While it doesn’t work as well with or as your joke, the ATF is actually now the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. So we need to add the E as well and we can spell FACET, which is less fun. Or use M for Marijuana and spell FMEAT.
And to add to what this user said, planning is also key. Its actually what led my to realizing that my (really bad) ADHD was exacerbating my depressions and anxiety symptoms because I didn’t have the native skills to deal with them. Not thinking about ADHD I just learned to plan literally everything as a coping mechanism for the anxiety. Weekends I’d plan the general things for the week, then every morning I’d write out a detailed version of that day’s tasks, each broken down by parts. If it’s a call I have to make, I write out a little script with key things I need to say/ask and maybe write out the whole sentence so I don’t have to think about it mid convo, I’m just reading. Planning for as many things as I could like that really reduced the stress-load I’d deal in most scenarios.
I cracked a molar years ago and I was too broke and underemployed to get it dealt with. As time went on it slowly rotted away in the back of my mouth. I was already depressed and dealing with it just wasn’t a priority. It just became a part of my life and I would chew on the other side without thinking and eventually the pain just went away because I was stubborn and I think my brain just stopped recognizing those signals. It was bad.
Last year I went to get it extracted and as I was talking to the dental hygienist about it she said something that I really liked and I was actually really surprised at the compassion from a dentist’s office.
I’ve always tried to be open about my mental problems because the world needs to lose the stigma we’ve placed on it. I’m not ashamed by any of it, but I definitely understand why many are. So when I told her that I’d spent several years dealing with depression and taking care of my teeth just wasn’t a priority at that time, she said “Hey, it’s alright. Sometimes we have to let some things go to survive whatever we’re dealing with. But you’re able to take care of it now and we’re gonna help with that.”
You did what you had to do to deal with your anxiety and you should be proud of that. It’s not easy, but try not to view the tooth as a reminder anymore than a messy kitchen is a reminder that you were too busy to do the dishes yesterday. It’s just a result of a thing that millions of people go through every day. You’re taking care of it just like you’d wash those dishes, and then you’re going to move on with the rest of your day. I still have that empty spot in the back of my mouth and honestly, I forget about it even as my tongue pokes at that empty spot sometimes. This is the first time I’ve even thought about it in months and months, and it’s been about a year since it was removed. As for after, depending on where it is, you might not really notice soon after. Generally there’s like this plug of congealed and scabbed blood in the spot that you have to be careful with the first week or so, but I didn’t experience any pain.
My own anxiety had my blood pressure sky high when they first went in and they couldn’t do anything yet so they gave me a while to calm down and one of the hygienists was there and explained to me what to expect afterwards. She assured me it wouldn’t even be noticeable and she was right. But you should be able to ask them as well to get a professional idea for your expectations to assuage your worry. But also, just from experience, I can say that it’ll be fine, you’ll stop noticing and stop thinking about it once there isn’t something in your mouth that you always have to be aware of.
The thing is, if the place you’re getting your information from doesn’t list it’s sources, you can’t trust it. Whenever I’m researching a thing on the internet and I find an article or a paper, I don’t just stop there, I check where they got their info, then I find that source and read it. I follow it all the way back until I find the primary source.
Like the other day I was writing a paper about a particular court case. In the opinions, as in most cases, they use precedent and cite prior cases. So I found the other cases that referred to the thing I was writing about, and it turns out they were also just using prior cases. I had to go 6 deep before I found them referencing the actual constitution for one of them. On another I found it interesting that the most recent use case was so far removed from what the original one was about and it was could probably be questionable to even use it as precedent if they had used the original instead of another case.
Anyway, the point is, always check sources. If anyone says anything on the internet, assume it’s just their opinion until you check and follow the sources…
Not a hockey fan, is that because it’s too cheap or too expensive?