This Twitter Thread Unpacks Mental Health Stigmas Related to Work and Success

Although people don’t hesitate to get treatment for physical health issues, many people still feel a sense of shame or embarrassment if they need to take medications to manage their mental health. The conversation around mental health issues is improving but there’s still a stigma surrounding it.

Blair Imani, author of Modern HERstory and founder of Equality for Her, tweeted this thread on the stigma associated with mental health. She takes on the misconception that people who are “successful” don’t struggle with mental health.

Photo Credit: Twitter

She discloses some of her own challenges to make her point.

Photo Credit: Twitter

This doesn’t mean that you need to be “productive” to be worthwhile, though. She goes on to address the ideas of mental “strength” and mental “weakness.”

Photo Credit: Twitter

The thread hit home for a lot of people. Many responded to the Twitter thread with their own experiences with mental health in solidarity.

Photo Credit: Twitter

Photo Credit: Twitter

Photo Credit: Twitter

Our worth isn’t based on our productivity. What’s more, just because you appear productive and successful on the outside doesn’t mean you’re not also grappling with mental illness. Regardless of our ability to be “productive,” though, we all deserve to receive the treatment we need without judgement.

If you need help, just remember – there are people who love you, and places you can go where you will not be judged.

The post This Twitter Thread Unpacks Mental Health Stigmas Related to Work and Success appeared first on UberFacts.

October 19, 2018

10 Tips When Travelling to the Caribbean

Is your passport ordered and tickets purchased? Are you hoping your new red bikini will be a hit at your adults-only resort? It’s time to relax and embrace the beauty of the Caribbean Islands. Whether you are headed to Jamaica, Barbados, or St. Barts, enjoy the relaxing, laid-back atmosphere of the islands. Even though relaxation is usually the first thing on anyone’s agenda who is planning a Caribbean vacation, it is essential to do a little research on your destinations, so there are no surprises when you arrive. Here are points to ponder regarding the Caribbean islands. 1. Travel safety

The post 10 Tips When Travelling to the Caribbean appeared first on Factual Facts.

October 19, 2018

Some farmers in Bangladesh have…

Some farmers in Bangladesh have switched to raising ducks instead of chickens, because during catastrophic floods, ducks float. 00

October 19, 2018

Some farmers in Bangladesh have…

Some farmers in Bangladesh have switched to raising ducks instead of chickens, because during catastrophic floods, ducks float. 00

October 19, 2018

Of all the humans tested so far…

Of all the humans tested so far, everyone has contained the same DNA from 1 of at least 2 ancestors. Mitochondrial DNA being traced back matrilineally to a specific “mT-Eve,” and a Y-chromosome being traced back patrilineally to a specific “Y-chromosomal Adam.” We are not descended from a singular couple, but rather we are all […]

October 19, 2018

Chuck Yeager broke two of his…

Chuck Yeager broke two of his ribs two nights before a test flight. Worried an injury would have him removed, he told almost no one and snuck a broom handle into the plane to help him seal the hatch. He then proceeded to become the first human being to break the sound barrier. 00

October 19, 2018

Ernest Hemingway had often complained…

Ernest Hemingway had often complained the FBI was tracking him, but was dismissed by friends and family as paranoid. Years after his death released FBI files showed he had been on heavy surveillance, with the FBI following him and bugging his phones for nearly the final 20 years of his life. 00

October 18, 2018

People Reveal The Things They’re Most Nostalgic about from High School

High school was a different time…and that’s not just the nostalgia talking. You had less responsibilities, more free time, and your friends were guaranteed to be in the same place every day.

So, when people on Reddit were asked what they miss most about high school, they couldn’t wait to chime in. Keep reading to hear their answers and take a trip down memory lane.

1. Freedom

I miss the freedom I felt hanging out with my friends and how excited I could be over nothing— meaning we may just be riding around or stopping at Wendy’s for a Frosty, everything brought me happiness. I miss the specific type of freedom and joy I got from those moments.

2. Everyone knew everyone

In a way, I felt like I mattered more. Sort of a “big fish in a small pond” kind of deal. I was so much more involved in extracurriculars than I am now. I played a varsity sport, was in two musical groups, and was in two other academic teams (think speech team, mock trial, mathletes kind of thing). I had more of an identity. In college and beyond, you’re kind of dumped into the “real world” where there are thousands of people like you out there, and it’s easier to lose a sense of purpose and belonging in the anonymity of the masses.

