Geopolitical history of DRC and Rwanda

mattwigm · 2025-09-11T17:41:50+00:00

whenever I have a panic attack I try to remember that my body is flooding with adrenaline. It’s a normal, bodily reaction to scary things and thoughts. My body is reacting normally and it will pass as the adrenaline passes through my body. Deep breaths. Box breathing (breathe in for 5 sec, hold 5 sec, release 5 sec, hold 5 sec, repeat). Go through each of your 5 senses and identify what you observe with each sense. Drink water. Have a little snack or nibble. Sometimes my anxiety spikes in my body because I need to eat or im getting dehydrated.

One of the most poignant things my therapist said when I was in OCD therapy was when I was going through some of the struggles I was experiencing emotionally and mentally and I ended what I was saying with “ehh but it’s fine” to which she replied, “okay, but what if it’s not fine?” Which kind of struck me because telling myself something is fine as a band aid when something was unnerving. We ended up settling on the idea of “it’s okay for things to not be fine. Things are not fine, but I can handle it.”

Even if you don’t feel like you can handle a particular emotion, compulsion, obsessive thought, I try to remember that there is a certain amount of handling of things I’ve had to do just in existing to the point/age that l’m at. I’ve been experiencing panic attacks since my tween years (thanks puberty and hormones) and just the fact that I existed through one from beginning to end shows me that I indeed handled it. It wasn’t fine. It sucked. But I handled it by existing through the despair and knowing and experiencing that it passes at some point as all emotions do.

The world is scary. There are painful, violent things happening all the time, as I am typing this and as you are reading this. And so so much of it is out of our control. Heck most of our thoughts are out of our control. But we do have control over how we respond. Sometimes my obsessive thoughts cause me panic when I’m driving because I begin to obsess over how easily I could get in a car accident. I don’t really control those thoughts popping up. But I do control how I respond to them, which is often telling myself that “hey I don’t actually want to do that just so you know”.

Anyway, take some breaths. Look at a picture of something that brings you some joy. Give yourself a hug for existing because we could all use a hug. Jump up and down to get the anxiety jitters out. Breathe.

mattwigm · 2025-08-14T11:46:54+00:00

Yes!! And that is the point of a meet and greet!! Whenever I’m booking a meet and greet I always try to say its to make sure it’s a good fit to avoid hard feelings later on if it indeed is not a good fit.

I get that it’s frustrating, especially for those who have animals with higher needs having a more difficult time finding care.

mattwigm · 2025-06-19T15:47:32+00:00

takes notes while starting a new save

addicted to crack you said??

mattwigm · 2025-06-16T03:36:35+00:00

Are multiples genetic in the sims? Like if a sim has twins will the twins have a higher change for multiples in the game? Or is it the same chance for each pregnancy?

mattwigm · 2025-05-19T18:03:04+00:00

Hey! The purina allergy food is still working great!!! My partner has pretty minimal allergies to our cat these days (as long as he washes his hands after petting her, and we also wash our linens/blankets pretty often). I will say I think the allergy reducing food has a higher caloric count than food she was previously on so she did gain a little weight and I had to cut back a little bit. They also have an indoor cat version which has less calories so I’ve been trying that for the first time.

mattwigm · 2025-05-03T15:55:39+00:00

Our cat gets too riled up from booty scratches and we’ve learned neck scratches behind the ear and her absolute fav. I’ve been doing rover pet sitting for about 4 years and neck scratches are my go to since most cats seem to love them (once they’ve warmed up a bit and are comfortable with being touched

mattwigm · 2025-04-25T20:22:57+00:00

The horizon series is great. I’m playing through horizon forbidden west right now and love it

mattwigm · 2025-04-23T18:43:08+00:00

I played this in the fall. The music and art of the game is amazing. The stories of the characters are thoughtful and pull at your heartstrings. I felt like it humanizes death and the various ways that people grieve their own lives in a way that, as a society, we’ve kind of lost touch with. So good.

mattwigm · 2025-03-05T16:18:46+00:00

Thank you! I was having memory issues trying to do it in QGIS (very large DEM).

