Leading my example (though I don't think I'm a downer account), here is my one like = one positive thing thread.
https://twitter.com/GeniesLoki/status/1308701154986078208
1. I am not actually stuck yet but years later this is still my favourite meme and it makes me go "Awwwww 😻" every time I see it so I'll start here. 
2. This week has been intense in very productive ways. I've seen *such* positive movement on some of the most important relationships in my life and huge ❤️ to everyone involved.
3. Alt Twitter is an amazingly interesting place that has seriously improved my mental health and helped me chill my online and IRL vibes the fuck out in 2020 and I am a better and happier person for all of you.
4. I've learned to fix triggers this year! I'm not saying my mind isn't still a mess of confusion and weird swirling emotions, but they're mostly much more fun ones now!
5. I'm doing really interesting research at the moment in which I get to combine multiple long-standing weird niche interests in ways that I've always wanted to be able to make work but never have been able to convince myself was possible.
6. I've met a lot of nice cats out on walks recently.
7. Here is a cute picture of a squirrel. I'm not stuck, I just want to remind people playing along themselves that this is an option *at any time* and that the worst case scenario is that you'll have collated a thread of adorable animal pictures.
8. It turns out that when I'm freaking out and trying not to show it I can just explain to the people I love that and why I am freaking out and they will say "thank you for explaining" and give me a hug and the situation will improve. ❤️
9. I have a big exciting positive thing coming up on Friday and I don't want to go into details but I am practically quivering with anticipation.
10. I have written so much stuff this year. A lot of it has been very good! A lot of it hasn't and that's OK too! Much of the less good stuff was still useful to write.
11. I've been doing morning pages (two pages of unstructured journalling first thing) for the last six months and this has been a very positive mental health intervention but more importantly I have somehow acquired and stuck to a new positive habit. This *never* happens.
12. I have apparently successfully conned alt-twitter into doing gratitude journalling, a highly effective mental health intervention, by means of a viral meme. 😁
13. It has recently become much easier for my partners and I to see each other and everything* about this is wonderful.
* except, perhaps, its impact on our ability to get *any* work done.
* except, perhaps, its impact on our ability to get *any* work done.
14. On the subject of which, I'm shortly going to pause updating this thread to just go casually hang out with one of my partners, because we can do that now. Tweets will resume later.
15. An odd consequence of the pandemic and it forcing everyone to become Extremely Online is that I now have weekly zoom calls with my family and it's really nice. I'd love to see them in person of course but we're actually in better contact in 2020 than we were in 2019.
16. I created this alt because there were a lot of things I was frustrated about not being able to say in public because I thought they'd get me cancelled and almost everyone has been lovely and supportive and thanked me for sharing them.
17. My weight has gone down to a level I'm happy with more or less without me trying in a way that feels very sustainable. It was never a problem exactly, but it's been gradually creeping up over the years and it was starting to be consistently higher than I liked.
18. I feel happier and more comfortable in my body this year than I ever have in my life previously. There are a whole variety of complex reasons for this, and the weight thing feels more like a side effect than a cause of this.
19. Now the promised go-cuddle-a-partner break. Here's a cat picture.
20. That was a very nice cuddle break. We talked about our feelings and discussed the tripartite definition of knowledge.
22. Back on the body comfort front, you know what's super amazing and good? Not having an upset stomach all the time.
The dietary restrictions I finally figured out that allow me to maintain this state are kinda annoying but so very worth it.
The dietary restrictions I finally figured out that allow me to maintain this state are kinda annoying but so very worth it.
23. I can similarly HIGHLY recommend not having chronic pain. It's so good.
(I haven't quite fixed mine, but a variety of lifestyle interventions have helped to dramatically reduce it)
(I haven't quite fixed mine, but a variety of lifestyle interventions have helped to dramatically reduce it)
24. In general there's just been a lot of hugely positive trends in my life over the last two and a bit (many attributable to my partners, but it started a couple of months before I started dating them).
I was in a bit of a holding pattern before then, and intervened to fix it.
I was in a bit of a holding pattern before then, and intervened to fix it.
25. Brief triviality break because this is getting way too deep. This clip is hot but mostly I enjoyed sitting with my partners critiquing the characters' life choices. My dudes, that pretty hair is a write off and you'll need to bathe in white spirit.
26. Anyway I really need to do some work, so I'll leave you with an adorable desk weasel and return to this thread later.