Also, everyone knew everyone. Yeah, there are a few people you might not like so much, but you get to see your friends every day. You knew where to find people. That might be a bad thing if you’re deliberately trying to avoid someone, but I personally was on pretty good terms with everyone at my school.

3. Not-so-instant

Social media consisted mostly of AIM. No Facebook, and MySpace wasn’t very popular yet.

Also, cell phones were a rarity. I really miss not being expected to be instantly reachable at any time. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the hell out of my pocket computer, but that aspect I do miss.

4. Everything was easy

It was so easy. I had a car my parents paid for, zero bills, all the money I made was personal spending money, I had a constant group of friends to hang out with and went to school in one of the best areas of the city with tons of shops within walking distance.

I was a privileged upper-middle-class kid and everything was ridiculously easy. High school was great.

5. No worries

How straightforward and safe it was. Your biggest worry was having bad grades or getting rejected by your crush.

Adulthood is like having your blinders removed and realizing you are walking on a narrow edge with chasms at the sides.

6. No problem

I had so much hope for the future. I could enjoy the “here and now” without letting the bad things get to me too much because I knew that high school was only a small part of my life. Didn’t have money? No problem, I’ll have more when I get older. No girlfriend? No problem, I’ve still got plenty of time to find “the one”!

Looking back, I can see that teenage thought that life would just “happen” to me. Ignorance was bliss, but now I’m paying for it.

7. Friends

Seeing friends every single day.

You try to stay in touch as much as possible but I certainly underestimated how hard that is.

8. What is everyone up to?

I miss knowing what everybody is up to! I know it sounds weird and I don’t mean it in a creepy way at all. It was just much easier to know what everybody was doing and how they were when you saw them every day. No weird “let’s get coffee sometime” texts to friends to catch up. No complicated friend groups. No having to go out of your way to meet people. No having to introduce yourself with your occupation tagged on the end.

9. Crushes

I think the thing I miss most is that feeling that goes through your entire body and soul when you see that pretty girl for the first time and she smiles at you and you just know that you two are going to have some great times together. I miss that feeling of having such a crush on her that even just knowing you might run into her tonight is enough to get you feeling like electricity in the air just before a big thunderstorm.

10. The sweet spot

Freedom in Grade 9 and 10.

Those two years you are in that sweet spot. Not old enough to really have to worry about your future but not so young that parents are constantly stressing about where you are and what you are doing.

I could go to school, hang with friends after school, not do homework, not study and still keep people happy. I got average grades which for 16-year-old me was more than good enough.

11. Simple

How simple everything was. All you had to do was go to school every day and do homework when you get home. That was the only thing I had to worry about: some homework and maybe a test or two, maybe a crush I had on some guy… but that was it.

12. Missing everything

I miss the people. I was unpopular (or so I thought, turns out they liked me when I wasn’t pushing everyone away.) I was in a small school, 300 people total. I miss the lack of responsibility. I miss the lazy afternoons in the spring when it was warm enough to take your coat off and lounge at the park nearby. I miss going to lunch at the burger joint on the corner and walking back to school with a pop in one hand and a cheeseburger in the other joking with my friends. I miss the feeling of endless possibility. I miss the sound of the crowd screaming when I got my first and only win on the wrestling team. I miss cheering the football team. I miss my teachers, even the ones I hated.

13. Bills? What are those?

Having a job but no real bills.

14. Brenda

I miss Brenda. She wasn’t into me or anything; she had a boyfriend, but she would talk to me sometimes when we were finished with track practice and I was waiting for the bus and she was waiting for her ride. She talked a mile a minute and said whatever was on her mind, and I found her delightful. We talked to each other at track and cross country meets too. I remember one time we were talking at a cross country meet while it was pouring down rain, and for some reason, she hugged me. I don’t know why she did it, but it felt wonderful. Sometime during junior year, her boyfriend knocked her up. She finished junior year, took summer school to get enough credits to graduate, and the two of them went off to get married. I never saw her again. (Sigh)

15. Theatre

I did theatre for most of high school. I miss hanging out with my closest friends in the auditorium every day. I miss making memes with each other before a show. I also miss the collective sense of accomplishment when we had a good show. It was just blissful.

