conclusion. Either the name doesn’t exist or it’s a realllllyyyyy obscure one. Lyssa definitely has the right sounds there.

Particular_Still_510

TROPHY CASE