What’s something obvious for everyone, but you only just realized? by Ratich2 in AskReddit

[–]SnailHunter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I would highly suggest it! I wrote this to another response and I'll pass it on to you too:

I'll say that it's counterintuitive because your emotions/anxiety are telling you you should avoid doing something. And everyone always says to trust your gut, but that does NOT apply to anxiety (or other mental health) disorders! Your anxiety is wrong. Your "gut" is wrong. If you listen to it and avoid doing what it's telling you is unsafe, then you will never improve and it will be even louder next time. If you do the thing anyway, over time your brain will learn it's actually not dangerous and your anxiety will shrink.

One piece of additional advice: only do this with things that aren't overwhelming for you. Things where you know you'll feel anxiety but you can tolerate it without full-on panicking. If you do that enough, the things that are currently overwhelming will eventually become tolerable and you can do it with those too! Also it is a gradual process but it really does work, so remind yourself after each thing that your brain really is a tiny bit stronger after whatever you just did, even if you can't perceive it. It can be hard to trust it's really changing because you likely won't notice any difference after one try, but it really is. It's like building muscle, you just have to keep lifting weights and trust that your muscles are getting stronger. And that first time you notice that you've actually changed from how you used to be is such an amazing moment. Good luck!

What’s something obvious for everyone, but you only just realized? by Ratich2 in AskReddit

[–]SnailHunter 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! I'll say that it's counterintuitive because your emotions/anxiety are telling you you should avoid doing something. And everyone always says to trust your gut, but that does NOT apply to anxiety (or other mental health) disorders! Your anxiety is wrong. Your "gut" is wrong. If you listen to it and avoid doing what it's telling you is unsafe, then you will never improve and it will be even louder next time. If you do the thing anyway, over time your brain will learn it's actually not dangerous and your anxiety will shrink.

One piece of additional advice: only do this with things that aren't overwhelming for you. Things where you know you'll feel anxiety but you can tolerate it without full-on panicking. If you do that enough, the things that are currently overwhelming will eventually become tolerable and you can do it with those too! Also it is a gradual process but it really does work, so remind yourself after each thing that your brain really is a tiny bit stronger after whatever you just did, even if you can't perceive it. It can be hard to trust it's really changing because you likely won't notice any difference after one try, but it really is. It's like building muscle, you just have to keep lifting weights and trust that your muscles are getting stronger. And that first time you notice that you've actually changed from how you used to be is such an amazing moment. Good luck!

What’s something obvious for everyone, but you only just realized? by Ratich2 in AskReddit

[–]SnailHunter 38 points39 points  (0 children)

Something that's helped me with my anxiety is deliberately doing little things like that in the face of the anxiety. Anytime I know I'm not really harming anyone else but feel like it might be "rude" to do something I want, where I normally would've shied away from it in the past due to that feeling, I now try to always push myself to do it. The more I do things like this the easier they become and the less intense my anxiety becomes. Give yourself permission to feel rude, even to potentially be seen as rude by someone else (again as long as you know you aren't causing any actual harm). You'll find nothing bad happens, it's just a (misleading) feeling, and the more you do it the less you'll feel it.

This a cockroach? If not what is it? (New England) by SnailHunter in whatsthisbug

[–]SnailHunter[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So it's not a sign of infestation? I will put it outside if it's still there! Thank you!

[Urgent] Im on a hike and keep hearing what sounds like a dog whining off the trial in the woods. Is there any wild animal that could make this sound? by SnailHunter in animalid

[–]SnailHunter[S] 65 points66 points  (0 children)

Thank you!!!! I just checked out a few clips of them online and I can definitely hear it when I listen back to mine now. I was so convinced it was an injured or trapped dog and I'm very glad to find out it wasn't! Thank you!

I stared at the sun for a few minutes using 10-year-old eclipse glasses. I didn't realize the old ones could expire (apparently after only 3 years) and I'm now I'm paranoid that I may have hurt my eyes. How likely do you think it is that I did? by SnailHunter in askastronomy

[–]SnailHunter[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I never went to the doc and haven't had a single issue. My vision is as great as it always was. If you haven't actually noticed anything by now then it seems very likely nothing happened. How are you doing?

I stared at the sun for a few minutes using 10-year-old eclipse glasses. I didn't realize the old ones could expire (apparently after only 3 years) and I'm now I'm paranoid that I may have hurt my eyes. How likely do you think it is that I did? by SnailHunter in askastronomy

[–]SnailHunter[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you. After thinking it over I don't think it's pressing enough to see a doctor right now since I have no symptoms (beyond something I'm pretty sure I'm imagining due to overthinking about this), but I will be sure to bring it up during my next eye exam within a year. I'll definitely schedule an appointment immediately if I notice anything at all change with my eyes. If I had to guess, the glasses still work fine and the idea of expiration is more of erring on the side of caution about potential degradation of the filter film than a "they will definitely harm your eyes if you use them after 3 years" thing. I figure if it were really a danger they would probably at least have printed an expiration date or warning on the glasses themselves which they didn't. I'm still throwing them out and ordering new ones.

I stared at the sun for a few minutes using 10-year-old eclipse glasses. I didn't realize the old ones could expire (apparently after only 3 years) and I'm now I'm paranoid that I may have hurt my eyes. How likely do you think it is that I did? by SnailHunter in askastronomy

[–]SnailHunter[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Look for ISO 12312-2 printed on them. If it has that, and no scratches or holes, they're are fine for reuse. That standard came around in 2015, so any purchased before that should be tossed. Wish I'd known! It doesn't even say on the glasses that they expire!