16. Laughter

Man, I used to laugh so much! It was just a different kind of laugh where your stomach hurts and you sometimes even fall to the ground. I can remember a couple of times it happened so vividly and it kinda makes me feel sad that it doesn’t happen anymore.

17. Time and energy

No responsibilities, tons of free time, loads of energy. I’d go to school at 7, get off at 3, work 4 till 8 or so, hit the gym for an hour, go home and shower, and go to bed. Doing that 5 days a week now would absolutely kill me.

18. Boredom

The thing I miss the most is being bored. I don’t know if teenagers currently even have this anymore. Five to six kids sitting there trying to figure out what to do with themselves. Among our stupid ideas were:
– Trying to do skateboard/razor scooter tricks into a pool.
– Blowing up a large ants’ nest with kerosene.
– Deciding to play 7 minutes in heaven with a definitely inadequate ratio of guys to girls, which led to some hurt feelings, but eh.
Our collective imaginations got lazier once I got a car and we all just piled in there and loitered at the mall non-stop.

19. Naive

The ability to be naive about how the world really works.

20. More crushes

It’s strange, but… having crushes. I can’t remember the last time I knew a girl and just… pined for her. Just not being able to speak correctly around or to her, fantasizing about the smallest things, just wanting to be around her.

I just miss having that kind of innocent, weak-in-the-knees… just, sorta, desire. And not ‘desire’ just in the context of sex. I mean just liking somebody so much and wanting so much to tell them (and having real difficulty doing so) and wanting so badly to have them like you back.

I miss that feeling. I miss that… pull, in my heart, toward somebody.

21. Friends and teachers

A few friendships and some awesome teachers/classes as a result of awesome teachers. Now, most of those friendships have splintered into absolute nothingness and most of the cool teachers have retired, moved, or died over the last 5 years.

22. Lucky

The teachers. I didn’t realize how lucky I was to have wonderful teachers until several years later.

23. Bad to the bone

Not having a care in the world. Skipping class to break into the attic above the theater and pilfer stuff or fish at the pond behind the football field. Going to football games and making out under the bleachers only stopping to check the scoreboard now and then. Doing cringeworthy stuff to be edgy before I even knew what cringe or edgy was.

24. Best desks

Those desks where the chair was attached. I could crack my back so good with those things. I miss being able to do that regularly.

Anyone else feeling nostalgic?

The post People Reveal The Things They’re Most Nostalgic about from High School appeared first on UberFacts.

October 18, 2018

15 Times People’s Creepy Feelings Of A Situation Were Absolutely Right

Our guts never lie. Sometimes we get a bad feeling about something and decide to follow that instinct. These people certainly have, and their intuitions turned out to be right.

Read on as their share 15 stories of times when their gut was totally spot on at detecting a creepy situation.

1. Something was off

“My sister was going to visit her friend out of state, so her friend’s friend offered to drive her there. He drove a few hours to get to our house and was noticeably tired when he arrived, so my sister suggested that he just sleep on our couch and they’ll go in the morning.

The entire night, my mom was going in and out of our rooms saying that there was something off about the guy; that she didn’t really like him but couldn’t figure out why. She actually quietly went out the side door and wrote down his license plate at one point.

The next morning, my sister was in the guy’s car for maybe 30 minutes before she felt sick and asked him to just take her home. Which he does, much to my mother’s delight.

About six months later, my mom was looking at her news feed when she saw a familiar face and called my sister and me over and yelled, ‘I told you something was off about him!’ It turns out that about a year earlier, he murdered his ex-girlfriend and that his friend, who helped him bury her body, finally decided to tell the cops not because he developed a conscience, but because he was mad at him for stealing his toaster.”

2. Controlling

“My mom and I were in a café and she had her handbag down by her feet. This couple comes in and sits at the table behind us, and he attracted my attention because he kept poking his girlfriend and telling her how to sit and stuff.

The hairs on my neck went up, I hate that controlling type of behavior. He was in my periphery and this guy wouldn’t sit still when my mom asked: ‘Hey, where’s my bag?’

She found it a second later, moved and open – she reached in to get her purse and said: ‘My card is missing!’