27. I'm really failing to do work at the moment which may sound like a bad thing but is mostly because the sheer vast weight of tension figuring this out has allowed me to release over the last four days has left me ridiculously relaxed.
https://twitter.com/GeniesLoki/status/1308705828715851777
28. The view out of my flat is really nice.
29. I got called out (incompetently, incorrectly) and the world didn't end and I got a nice bonus emotional breakthrough out of it.
This is a weird thing to list as a positive but it genuinely is one. Twitter feels much safer than when I was waiting for the other shoe to drop.
This is a weird thing to list as a positive but it genuinely is one. Twitter feels much safer than when I was waiting for the other shoe to drop.
30. I'm looking forward to throwing some small parties again once the Current Situation is resolved. Kinda thought my party throwing days were behind me but now it sounds genuinely nice.
31. I'm going to go for a walk now. Walks are nice.
32. It's nice out. A bit drizzly but I'm enjoying the fresh air.
33. Also there are pretty people out here and that's nice. I'm still not 100% where I want to be on this but my ability to find people straightforwardly attractive without it being a big deal has improved dramatically over the last year.
34. I've read some good, interesting, and useful, books this year. Some were even all three!
35. There's a solid core of people on alt Twitter who I consider Actual Friends (many of whom I know IRL or at least know their real name) and it feels really nice being here doing this slightly ridiculous thing together - feels like a connection we'd have missed out on otherwise
(this includes some people who I consider honorary members of alt Twitter despite posting under their real name)
36. My parents are pretty great.
37. You, yes you, the person reading this tweet and smiling at it. You know who you are.
38. My work, professional and otherwise, genuinely seems to help people. Possibly quite a lot of people. Hard to judge numbers for reasons but I think it's fair to say that I've positively impacted thousands, probably tens of thousands, of people's lives.
39. Tired from my walk and temporarily out of inspiration so here are some capybara.
40. I enjoy @eigenrobot's polls. They are, as @selentelechia puts it, literally the worst, but I basically reject all the premises so it's really funny watching everyone scream about them.
41. Semirelatedly, a really nice thing about having a bunch of followers on Twitter and minimal fucks to give is that I can use you all to do interesting research into how people work. Earlier research was interesting and surprising.
https://twitter.com/GeniesLoki/status/1308650087053230080
42. Yeah I don't know if things are as "fixed" as I initially thought but I have definitely acquired substantially more chill over the last 24 hours than I previously possessed, and I think this is going to persist.
44. Hugs are extremely good.
45. Hot showers are also extremely good.
46. Super tired so going to call it a day on this thread and continue tomorrow. Here's a stack of kittens.
47. Gosh am I struggling with positivity today. Here are some ferrets.
48. I am struggling with positivity today because of a whole bunch of difficult emotions and conversations. The fact that I am able to trust all parties involved to have those conversations is extremely positive even if the individual conversations themselves are more mixed.
49. On the subject of emotions, my ongoing project of being better at feelings is very much working this year. It's been what... Three years since @nosilverv told me to pick up Focusing and read a bunch of phenomenology texts, and that was useful from day one but compounded well.
(Apparently I'm wrong about it being three years ago and it's more like two. But in my defence 2020 has been a decade long)
50. @m_ashcroft introducing me to Alexander technique a decade ago back in January has also had a very positive impact although somewhat interrupted due to the difficulty of in person classes what I've been able to do on my own and with reading has still been very useful
51. There have been no nice cats on this walk but there are a whole bunch of very cute ducks out right now.
52. Entirely by accident the last two novels I read had poly triad relationships in them, and it's turns out that representation really is nice to see.
53. I like Twitter polls, and I like the playful ways people use them.
54. I feel like I understand how people work far far better than I used to. People are still confusing but now they're confusing because people are complicated rather than because I don't understand them.
55. This is maybe a bit too dark when you think about it to put in a positivity thread but it made me smile. theguardian.com/world/2020/sep…
56. Every now and then I remember that the game "Socrates Jones: Pro Philosopher" exists and smile about it. socratesjones.com
(I've played it through two or three times)
I just learned that its makers also made Elsinore which is also a very good game.
(I've played it through two or three times)
I just learned that its makers also made Elsinore which is also a very good game.
57. I recently discovered that Tim Minchin made a groundhog day musical. I haven't yet seen it but I am happy that this is a thing that exists.
59. I'm really going to enjoy this thread.
https://twitter.com/GeniesLoki/status/1309411888753762304
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