u/I_need_a_therapist_1

This might sound kind dumb but I wrote this out in my notes app and needed to send it into the ether to get it off my chest.

I finally figured out the reason the idea of me being aromantic makes me so uncomfortable and have finally found a way to put it into words. If I imagine myself as a puzzle, the things that make me different (being bisexual/queer, being disabled and being overweight) feel like puzzle pieces that fit perfectly but just have a different image on them. They’re not ‘wrong’, just slightly different but still very much a part of me, and a part that fits so well and that I accept happily. However, there is a piece missing- the romance piece. I feel like my aromanticism is indicative of something being missing and I guess that is literally what being aromantic is but, in a society so obsessed with romance, that missing puzzle piece makes me feel like I’m broken or that I have committed some moral failing by missing a piece that everyone else has. I can easily deal with and accept being ‘different’ but feeling ‘broken’ is much harder for me to come to terms with because it makes me feel like I’ve done something wrong and that I won’t be accepted as a part of society by the people around me.

I’ve recently started identifying as aromantic and allosexual and explained this to my friend (in a more simple way). She proceeded to tell me that ‘biologically’ having a lot of casual sex without romance involved will, without a shadow of a doubt, lead to me becoming a psychopath. She did biology in school and it was her favourite subject and is the career she wants to pursue and is very obsessively interested in biology but I couldn’t find any research evidence to back this up. It just feels crazy to me because you wouldn’t tell an asexual all romantic person ‘if you have romance without sex you will become a psychopath’. Being in mind this friend is most likely asexual so, to me, should understand my perspective a bit more.

Just wondering if anyone with a brain AVM has tried intermittent fasting? I’ve been overweight my whole life and am thinking of intermittent fasting as a last resort. I can’t find any research to say if it is or isn’t safe for people with an AVM. For context my AVM is in my right thalamus and ruptured on 25th August 2025, causing a stroke. I know that reddit isn’t a medical source that I should trust, and I should really talk to my consultant but I haven’t got an appointment until July so was wondering if anyone has done intermittent fasting with a brain AVM and if they experienced any side effects.

I just finished watching riddles for the first time and oh my god I loved it. I’ve seen a lot of people talking about Neelix and Tuvok’s friendship but I wanted to point out, as someone that has suffered an acquired brain injury, how relatable and realistic Tuvoks experience is.

All of the emotions Tukov feels are emotions I’ve felt in recovery. The moment when he’s looking at his personel file and talk about how he can’t do the things he used to be able to is one I’ve experienced many a time. And Neelix’s reaction of “well you can learn again, just be patient” is something I’ve heard so many times. Tuvok doesn’t want to learn again, he just wants to be himself and that is something I relate to so much.

The other thing I can relate to is that I, as Tuvok didn’t to begin with, wouldn’t want to go back to ‘my old self’ if I was given the choice. I’m a very different and much better person for having had a brain injury and I wouldn’t go back, even though I want to be able to do the things I could.

I know Tuvok doesn’t necessarily have a brain injury, I just felt his experience really resonated with me and my experience going through that.