So the couple behind had stood and were quickly walking towards the door, and I didn’t even hesitate to say: ‘STOP THAT MAN!’ because I figured I could apologize later if I was wrong. One of the waitresses was right by the door and she followed him out the door, at which point, the guy dropped my mom’s card, mumbled something about having found it, and then ran for it.

I guess if he hadn’t been such a jerk to his girlfriend, I probably wouldn’t have noticed.”

3. The new guy

“In college, I worked at a bar and they brought in this new bouncer. From the second I met him, I immediately felt like there was something seriously wrong with him. His smile and eye contact were too intense. I told a coworker that the guy gave me the creeps and she told me she thought he was ‘cute and nice,’ and didn’t get where I was coming from.

A quick Google search pulled up his mug shot and articles about how he was watching his college roommate’s dog one weekend and horribly attacked and abused it.

He burned this poor dog and poured bleach on her. The dog survived and he was arrested. The article talked about how he was laughing at the police arresting him, saying he knew he wouldn’t get in any trouble.

He was fired and told to never come back once management found out.”

4. In on it?

“My mother, who was extremely emotionally and physically abusive, raised four kids by herself. Although she had many siblings and lots of other relatives, no one helped us.

When I was around 12, my mom had a female cousin who started coming around, out of the blue, trying to get my mom to attend church with her. Then, all of a sudden, this same cousin wanted to become my kid sister’s godparent. Okay, whatever.

But I certainly resented the fact that we were all of a sudden being forced to go to church almost every Sunday. I saw it as nothing more than a form of brainwashing.

I always had a sick feeling about her, especially when I had to sit near her in a room. A couple of years later, she started insisting I come along on weekend getaways she would have with my sister at her house. I had absolutely no interest in going.

Not only was I older, but I was thinking, ‘Why do I have to come? She’s not my godmother.’ But, my mom was so weak-minded, psychotic, or just plain evil that she always forced me to go.

When I was around 14 years old, I was still being forced by my own mother to go somewhere that wasn’t necessary, with someone who made me physically sick. I still hadn’t figured out exactly what it was about her that made me so sick.

She was a nurse and had access to certain medications. It turns out that she was medicating me with sedatives when I was at her house, then violating me with her fingers and who knows what else. It really started to bother me how sore and painful I was down below, knowing that I was still pure, or so I thought, and I NEVER felt like that until after I had left her house.

I don’t think she did this to my sister because she was always so fixated on me.

She just used my sister to get to me. It also turns out that pills lose their full effect on you after you’ve been taking them for a while. That is how I found out. I eventually woke up in the middle of being assaulted by her.”

5. Across the street

“I got a bad vibe from the dad across the street when I was a kid. He was a military guy who always seemed to be on a power trip. His oldest son and I went to the same school, and would occasionally carpool.

One day, it was his dad’s turn to drive us. His son stayed home sick, but he offered to drive me all the same.

Thankfully, it wasn’t a long ride, but the entire time he talked about his beat-up Camero. It definitely creeped me out.

A couple of years later, his wife threw him out one morning. It turns out he had been beating the crap out of her for a while. One morning, while hitting her again, he stepped on their 1-year-old baby who was crawling on the floor and broke the kid’s arm.

We never saw him again after that.”

6. Just a phase

“A neighborhood kid I grew up with liked to play with matches and was fascinated with fires of any kind. It made me nervous because a sort of ‘wild look’ came over his eyes when he’d stare at the fire he created.

I even told my parents, who mentioned it to his parents, who thought it was ‘just a phase’ he was going through.

Then, a few years later, it was reported that he burned his parents’ garage down and was being charged with arson and clinically treated for pyromania.”

7. New to the area

“I met a random guy when I was out one night. He was new to the area and was friends with my friend’s brother. He came across as nice and friendly, but then he started being a bit strange, like he kept rubbing my back and touching my legs.

We all went back to my friend’s house, and I was pretty wasted, but this guy kept trying to get me to leave with him without anyone seeing.

I told everyone something was weird about him. It turned out he had been charged with violating a 10-year-old, and that’s why he had left his previous city. He also assaulted a 13-year-old a few weeks before he met me, and the police found he was in possession of a lot of child smut.

My friends had no idea about this guy’s past.

He lived near my friend’s brother, and he had him over at his house in the summer when his kids were running around in swimming suits prior to the discovery. He was devastated and full of guilt when he found out.”

