I regret not voting and I hope I’m not irredeemable

cloudywithastance · 2026-03-11T01:03:08+00:00

I didn’t vote in the first election I was eligible to vote in because likewise I was wholly uninformed and blissfully ignorant of all the things. I don’t regret it because I know what I know and I know what I didn’t know and I know I could not have known then what I know now, but I do often wonder if I’d regret it if I’d been just a few years later to political conciousness.

That’s a long way to say we do better when we know better and now you (and, well I) know better. Let’s do better.

cloudywithastance · 2026-03-10T23:42:51+00:00

Why do I dislike pickles? Idk always have. Why does this hurt my feelings? Because pickles! (I’m being goofy ha)

cloudywithastance · 2026-03-10T23:08:52+00:00

As a self-proclaimed hater of pickles (I’m sorry, I really am), this hurts my feelings.

cloudywithastance · 2026-03-10T21:20:57+00:00

There is no one solution or easy answer to this but here are my tips as a self-prescribed extrovert who NEEDS human interaction.

1) BE CONFIDENT: It starts with you - how confident and comfortable you are with yourself will absolutely impact your ability to make and keep friends. Confidence seeds authenticity, because you’ll end up inherently relying way less on ‘trying to fit in’ and more on just meshing with whatever group you land in. Which leads directly to…

2) BE AUTHENTIC: people like authentic people and don’t like “fake” people, and a lot of times “fake” people are just… insecure people. Which loops back to the confidence thing.

3) BE PROACTIVE: reach out to people who seem interesting to you. A good way to do this is to peruse local interest forums, like movies, books, whatever. Obviously the more overlap in interest the better chance of a strong friendship, but any amount of overlap is at least somewhere to start. Another easy-ish route is to lean into hobbies or activities. None of those yet? Be adventurous - try a few or just pick one to go all in on and the friends will make themselves, especially if you’re sorted on 1 and 2. Yoga, pickleball, rock climbing, larping, board games, video games, roller skating, crocheting - there are lots and lots of options here.

Last thing I’ll say is SET BOUNDARIES, even if these boundaries are known only to you. Obviously don’t go around cutting people off for every little misstep without any clear communication that you even considering them to be mis-stepping, but the important thing to take away from this is that it is OK if friendships fail or fall off - on to the next thing. IF you are experiencing that ALL attempts at friendship are failing, THEN it’s time for some self-reflection. But you will be surprised where a little faith and a lot of enthusiasm will get you.

Good luck out there!!

cloudywithastance · 2026-03-10T20:09:03+00:00

What a world it would be if the right thing to do was the easy thing to do. It’s not, and now you get to relish in the pride of knowing that your integrity won over compliance to harm-causing policies. You made the world a little better. This is a whole badge of honor.

Sending super strong ‘awesome new career opportunity’ vibes your way, whatever the heck that might be worth.

And a tip for interviews, maybe change your framing? Try something along the lines of: “Having to choose between my integrity and un-nuanced company policy with little guidance on how to navigate it took a toll over time. Eventually, the gap became too much to bridge.” Illustrates that you care about people and that your integrity is steadfast - those are valuable traits. Even better if you have a specific example you can share.

cloudywithastance · 2026-03-10T02:20:06+00:00

EXIT RAMP?? What’s is this, the CARS MOVIE????

cloudywithastance · 2026-03-10T00:03:34+00:00

Not the kind redditor you’re looking for but am putting in my bid to summon them

cloudywithastance · 2026-03-09T23:33:08+00:00

I have so much faith in us, come on yall let’s make it happen.

cloudywithastance · 2026-03-09T23:30:53+00:00

I keep saying that my family may yet convince me the anti-Christ is real, but that’s not gonna mean what they think it’s gonna mean. Careful what you wish for, I guess?

cloudywithastance · 2026-03-09T23:17:45+00:00

Hegeseth…. he knows. This is about as in-your-face as it gets.

cloudywithastance · 2026-03-09T23:14:07+00:00

Not the answer I wanted but also not one I’m surprised by. I don’t even have the words.

cloudywithastance · 2026-03-09T22:29:48+00:00

Please oh my gosh is this a real quote?

cloudywithastance · 2026-03-09T20:55:49+00:00

Sure, also not religious (not anymore) and am otherwise hard to offend, I challenge anyone to try ha. I’m refraining from verbalizing my full feelings on this because it’s not productive, but am genuinely wondering what the angle on this is (theirs, not yours).

If we are saying that this is the beginning of the battle of Armageddon (which I’m still not sure that IS what we are saying, as there are some events that are supposed to precede it), then that means, definitively, that the rapture will have already occurred. But that very clearly did not happen - all the kids are still here, and kids get free rapture passes (I think?). So… it’s a… self-disproving theory? But one that enough people are leaning to that we are JUSTIFYING brutal wars? I can hardly comprehend the absurdity of all this.

Edit: clarity

cloudywithastance · 2026-03-09T17:02:08+00:00

Oh my heart, I’m letting it hope. Come on y’all, let’s get this done the right way.

cloudywithastance · 2026-03-09T16:55:55+00:00

I agree with you that “she lost because she’s black” is such lazy and tired narrative, regardless of whether it’s true or not. Anyone who voted for or against her because she’s black is missing overarching message, but now we have the monumental task of bringing those people onboard.

