u/Witty_Surprise2366

Hi all! My partner & I head off for Ptown in two weeks, and we're so excited! My family used to spend a week every summer on the Cape, and it's a tradition I'm looking forward to both sharing with my girlfriend, and reclaiming for personal reasons.

I know Provincetown gets expensive during the busy season, but the last time I went I was 16, so I'm not sure how much has changed with inflation. I was hoping I could get some input on if I should set aside more.

Right now I have $1000 saved up for spending money after covering gas, our rental car, and hotel room. We plan on spending four nights, and plan on bringing our own coffee, snacks, and breakfast items (cereal, milk, bagels, snacks) from home in case we sleep in past continental breakfast or have late night cravings LOL

For additional context, my girlfriend and I usually go 50/50 on most purchases (tickets, restaurant bills, groceries) so we'd be doing that during this trip as well obviously.

So, should I set aside more?

Hi all, I was wondering if anybody else had a similar experience to this.

I've been dealing with a lot of stressors in my daily life due to my line of work, alongside dealing with unlocking some traumatic memories from my PTSD back in February, and grieving my father in laws sudden passing in March.

Since February I've dealt with waves of searing pain stemming from the right side of my lower back and jolting down my leg, usually after long shifts (I'm a Chef, so I'm in my feet for 12 hours a day sometimes). Strangely (or not so strangely), this is the same part of my back that I fell on/hit very hard during an incident of abuse from my childhood.

Usually after work, I'll put a small massage ball under my lower back near my tailbone and kinda just lay/roll on it with very little effect. But Sunday night, I did some research and learned that with the type of pain I'm experiencing, it would make more sense to put the ball under my butt near the back of my hip joint and basically let the pressure do the rest of the work.

And holy shit, did it work. The pain released instantly, and I felt myself tearing up and releasing months of stress and sadness from my body. Suddenly the sharp, stabbing pain from that one spot got replaced with an exhausted (but not painful) ache through my entire body. I would describe it more as the feeling you get after a work out class than anything else, to be honest. The tears also didn't surprise me; I've done body work centered therapy in the past for my headaches, and during that time I also learned that CSA survivors such as myself hold a lot of tension and tend to lock up their hips a lot.

However, what WAS new for me was that immediately afterwards, I started coming down with the symptoms of a cold. Usually, my colds hit me slowly, but I literally fell asleep fine and woke up congested and coughing in a cold sweat. It almost felt like my body felt safe enough to allow me to be sick? (I've experienced this before too, I ALWAYS get sick before a vacation because it feels like I'm approaching the finish line from the stress of work, but I've never felt anything this dramatic)

The good news is, even though I'm a little congested now, I spent yesterday resting and already feel on the mend. Silent moments feel enjoyable again, not ones where I'm left to sit with painful thoughts and memories.I have this weekend off to celebrate pride with my lovely partner, so I only have a three day work week. And then in a few weeks we have a big vacation planned!

Anyways, I'm wondering if anyone else here has ever experienced this? How common is it to have your immune system "let it's guard down" after unlocking physical pain that manifests from a traumatic experience?

And by girls I mean a late 20s lesbian couple 😂 We're gonna be visiting in July and "Boys Beach" is the one beach in Cape Cod I never got to visit in the 15+ years that I vacationed in the outer cape as a kid (for obvious reasons)

My girlfriend and I enjoy going topless at NYCs gay beach (Jacob Riis) and I was wondering how similar the vibes were? Is "Boys Beach" just its name, or would it be a big deal if two dykes showed up with their titties out?

EDIT: Ty everyone for the feedback! Looks like if we go the plan would be to head to the beach when the tide is low and be mindful of entering the section where it's cool to be topless, but before the strictly cruising area. I'm not afraid of accidentally walking past some cruising in action and continuing on with my journey; I used to do sex work so a few penises/public sex isn't really gonna scare me away 😂

I agree after lurking the sub more and talking to my older boss who grew up on the outer Cape that the conversation of boys beach seems to fall into an internet echo chamber that has little discourse in real life.