8. Thank goodness they didn’t let her go

“A tennis coach at my kid’s club called to ask me if he could take my 10-year-old daughter with the other five players on road trips to play other clubs. I didn’t like it, she was tiny and just 10 years old. He wasn’t even her coach but another coach at the club. We thought he was creepy and to call like that…so I said no.

The coach ended up going to prison for being a creep and violating several girls older than my kid. His son was also 10, and the poor kid was also a victim of the scum bag. He got 15 years in 2009, and will probably be out soon.

He was convicted of three crimes, but the prosecution dropped an additional 22.

It still blows my mind.”

9. A sixth sense

“My parents tell me that when I was around 4 years old, I was the most extroverted kid. I LOVED going out and about with my parents so I could wave hello to every single person I saw. I never met a stranger.

Little old ladies LOVED me. I would let anyone hold me if they wanted. To the point that my parents were alarmed at how I didn’t mind people I had never met before holding me and bouncing me on their lap.

We had some elderly neighbors who were nice as could be.

One day, their 30-something son came to live with them. The old couple had told my parents about him moving in and how excited they were. Well, they came to our house to introduce him to us since we were in the driveway.

Apparently, I got really quiet when they were walking toward me and when the guy spoke to me, I screamed and hid behind my dad’s legs. My parents thought it was out of character so they actively avoided allowing me to be near him in the weeks that followed.

A few months later, he was arrested for child trafficking and possession of hundreds of pictures and videos of child smut.”

10. Watch out

“I worked for a call center a few years ago and there was a guy that sat at the desk across from me. He was about 50 years old and was not married. I’m young enough to be his daughter.

He would do anything to talk to me.

Come by my desk, run into me in the break room, get in the elevator with me, and what not. It was excessive, but never threatening. At least not at first.

He started to say inappropriate things about my outfits, but I figured he was an awkward dude that did not know how to flirt.

I just brushed him off time and time again, but something was definitely off about him.

At one point, the secretary came up to me and asked if he was bothering me, and I told her what had been happening.

He only did this with the blonde women at the office. He was notorious for harassing them. It started small, but then he would slowly transition into asking them to hook up, even offering to pay for it.

Knowing this, I avoided him altogether. I would pretend he was not there, even if he was talking to me directly. I would catch him staring at me, but he backed down a lot after he realized that I wouldn’t give in.

One day, I came into work and he was gone.

His desk was cleared off. Totally empty. He apparently had sent another blonde woman a bunch of flowers and followed her out to the parking lot when she got off work. He had parked his car right next to hers and tried to force her into his car to go home with him, but she got away.

He was fired and escorted off the property THE NEXT DAY by police.

I’m not sure why he decided to come back, or why he wasn’t arrested sooner, but he was caught at work and removed.”

11. Knives

“When I used to work at a deli, we hired a 20-something kid that looked like the serial killer, Ed Kemper sans the mustache.

At first, he would amuse us by telling us stories about how he had fought off eight guys carrying weapons, or how his girlfriend was a model who traveled all the time (and that is why we never saw her).

Then things started getting bad, especially when someone angered him. I would catch him talking to himself, saying things like, ‘If I see her again, I am going to stick this in both her eyes.’

Management caught wind of this and canned him almost immediately.

Ten months later, we found out he actually went to prison for attempting to assault someone with a knife.”

12. The stepdad

“I always had a weird feeling about my stepdad.

He always made me uncomfortable and I always felt like he was watching me. He would make comments about my body and wardrobe, causing me to feel insecure and watch what I wore around him.

When I told my mom, she would say things like ‘he’s old-fashioned’ or ‘he’s just looking out for you.’

My mom had gone out of the country to visit family leaving my stepdad, myself and my older brother to take care of the house.

One night, my brother went to a party and I stayed home because I worked early the next morning, but left my bedroom door open so I could hear my brother come home and make sure he made it safe. Instead, my stepdad decided to crawl into my bed and try to assault me.

It was one of the scariest moments of my life.

I pushed him off and ran to the bathroom. I was so freaked out I just grabbed my work clothes and went to my car and drove off to a random neighborhood and slept in my car.

My mom found out a year later because I told my older brother, but she’s never talked to me about it.

