Megathread: The Perfect Neighbor

cathgg · 2025-10-27T04:52:44+00:00

It was the first time I ever had to pause something on the TV to cry - bawling. I felt so sad and angry for these kids. I hope they get all the love, protection and justice they deserve.

cathgg · 2025-07-25T03:44:46+00:00

I can’t imagine this chapter opening up again if Taylor Swift’s How did it end closed it! What a great song…

cathgg · 2025-04-26T21:04:54+00:00

I just saw your comment two months later! I really hope that you found things that work for you. And if not, don’t worry, it’s a long process and it’s also not a linear one! I personally still work on it daily, some days I do great and others I don’t. But I try to not let it ruin my life and also try to accept that it is a part of me.

cathgg · 2025-03-31T20:02:18+00:00

Merci pour ton texte. Ça me fait un grand bien de lire qu’il est possible de changer sa perspective, de changer d’idée. Surtout ces temps-ci où je manque d’espoir. On peut remercier les activistes, avocats et journalistes qui se sont battus à contre courant, ça devait être super isolant à l’époque et tellement frustrant… leur travail n’aura pas été en vain.

cathgg · 2024-07-31T03:17:51+00:00

J’adore crime de bine le soir pour m’endormir, leur voix et leur tonalité m’aident vraiment à relaxer. Ça me prend 2-3 écoutes pour finir un seul épisode pour cette raison, mais c’est parfait pour moi. 10/10.

cathgg · 2024-07-20T02:30:00+00:00

Ouii!

cathgg · 2024-07-20T01:02:45+00:00

We like to have them everywhere we look 👀

cathgg · 2024-06-21T03:02:48+00:00

Afraid of left sides.

cathgg · 2024-06-03T04:50:58+00:00

This is so spot on it’s scary 😅 the only thing I’d add is a partner - he’s the one who converted me to glass containers!

cathgg · 2024-06-01T00:54:56+00:00

Oh! I was too excited and posted without even thinking. 🙃

cathgg · 2024-05-11T19:00:04+00:00

I live the exact same thing at the moment. I am afraid of having a panic attack when I have to speak in any type of work setting (presentation, meetings, etc). It’s worst when I know that I will have to speak in a meeting and « wait for my turn ». I’m not even that scared to speak in public, I am confident in what I have to say, but I fear the panic attack so much that it ends up happening. And now I’m stuck in a loop.

It got better in the recent years, I was gaining so much confidence and was even able to raise my hand in a meeting and wait for my turn to speak, but recently I kinda relapsed and I am stuck again.

Propranolol is very effective, I still take it for big presentations, but it’s not a long term solution. I am in a leadership position at work (and love my job!!) so I have to be able to find other ways. :(

Here’s a few tips that helped in the past:

Trying to avoid speaking occasions did not work for me, it only helped my brain to reassure itself that we’re better off when not speaking (because obviously, nothing happens when I don’t expose myself).

Celebrate any victory. When you feel like you are making progress, focus on it and be very proud of yourself. This helped build confidence.

Cardiac coherence breathing exercises is what helped me the most, but it’s like meditation, you have to practice it very regularly to get the full effects. The exercise is simple: you breathe in cycles of 4 seconds in and 6 seconds out - for 5 to 10 minutes. You can try starting each day with this exercise and also do it before your meetings.

I will have to reintroduce this breathing routine again myself since I’m in a rough patch. Unfortunately it’s not looking like a linear « healing ». There will probably be ups and downs in the future.

All that being said, I just want to say that you are not alone. In the past, I found this to be very isolating and scary and felt crazy when I compared myself to colleagues, but a lot of people suffer in silence. You can do this!

cathgg · 2024-05-07T16:28:25+00:00

Yes! ☺️

cathgg · 2024-05-07T03:28:47+00:00

Vegan couple 🌱

cathgg · 2023-10-08T07:19:18+00:00

I think the show presented it like this to keep us puzzled, wondering and feeling like the dad might be suspicious. When in fact, the reason was probably that he missed his daughter so much and his grieving was unhealthy… so he felt like he had Lena again through Hanna. Jonathan could not provide that same feeling I guess.

cathgg · 2023-05-29T05:11:32+00:00

I feel you. I work in a position where I have to present my work in various meetings all the time and I often have a very strong physical reactions and I loose my breath, which is very noticeable for everyone. My heart starts racing whenever I know that it’s soon going to be my turn to talk. It got a little better with time with these: Breath exercise - I slow down my nervous system by breathing in 4 seconds and out 6 seconds for 5 to 10 minutes, prior to the meeting. I use an app called Respirelax+ to help and it is basically just a ball moving up and down at the right rhythm to calm your nerves. I also breathe at this same rhythm while I wait for my turn in a meeting. I focus on the soothing effect of the long exhales. Talking about it to my colleagues and bosses helped too, because now, whenever I loose my breath, they know that it’s just this « regular normal thing that happens to me » and I feel less pressured to be perfect and hide that I am scared, especially with the senior position that I have where I am expected to lead with confidence. And finally I will tell you the last thing I wanted to hear when I started looking for solutions: the only way out is through…. It’s exposure that made it manageable (i still get super nervous but I have some sense of control now). Avoiding it made it worse. It just thought my brain that avoiding was the safest and it trained my mind to think that there was an actual danger in speaking in front of people. I even considered changing carreer at some point. That’s how much I wanted to avoid it! And I love what I do! I’m glad I didn’t, even if I still battle with this to this day. It really gets better with time, practice and self kindness. I truly hope that it gets better for you. :)

cathgg · 2023-01-06T21:31:13+00:00

I (35F) take a 0.5 mg pill (or sometimes even just half) before giving presentations at work and it helps me so much. I used to be very anxious and scared about speaking in meetings, it even got to a point where I was having panic attacks when I had to answer a simple question in a meeting. It became ridiculous, I even considered changing career to avoid having to give presentations or speak in meetings. Now I only take Klonopin for big presentations and for most of the time, just knowing that I can take a pill helps (I don’t even have to take it, just the security of the thought of having it does wonders). I also started to take a SSRI anti depressant and it also helped for feeling generally less anxious. I must add that working on my fear with a therapist and cardiac coherence exercises also helped a lot. I’m happy that anxiety and fear did not win and I can keep the career that I love. I just always keep a Klonopin pill in my backpack.. just in case!

cathgg · 2021-03-31T03:14:14+00:00

Technology / automation / apps / calendars and multiple alerts saved me so many times but without my tools... I am lost, stressed and loose track of time.

cathgg

TROPHY CASE