fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
HOW CAN I TRACK AN INTERNET FRAUDSTERS WHO SCAMMED ME ?
By: Elizabeth Wambui
Tags: Scam, Internet Scams, Recovery

HOW CAN I TRACK AN INTERNET FRAUDSTERS WHO SCAMMED ME ?

There are a couple of ways to track an internet fraudster if you know what you are doing but i would suggest you contact www.scamdoctor.org They can assist in tracking down the fraudster and also to recover funds if an was lost. Here are some things to watch out for

someone you don’t know contacts you out of the blue

someone you’ve never met in person asks for money

someone asks you to pay for something or to give them money through unusual payment methods such as gift cards, wire transfers or cryptocurrencies

someone asks you to pay for something in advance — especially through an unusual payment method

someone asks you for personal information, like your bank details or passwords, or access to your computer

someone pressures you into buying something or making a decision quickly

someone offers you something that sounds too good to be true — like an online shopping deal, a prize for winning a competition, an unclaimed inheritance or an invitation to invest in an ‘amazing’ scheme.
Fun thing about addiction is it comes packaged with lots of trauma, and that trauma in turn brings…
Tags: Recovery, Relapse Prevention, Manic, Bipolar 2 Disorder, Bipolar

Fun thing about addiction is it comes packaged with lots of trauma, and that trauma in turn brings with it bipolar, which means MANIA. *cue damning organ music* Duh duh duhhhhhh!!!

I just came out of a pretty depressive state I was stuck in for about a month or so that carried a very minor relapse in the middle. Prior to that I was sober 2 months (We’ll get to how I got there another time) Past two days I’ve begun getting out of bed and showering and dusting myself off and getting ready to jump back on the sobriety train for the first time in weeks. Last night I took my seroquel but didn’t sleep until 7 am and only slept 4 hours max. (Constantly interrupted I may add)…and tonight I took more than my recommended dose of seroquel at 9pm and it is now 4 am and I started a fucking recovery blog. I feel energized and pretty good…Holy shit…I am now entering the manic stage after depression. This is a real thing. Now I don’t go full blown manic, I have very short lapes of hypomania. Tonight my brain has been racing and bouncing thoughts. One minute I was researching breakfasts from 50 different countries and taking notes, next minute I was obsessing over 100 different scenarios as to why my sponsor is going to drop me. (She has literally in no way ever hinted at this at all and there is no evidence supporting these thoughts), then I read some Russell brand, then decided i should work on my worry workbook. Oh earlier today I almost crashed my car cause I wanted to make a genius tiktok that had to be done that very second while in traffic and now I’ve started a fucking blog. This is totally bonkers. I’ve never caught my mania before and my highly sedating medication isn’t even touching me. I have to admit this is sort of cool sitting up front and witnessing the whole show from a different perspective. Normally I wouldn’t recognize this sort of behavior until much later. Know what this means? Progress in my recovery. This also means I need to be extra mindful that I don’t get to high on energy and relapse. Omg…the very first line in my very first blog was “I was thinking of having a drink so I could start my blog and recovery same day"…

This is totally wild!

I wish I could speak to another human being who understood this feeling I’m experiencing right now. Like I am sitting still but my eyes wide wide open and my heart has been racing all night. It feels like I’m on Cocaine. Which isn’t the best feeling to have when you’re actively working on resisting cocaine and other mind altering substances .
The one you’ve all been waiting for
By: Ae Stueve
Tags: Recovery, Open Heart Surgery, Covid 19, Photography, Hospital

Heart. This is my pillow. This pillow is mine.

The one you’ve all been waiting for

I’ve spent the last twelve weeks recounting what life has been like for me since my open heart surgery. I like to think that at times what I have written has been heartwarming, other times scary, and maybe even occasionally funny. I hope I’ve taught my readers a few things and I hope I’ve entertained. At the end of the day, that’s all any writer really wants. Now, I thought it might be time for a few photos to really illustrate my experience. They are either ill-thought out selfies I took or photos of me that my wife took. And they speak to my experience in a way my words cannot. To be fair, my words speak to my experience in a way my photographs cannot. So, you know, it’s a give and take sort of thing… or something.

Anyway.