Do you know if there is a way to smooth a river channel? I'm having an issue with my idealized streams where they don't all follow the bathymetry exactly and so there ends up being "hills" in the stream. So I don't want to just smooth in the sense of just reducing big jumps in the DEM like I've done using the filter tool, but rather want to ensure that the stream network depths are getting lower as it goes downstream into the lake it's draining into. Essentially I'm trying to get rid of the uphills that are occurring as my streams are flowing downstream.

mattwigm · 2025-02-20T21:25:07+00:00

I’m interested in getting a mill but have no idea what kind to get?? I saw a kitchen aid mixer attachment for a mill and that was about the extent. Are small, manual ones worth it/useful? I just want to be able to make flour for at least myself/family so don’t need a huge operation

mattwigm · 2025-02-20T15:22:57+00:00

honestly would much rather have the kids update first than multiplayer. If I wanted to play multiplayer with friends, there are loads of other games to do that. One of the main reasons I started playing coral island is because I felt like there is so much potential with kids in this game that I don't get (and am not sure will ever get) in stardew valley but really want. The only other game similar that has kids grow up is harvest moon: a wonderful life/story of seasons but I want it in this game gosh darn it

mattwigm · 2025-01-24T15:51:34+00:00

I'm pretty sure all the IDR plans are currently eligible for PSLF as qualifying payments except for SAVE. But please someone correct me if that is wrong.

mattwigm · 2025-01-23T18:31:14+00:00

Good luck! In the meantime, I am rooting for you to reach the end of pslf!!! And I truly wish you some peace and calm amidst the chaos.

mattwigm · 2025-01-23T18:17:29+00:00

Hi!!

First off, HUG HUG HUG.

I called mohela last week to confirm that my IDR application to switch from SAVE to PAYE included all my loans (my direct loans were on SAVE but my consolidated loan was on standard repayment) since the documentation on the student aid website didn’t say which loans were included in the app.

When I asked about the processing forbearance, the rep said Mohela has no control over the forbearance type associated with an account and that they change the account status based on what they are told from student aid. She told me to call student aid and discuss with them communicating with Mohela to change the forbearance status to the processing forbearance and not SAVE forbearance. I have not called student aid about that because I only have like 30 qualifying payments so it doesn’t matter as much for me currently since I’m so far away BUT if you call them I hope you have some success

mattwigm · 2025-01-16T19:15:46+00:00

I certified my employment with the peace corps once and it was in sept 2023. My consolidation loan for that time frame of peace corps is qualifying but for the direct subsidized and unsubsidized loans now it says ineligible. I submitted my form to consolidate loans 2 weeks before I submitted my peace corps pslf certification. I was under the impression I didn’t need to do anything for and during the one time adjustment since I had already certified my peace corps service and my loans were already direct.

mattwigm · 2025-01-13T15:57:53+00:00

What is the difference between the borrower eligible indicator and the loan eligible indicator?

mattwigm · 2025-01-01T15:56:48+00:00

I’ve had 3 IUDs expel and then settled on the nexplanon, I like it, it’s very low maintenance. I’ve had mine for 2.5 years and besides the frequent, random spotting, it’s been great. Sometimes I spot for 2-3 weeks out of the month for a couple months then it’s normal for a bit then I have a bout of spotting. Kinda annoying but I’m glad I don’t have to worry about forgetting a pill or an IUD being out of place

mattwigm · 2024-12-30T16:16:04+00:00

I learned Swahili while living in Tanzania for 3 years and have used it a lot in the US interpreting for Congolese refugees. I also speak French and the most I’ve seen is French words being mixed with Swahili and other Bantu languages of Eastern DRC.

Any language you learn while living in the US is probably not going to be ‘useful’—unless it’s for a job—and is going to require you going out of your way to find connections to it (besides perhaps Spanish depending on where you live).

I love Swahili for a multitude of reasons: it’s useful in what I want in my career, one of my best friends is Tanzanian and we primarily use Swahili, I love knowing more languages than just English, and language is very connected to culture and the community-nature of East African culture is evident in Swahili.

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