Amamsa

For a long time I was very "iffy" about my diagnosis because "how can I be hypomanic if I'm not feeling happy" was an all too common question

Maybe, as a crooked comparison, it's a bit like drinking way too much coffee; you feel energetic, but maybe also jittery, and happiness doesn't really have anything to do with it.

As for antidepressants; after decades of two kinds of severe depressions, i learned to meditate and haven't been depressed in over a decade. It changed the way i view the world in a fundamental way and i learned to not focus on the depressed feelings (focusing on them would make it more intense). So, i don't use any medication for it anymore.

Thanks for your kind words and have a great day

Hi, it was a long time ago, but i did a search for you and found an article. Unfortunately, it's in dutch, but maybe you can translate it. I'm sorry, this topic is not my expertise, but i did find it quite interesting. And a bit disheartening, because this info is crucial for people who plant forests, but not for the casual gardener.

As far as looking for resources, that's a very kind offer, but my garden is filled to the brim! It's not big, but very wild and i tried to plant some native shrubs that i felt were most beneficial for both insects and birds. (And since literally all birds skip the paved gardens in our neighborhood and flock to our garden to sing, to feed, to mate, to rest and to breed, i would say that we are doing something right :-)

I hope they'll figure out what it is. Often, like yours, it can be a very long journey, like with a virus for instance.

What i learned is to divide chores into small pieces. And when i have a busy day, i try to plan a number of days of being able to take it easy, physically.

And if people don't get it, the spoon theory can be helpful to explain to others.

Yes, i was not trying to say that hypomania is fun for everyone, but thankfully for me, it was a pleasant surprise, though it took a bit of digging to find out what was happening and where it came from.

Apologies, i completely forgot to check my inbox! I'm not in the US and we don't have a lot of nurseries around and nothing that focuses on native, organic plants, or caring about genetics. I was aware of the genetical issues, since i follow some nature blogs that focus on the things happening in our country, for instance the problems with importing tree seeds that seem native, but genetically they are not really, which - or so i heard - is also a problem for our insects.

Thank you for your reply and have a great weekend

Years ago, i got off anti depression meds within two months (only later heard that it's better to taper down over a year). One of the symptoms i got was hypomania; it was awesome! For a week i had energy like never before and after a day of cleaning i caught myself looking around and trying to find something left to clean.

Kicking those meds was a nightmare, but honestly, that week of hypomania was the greatest i ever felt. Mentally i was fine, nothing weird, but just this boundless energy. While usually, since i have a genetic bodily disorder, i often feel tired and if i do too much, i can't do much for a week after.

A couple of years ago i started to read about the destructive nature of invasive plant-and animal species and decided to exclusively focus on planting native plants only, both in our little pond and in our garden. Unfortunately, garden centers sell a lot of invasive species, i don't think there is any regulation (just yet) and most people who work there probably don't even know anything about this

What I don't understand is why governments don't try to fund open source software.

Honestly, i think a lot of politicians are actually too old to understand even the slightest thing about cybersecurity and safety on the internet. Looking at my age group and certainly above that age, they often don't even know the difference between windows and a browser!

Why didn't i think of this, thank you! Both channels are great.

Yes, definitely. It's not only more people, but marketing tactics have grown terrifyingly fast and vicious. It's hard to fight when you know there are tons of people who are getting paid for thinking the entire day of how to boost sales.

Last week i heard someone tell me that they made 25% profit, but the CEO started firing people because they had aimed for some ridiculous number; 75% or so.

I definitely think that the emphasis should be on the industry and making laws. However, the industry should get signals from us that there is a market for change, i think. I don't think we are completely powerless; we might feel alone in doing little things, but there are many people who also feel alone and powerless, but together they do make an impact.

That's why i never have been hesitant to send mails or ask for certain things. For instance, i asked a franchise local supermarket to sell certain vegan products and they listened.

And i know there are vegan facebook groups (i don't use it, but some friends and family do) which group together to mail stores, or push for change in whatever way they can. Also, i donate to certain organizations who fight for change, for instance they successfully lobbied in europe to allow vegan burgers to be called that, despite strong push back from the meat industry to stop them calling vegan food 'burgers', 'milk', etc I also am a member of a political party that advocates strongly for all the changes that are dear to my heart and thankfully, they are steadily gaining support in my country.

I'm not in the US and i don't think we have that here, unfortunately.

I am learning to sew and should i embark on starting to sew some pants, they will have pockets, big enough to carry my phone without risking it falling out.

Oh, and i haven't mentioned it but i'm also interested in repairing my clothing as much as possible. Particularly visible mending has my interest. There was a lively subreddit, but i don't think we have such a community yet, though there is a sewing/repair community

Europe will soon decide whether to ban or to allow roundup (glyphosate-based herbicide) for 15 more years. I fear that this will indeed happen, despite many groups (for instance parkinson patients) fighting to ban it.