My neighbour gave me permission to go into his strawberry field to pick some wild-growing chamomile. It's hard to fill up a basket when you have to pick individual flowers, but it's the kind of work I don't mind. The birds were singing. The weather was beautiful. Chamomile smelled heavenly in the sun.
Women may become less of themselves as they lose 5% of their gray matter during pregnancy. The reduction persists even six years after childbirth. What does that mean exactly?
There were reductions observed in:
These regions are associated with social cognition, self-referential thinking, and processing other people's emotions and intentions. So, essentially, there are possible changes in reading social cues, empathy, autobiographical memories, daydreaming, planning for the future, etc.
There isn't a definite conclusion as to what that reduction entails, but the leading theory is that women's brains become attuned to infants and specialized in caretaking at the expense of general social awareness and self-awareness. The trade-offs could involve attention, motivation, emotional processing, social priorities, or sense of self. The changes are long-lasting, which essentially means that women get stuck in "breeder mode."
It's up to an individual to decide whether these changes are worth it, but I'm pretty sure most women have never even heard of this study, which means the majority of women make uninformed decisions, not knowing that their brains and personalities may undergo massive and possibly permanent changes due to childbirth.
The research on this topic is limited, but whenever an article references the study, it tends to do so in a way that ignores the possible negative outcomes and focuses instead on how these changes improve women's "efficiency" in caregiving—which is also just a theory, by the way.
link to the study: https://www.nature.com/articles/nn.4458
I have tried period underwear that everyone swears by being comfortable and It felt like wearing a diaper because the padding part wouldn't mould to my body the same way a disposable pad does. I'm thinking of trying out reusable pads but I'm scared they will feel heavy and essentially I will have the same problem of them not sitting where they're supposed to/not moulding to my body
Edit: no american centric product recommendations and cups/discs please
F (27) I have a terrible outlook on life. Life to me feels like something to endure and survive until the finish line.
The beautiful things I had in my life have went away years ago and my life has been about trying to make myself comfortable and at peace among a lot of instability. When things crush down on me I remember that If It becomes unbearable I will have to commit s*icide even though I really don’t want to. I just feel like I wouldn’t have a choice If things got worse than they already are. There are moments when I feel comfortable and at peace. But I haven’t experienced happiness, fulfilment, connection, beauty for at least 5 years. So naturally I feel like this is forever. Most of the days I don’t remember what living fully felt like but when I get reminded It crushes me like nothing else.
Trauma messed up my functioning but It didn’t do to me what grief did.
Myanmar's military junta has banned the distribution of sanitary pads across resistance-held areas, claiming fighters use them for first aid — a claim medical experts have flatly rejected as medically impossible. The ban is part of the regime's broader "four cuts" strategy, designed to choke civilian populations of basic supplies. Women are now resorting to rags, leaves and newspaper, triggering surging rates of infections and chronic pain — in a country where healthcare has already collapsed. On the black market, pad prices have tripled. Activists say this is deliberate — keeping women uncomfortable, indoors, and out of political life. The UN has been alerted. Human rights organisations are calling it exactly what it is: gender-based violence dressed up as military strategy.
I've just experienced my first glitch. I went into the changing room with 3 clothing items on 3 separate hangers. I was trying things on and putting hangers away. When I was done I tried putting the clothes back on the hangers but one of them was missing. There was nowhere else I could have put it. I searched the entire changing room, my bag and the clothes in case it somehow got trapped in them. The hanger disappeared into thin air. My bf was with me the entire time so we were two eye witnesses. All 3 hangers were put away on a hook and one couldn't have gotten lost in a shoebox size all white room with just a mirror and stool. I don't know what to think of that...