Here are some photos.
This is wonderful.
By: Samantha Waters
Tags: Addiction, Samantha Waters, Recovery, Help, Mackenzie Scott

This is wonderful. People are hungry and dying. I was going to ask you to follow my blog, but it looks like you don’t follow any on here. I wrote you on another platform for ideas on my son. I’m desperate to save him.

https://samantha-waters.com/

https://medium.com/@Samantha-Waters/%E1%97%B7e%E1%91%95%E1%97%A9%E1%91%8C%E1%94%95e-o%E1%96%B4-%E1%91%95o%E1%90%AFi%E1%97%AA-566b34aafcc4
My story
By: Samantha Hernandez
Tags: Anorexia Recovery, Eating Disorders, Recovery

TRIGGER WARNING

My story is not meant to be a comparison to yours or to see who had it worse as far as I know we both missed out in life so no one had it worse. I exercised till I couldn’t even bother look at myself in the mirror till I had no hope, till I was crying praying to god to help me, till I just wanted to give it all up and hope tomorrow I’d be gone.

I thought there was such a thing as a bad or good food I thought calories were to be controlled guess what calories were made to determine if your getting just the right amount of jolt to live. Kind of like a charger it gives just the right about of energy to a phone for it to reach 100% and last all day. I am not writing for pity or for someone to feel bad or good I’m writing because maybe you may not know someone around you has an eating disorder or you have one. I writing because that 15 year old me cried each night because she didn’t understand why she’s not happy. A body is temple yes but its not meant to glorified simply appreciated its not meant to be controlled its meant to be. Its hard to think a baby girl brought into a world hating her body why, how is that ok its not. I have lots of things to say but nothing can ever describe what it is I need to say . But I do want to say anything disorder can be overcome because the person who once used to be a baby deserves none of this. I care and I want you to be happy don’t give up you will be happy again. ❤

Resources:
How to Recover Files From Lost.Dir?
By: Ujjwal Murmu
Tags: How To Recover Lost Data, How To Recover, How To, Recovery, Android

How To Recover LOST DIR Files

Wondering what LOST.DIR is? And what does it do?

LOST.DIR, by its name, as you can understand that it means Lost Directory. This Folder can be found on SD Card (Memory Card) or the Phone’s Internal Storage. But it is commonly found on SD Card.

Now let’s understand what it really is?

This Folder stores those files whose extensions are lost and without an extension that file is useless. Every file has its own extension. Let’s take Image for an example its extensions are .png, .jpg, .jpeg, .gif, .heic, etc. Likewise for Audio Files the extensions are .mp3, .ogg, .m4a, .ac3, .aac etc. For videos the extensions are .mp4, .mkv, .avi, .ts, .3gp etc.

These were some of the extensions of the respected files.

To recover these files, you just have to rename and add an extension to the end of the name, then you have to open that file and check it to make sure if it works properly or not. If the file is not opening, then that means you have added the wrong extension to the file, and the extension does not match the file. So, rename and change the extension of the file and check the file again. Continue doing this until you get the correct one.

But wait, doesn't it seems to be a long process? It actually is a lengthy process. So follow this next method. I will provide you an App, with that you can recover your files instantly, and it will do the job for you. It is a premium version app for free but, if you download the same App from the play store, you have to pay for the App, and it is not guaranteed that the Play Store version will do the job correctly.

To see the full process, click here to continue reading…
Plan Plans, Not Results
By: Joe Gorman
Tags: Life, Recovery, Happiness, Relationships, Love

Plan plans, not results. We can wake up each day and make a firm intention to be a better spouse, parent, friend, or co-worker. Instead of going out of our way to criticize people, we can go out of our way to support them. We can refuse to allow negativity in our life and vow to be an instrument of peace and positivity. But we cannot save another person from his own destructive habits. We can love someone with our entire heart and soul but accept the fact that we cannot save anyone but ourselves. Sometimes that means detaching with love rather than enabling someone to use us to continue their self-destructive slide into oblivion. When someone passes away or gets into serious trouble, there is a tendency to think, “I should have done more,” or “I should have been there for them,” even though we have loved them to the best of our patience and capabilities. We planned to love them and we did love them. In the past, we may have been naive enough to help enable their self-destructive habits. But we cannot blame ourselves if our love was not enough to stop their own free will from continuing to make self-harming choices. We cannot make choices for anyone but ourselves. Our loved ones can make their own choices and then experience the consequences of those choices. If the consequence of their self-harming behavior is death or a loss of freedom, we can grieve, mourn, pray and love, but it’s self-harming on our part to engage in the fantasy that we could have stopped them.
That Love
By: Richard Palmquist, Dvm Gdvchm Cchvm
Tags: Healing, Ascension, Recovery, Poetry, Love

I'm an integrative veterinarian interested in healing. I'd prefer to speak in poetry as we awaken the #HealingCommunity. Let's play together.
From fixing the past to facing the future
By: Andy C
Tags: Addiction, Aa, Self Improvement, Recovery

We had been negotiating an investment in a company. It was a turnaround opportunity. The negotiations accelerated when the bankers called all the loans. We advanced some money and took control of the board.

