The duality of "If you even imply that being aro or ace condemns someone to a sad and lonely life I will fucking fight you"

and

"being aro and ace is the most isolating thing I will ever experience"

i think the tags are important

Busy with school so heres a little treat for everyone - another student but better, cuz she's a pony

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Bug lady

Social anxiety can often lead to you reading too much into every little thing that people do when they’re talking to you. Remembering this doesn’t necessarily make your tendency to exaggerate everything in your head go away but it does show you that that’s what you’re doing and knowing that you don’t have an accurate read on the situation because of your disorder is useful information for you. Because your brain’s tendency is to make things seem more dangerous than they actually are.

Also good to remember:

• Humans in casual conversation aren’t actors in a play. Their neutral/default expression doesn’t mean anything. Anything at all. Even fully neurotypical people don’t laugh at jokes they find funny sometimes.
• People “staring” at you when you’re talking are paying attention to you because you’re talking. They’re being polite and showing that they’re listening to you. People are taught that eye contact is important in a lot of western cultures. They’re making eye contact.
• People are generally bad at reading subtle body language. This includes you.
• You have just as much of a responsibility to reach out to other people as they do to you. If both of you are too anxious to put together a hangout then your friendship will go nowhere. Sometimes you need to be the one to take initiative.
• Sometimes people actually will be too busy to hang out. This doesn’t mean they hate you. This means they are busy. Try again next week. It’s terrifying, but it’s necessary. Someone in the friendship needs to be persistent. Sometimes you will be that person in the friendship and sometimes you won’t.
• Assuming that everyone is lying to you about how much they like you isn’t helpful and it’s mean to the people around you to assume that they’re liars. You’re not a bad person for assuming this though. There’s things in your life that led you to having social anxiety. Genetics, bad childhood experiences, abusive relationships, whatever your cause is. You often can’t control how your brain reacts to these things. But when you recognize that assuming everyone secretly hates you is a bit mean to them that helps you make decisions going forward and see the situation more accurately. Actions are more important than thoughts. Your involuntary mean thoughts say nothing about your morality.

Your goal doesn’t have to be to get rid of your social anxiety disorder btw. For some people that’s possible. For some of us it’s not. However, you can train yourself to not let it harm your social life as much and make it a bit less extreme. Sometimes taking meds also doesn’t hurt if you need them.

Getting rid of your disorder isn’t always an attainable goal but you can learn to work with it. Does it feel like you’ll have social anxiety forever? You know what? Maybe you will. But this isn’t a death sentence.

If you fully accept that this is how my brain works, now let’s find some work-arounds to make my life and relationships better anyways, your social life can improve. It’s hard. It takes time. But you can do it. And self-awareness isn’t the full solution but it is a very good first step. I believe in you. Honestly. You can figure it out in time. You’re a smart cookie.

These are all really good points, thank you for typing them all out. One of the ways my social anxiety likes to manifest that you didn't address is a constant fear that I could hurt/offend/anger the people around me. Do you have any helpful framings for combating that kind of anxiety?

Do your best and if someone points out what you did wrong, apologize and try to not do it again. If they don’t tell you or challenge you on it that’s partially their fault. You can’t predict every possible internal problem someone has or every blind spot you have. Everyone says something stupid on accident sometimes. If you and those around you are open to being wrong and allowing people to be wrong and improve you should be fine. If they expect you to read their mind and know what their specific hang ups are that’s their problem.

It’s difficult to internalize this. Social anxiety can come from a place of wanting everyone to like you, but not everyone is going to like you. You aren’t going to be the magical one person in history that everyone likes. And that’s okay. Because nobody is.

Again, I know. I know that’s a hard pill to swallow. Social interaction involves some degree of trial and error though. And if you’re so scared of offending people that you never speak then you won’t have anyone to offend and that can get kinda lonely.

The secret is that everyone who seems good at social interaction makes mistakes all the time. They’ve just figured out how to brush it off and move on. Other people don’t know some magical formula from birth that you don’t know. The only way to learn is to get out there and try. And that’s scary, but take it slow and let yourself talk a bit. You have just as much of a right to talk as anyone else and if you mess up you’re not some uniquely horrible person. You’re just a person. And persons make mistakes.

Carol Cho (Coco Pommel)

My take on Coco Pommel for the 1920s AU!

As a Korean-American immigrant and designer fresh out of university, Carol works tirelessly as an apprentice for the fashion house, Polomare, in hopes of joining the prestigious fashion scene of New York City. Unfortunately, due to Polomare’s unsavory business model of imitating the more innovative houses of Europe, she finds herself unfulfilled and desperate for new opportunities.

It's Coco!

theres something so cool about seeing yourself in media. i dont get to experience it often but. it’s a nice feeling

butch princess peach (+daisy)

I drew an official poster for the legendary wild west story, The ballad of Smokin' Joe for the one and only Tom Cardy!
You can get it! For real! Put it on your wall! Right here!

Smokin' Joe posters are open for limited pre-orders again!

i was asked how you do this. this is how you do this. you can get the textures and defect brushes here, they're on sale!

studies are “fun”