That was a very thoughtful and validating response. Thank you.

Idk. My birth control triggered treatment resistant depression. Possible it could have happened anyway, but I didn’t struggle with any mental health issues before that. We tried all different kinds of birth control. My doctor certainly didn’t warn me about the risks for any of them.

I wasn’t even trying to be safe for sex, I just had chronic pain. No pain meds ever offered. Just birth control suggested from early in my adolescence. When I finally eventually started birth control it didn’t fix my pain and I ended up leaving college and my life fell off the rails for years. Major depression is no joke.

Yeah, student loans, rent, and healthcare eat up the majority of a lot of people’s income here

Kenneth Parcel’s mom’s new friend Ron

I think people underestimate how much hustling selling pictures online involves. Finding the sect of your audience who is actually willing to pay, beating your competition while trying to respect the market (in certain communities there are price floors to keep it stable), then attracting your customers without revealing your identity or identifiable backgrounds, while competing with other sellers who don’t care about privacy, then the actual content creation, and after all of that customers really like personal touches, and some conversation. Then if you say or reveal anything that messes with their fantasy, you lose them. Even if you’re a hottie, it’s not easy money. Easier to just get a regular ol job.

What about taxes? Health Insurance? Car insurance or transportation budget. You can live comfortably on $10 a day for food?? $3.30 a meal? That eats up the rest of that $1300 a month and leaves nothing for entertainment, savings, gifts or dating. Nothing left for meeting that health insurance deductible so you still can’t go to the doctor. Survivable? Absolutely! Doesn’t sound comfortable to me though.

Looks like you’ve got a long list already, but the last movie that made me lump in my throat cry was Awakenings with Robin Williams and Robert deNiro

I listened to a podcast basically saying once you’re really smart, it’s likely your life just really sucks. Of course there are a handful of people who are wildly successful, but most high IQ people just feel like nothing in the world was built for them. Basically the father out on the bell curve you are, the less the world is made for you to function happily in, whether your IQ is 60 or 140. If you want to be smart and happy, a doctor or lawyer or whatever, 125 is the sweet spot. 140 is depression.

Thank you posting such an in depth and interesting explanation!