She’s still with him too. As for me, I am in therapy to deal with my trauma and I feel like I’m getting better.

When I told my brother, we gathered all the money we had been saving up and moved out a month later.

I am blessed to have a brother who loves me and took me out of a bad place. He’s been one of my support systems through all of this.”

13. Jokes

“I used to work at a local restaurant when I was 19 years old. I loved working there, but I ended up quitting because of some jerk that was hired. He was in his mid-30s and gave every girl in the restaurant the absolute creepiest vibes.

He was constantly saying inappropriate stuff about his past and was just a jerk to people in general.

I hated working with him because he creeped me out and was also just mean. I started trading shifts to get away from him.

One day, a night shift manager was fired, and our boss put the creepy guy in a temporary managerial position. I immediately went to our boss and told him I was uncomfortable with the idea and explained how creepy he was.

My boss leveled with me and said that the guy had no actual manager power and was just temporary until he found someone else. He was just there to run shifts. My boss arranged it so my schedule never crossed over with the creep.

One day, a coworker of mine got sick and I was asked to cover her shift.

I got there and the creep was managing. I thought I could deal with one night, but a friend of mine called the store sobbing. She had tried to call my cell around a hundred times but it was in my purse.

She was crying hysterically and told me she had been assaulted and didn’t know what to do or where to go but that she was horrified and too scared to leave.

I told my friend I would be right there and told the manager I had an emergency and would be leaving.

It was a slow night and I wasn’t needed anyway but he freaked out and tried to physically stop me, demanding to know my emergency. I tried to sidestep it, but I eventually told him my friend had been assaulted.

He burst out laughing in my face and told me that was hilarious and not an excuse to leave. I told him to get lost and shoved past him. He told me I couldn’t leave and I said watch me. I went outside and burst into tears and called my boss and told him I quit after explaining what happened.

A few months later, I was working at my new job and a former coworker came in and said they had some news for me.

Apparently, two police officers showed up at my old workplace and served papers to the guy. He had been stalking a girl for the last five years and it started when she was 14 years old. He had also assaulted her.”

14. He loved to chat

“There’s an older guy who visits my workplace a lot just to chat with our staff. He never buys anything – he just really loves talking to us. The first time I met him, we wound up chatting for a solid 15 minutes.

It was ALMOST a pleasant experience (I love chatting with friendly customers), but for some reason, he put me on edge. He spent the whole 15 minutes telling me about his life’s adventures – starring in a Smashing Pumpkins tribute band, getting detained at the airport for having a weapon (he said he was in the military and was flying overseas to do some training exercises in America or something and there was a misunderstanding about his paperwork), and he told me about his work as a guidance counselor.

He flowed from one story to the next without any discernible link connecting them but he was charismatic enough to keep the conversation flowing smoothly anyway. I felt lost at sea.

On the surface, he seemed like a well-traveled, genuinely friendly guy.

But he still set off a bunch of alarm bells in my head.

My general rule with chatty people is: ‘Friendly is good unless you are AGGRESSIVELY excited to be talking to me.’ He definitely fell into the aggressive category.

Later I mentioned the guy to a coworker. He said he thought the guy was creepy too.

Apparently, during one of this guy’s visits, he held my coworker hostage and told him (very cheerily) all about the time he got in a bar fight and he murdered a guy with his three buddies.”

15. A new priest

“This is creepy in a different way than most, but I think it’s relevant. Twenty years ago, when I was a practicing Christian, my church got a new priest. He may as well have been God himself the way people fawned over him.

I liked him at first, too. Then, after a few brief conversations, I got this feeling that his entire life was a major power trip, and he was in no way cut out to lead a congregation of actual human beings.

After he made an off-the-cuff remark to me about being divorced (the shock!), I was like, ‘Later dude’ and transferred to another church.

People thought I was nuts, because how could I not adore Father Perfect the way they did?

After a few months, I noticed a trickle of people from my former parish in my new church, and that trickle eventually became more like a flood.

‘Father Perfect’ had formerly been a highly respected surgeon with a God complex, and he was quite used to giving orders and having them carried out without question (as I would imagine is necessary for a surgical suite).

Not the best quality for a man of the cloth.

Eventually, he drove out several deacons, the choir leader, the sexton, and about half the congregation. He put a message on the church answering machine about what types of messages could and couldn’t be left.