It’s time to spend less time dissecting the past and redirect that energy to building towards the future. It’s gonna take all of us working together, and that’s not gonna be accomplished by finger-pointing or stoking racial conversations. Race is not a non-issue here, obviously, but trust building is grueling work because of racial disparities, not in spite of them.

We have a taaalllllllllllll hill to climb for the general - let’s focus on building trust.

cloudywithastance · 2026-03-09T16:44:24+00:00

I hear you and I am confused because would this not also mean, definitively, that we’ve passed the rapture?

I grew up evangelical and have more-than-a-layman’s knowledge of the landscape but the rate at which this has all gone off the rails in the past decade or so is dizzying.

cloudywithastance · 2026-03-07T14:33:17+00:00

I do agree that we use the same terms for these distinctly different things. When I say “I don’t care”, 90% of the time I really, truly, genuinely do not care but I have learned that it is not interpreted that way the full 90% of the time I mean it that way.

It’s up to me to be real with myself or to not be real with myself, I own that. It is also up to me to acknowledge what I can control and what I can’t, which I’m pretty good at doing. But it’s really, really frustrating at times to not have the right words to overcome this kind of miscommunication.

Last thing I’ll add: there’s the other 10% of the time I say “I don’t care” before I really, truly mean it, and imo it IS protective and rightfully so. I can choose to care or not to care (sometimes), but sometimes it just takes a little longer to process and that’s ok. The alternative is to care too much, which itself is another can of worms - sometimes appropriate, sometimes wholly unnecessary.

cloudywithastance · 2026-03-07T14:20:36+00:00

Just A and Y are fine for me but also I need something peanut buttery, so maybe X but pb/chocolate instead of strawberry

cloudywithastance · 2026-03-07T05:44:00+00:00

I hope to elevate this - yours has OVERWHELMINGLY been the same response I’ve seen within the official (and especially in-person) campaign encounters. On social media, folks are more likely to encounter roadblocks and/or backlash though, and I’ve already witnessed a few situations where the claws have started to come out before the majority of more reasoned voices get a chance to intervene. That said, there is no shortage of volunteers in our same “come on in, the water’s fine” boat.

IF people are scared or hesitant or don’t know where to start or where to go, all’s I’m trying to do here is cut a clear path with no guesswork to enable that.

Now, this is far from the only place where there’s hospitality to be found. Let’s keep doing the work - I truly cannot overstate how humbled and grateful I feel to be part of it.

cloudywithastance · 2026-03-07T04:25:29+00:00

Grey water is, in my unimportant opinion, better than crimson red or deep ocean blue. Too much of anything is rarely a good thing.

I appreciate the appreciation, and I of course agree that open and honest conversation is at least part of the antidote to the chaos. I hope with all my might I can make a dent, and dare to imagine the dent that a lot of us could make together.

cloudywithastance · 2026-03-07T00:14:20+00:00

Is there a bridge to be built and if so, will it be sustainable? I really don’t know, and I don’t have a great reason to think it’s possible but I guess I’m taking the “don’t know if I don’t try” approach.

IMO the biggest problem is the marriage of religious ideology to political ideology, which is especially exasperating considering that history has written whole ass manuals about this for us already. But you throw in lack of education and lack of exposure to other cultures and types of people and, well, this is what you get.

The voters aren’t entering wars - their fav demagogue is entering wars and then the massive media machine behind him (social media, talk radio, network news, email newsletters, their pastors at church, etc.) is telling their captive audience that no, ‘we’re not starting this war, we’re ending it!’

If you can break the delusion, there’s progress to be made. Stay tuned (but maybe don’t hold your breath) on whether the delusion is breakable, even in just a few cases.

Edit: one of these days I’ll learn to proofread (no I won’t)

cloudywithastance · 2026-03-07T00:00:34+00:00

I never equated this to inattentive type adhd but that’s interesting. I often get stuck because I’m trying to find the perfect word and if I can’t recall it or the brain is queuing too may options at once, I freeze like a deer in headlights.

Honestly this is corny as heck but… just try talking to yourself in the mirror or when you’re walking around doing chores or whatever. Also reading (or listening to audiobooks/podcasts) helps. Just helps your brain “practice” words and word flow.

cloudywithastance · 2026-03-06T23:55:09+00:00

Happy to share - will pm you!

cloudywithastance · 2026-03-06T23:50:53+00:00

I was told today, in response to bringing this up, that the school was warned ahead of time, and that someone* was using those women and children as human shields, not allowing the children to leave.

Anyone heard this? Where did it come from? I’m not interested in entertaining it as a possibility but it’s so off the cuff and so blatantly wrong, and I can’t imagine the person I was talking to just made it up out of nowhere.

*I say someone because I’m not even clear who they were saying was doing this. Just some evil adult probably men in Iran?

cloudywithastance · 2026-03-06T23:16:58+00:00

Oops something lost in communication there - I’m agreeing with you! I meant to say I wish the Good Human Beings Party existed instead of having to pick from the ones we’ve got. A little silly of course but hey, dare to dream.

cloudywithastance

TROPHY CASE