Our days consisted of meetings to deal with one crisis after another. The first two weeks were a whirlwind. Fourteen 12-hour days. Of course, the bank needed comfort. The banker moved in with a monitor for the books and records at our expense and with our consent. The tax department had to be managed.

Employees calmed down; the leasing companies were given some money to bring them more current.

The third and fourth week consisted of assuring customers that we could survive and dealing with the Tax Department.

By the fifth week, the new CFO was giving us regular reports. He presented his first cash flow forecast that showed how we could move the company forward. The COO laid out his plans for closing down some money-losing operations.

Each meeting, the yelling and shouting died down and the business felt more and more regular. Each week, we were transitioning from fixing the past to focusing on the present.

In about week six, the VP Marketing presented a marketing strategy for a new product line. It was a good plan and we could see advancing more capital into the company to make it work. The banker allowed us time to try it out.

We had transitioned from fixing the past to focusing on the present, and now we were talking about growth in the future.

That is the nature of investing in turnaround situations.

It is also the nature of sobering up.

First, the crisis period. There is a lot of yelling and shouting and general panic. Then slowly, the fires are put out.

Next, we focus on the present. With inventories, we identify defects and begin to have them removed by our Higher Power.

Then one day, we look to the future. We realize that our desires have come into alignment with our Higher Power. We realize that we have a desire to improve our characters and grow spiritually.
Today I watched “Invisible Stories mini-documentaries on homelessness” on YouTube: 
What a great…
By: Samantha Waters
Tags: Addiction, Homeless, Recovery, Harm Reduction, Homelessness

Today I watched “Invisible Stories mini-documentaries on homelessness” on YouTube:

What a great documentary series on addiction and homelessness this channel has.

The guy on here reminds me of my son.

First I thought it must be a really good day for him because he doesn’t look very disheveled. Then I realized that my very assumption that he “should” look disheveled, is part of the stigma of homelessness and sometimes addiction that goes with it. He obviously has figured out how to make the streets work for him. He also doesn’t appear to have any mental Illness. I believe this could be, or would be my son, if it wasn’t for my son’s ADD component.

I believe he would like to be this guy and enjoy his DOC like a smoker enjoys a ciggerette. To just dabble.

The problem is, hard drugs don’t let you stay there and just dabble.

His entrepreneur driven ADD personality has him getting into more & more trouble with his use.

I believe this guy on the video is an exception, but I could be wrong.

I like these videos because they show the human-ness of people who have fallen into hard times.

There is no one answer solution to homelessness or addiction. I believe harm reduction is one way to avoid or reduce long acting affects such as HIV and Hepatitis AND it also helps get people connected to proffessionals, even if for a few minutes.

Isolation kills.

There’s another recovery advocate I have huge respect for, is Jen Elizabeth: Here’s her instagram.

She’s a former addict and an author of a book I just ordered. I’ll let you know what I think. ✔️🧾.

Addiction is one of those you-have-zero- clue until you’ve been there diseases.

I refuse to argue whether it’s a disease anymore, because just like in politics, you can’t change anyone’s mind. To me, too much energy is wasted on this argument, because are you really that much of a cold hearted person to use the “choice” argument to say these people don’t DESERVE help? If that’s the case then where’s does this argument stop? Would an AIDS patients fit with this theory? Who is the gatekeeper to decide who gets saved? Is it cops with the narcan? As a nurse, I know I can’t make that choice whether to treat patient or not, just because he made a bad decision, so I don’t think anyone else should play God either.

I’m devulging a whole chapter to this subject in my My Book coming out next year so I’ll stop. 🖐️🚫🛑

Random thoughts on this emotional Friday. Hope you enjoy the videos above.
The thing about Self Love
By: Isabella Sada
Tags: Growth Mindset, Recovery, Mental Health, Self Love, Energy Healing

The thing about self-love is that people believe it’s loving everything about who you are. A lot of people would even say that loving yourself means ignoring all of the negatives about yourself.

I’d argue that it’s a little deeper than that. Let’s consider this.

A mother has a son. Let’s name this son Andrew. Andrew is an eighteen-year-old. He’s fun, generous, and is very smart. The thing about Andrew is that he’s very independent. He has a 4.0 GPA and is ready to go to college. His mother loves him but wishes he could help around the house a little more. Andrew’s mother doesn’t stop loving Andrew when he doesn’t do these things, she kindly reminds him and puts him on a routine to ensure that while he continues to do well in school and with friends, he continues to excel with home responsibilities.

Self-love is the same thing. Self-love is willing to love all of the great things about yourself while keeping yourself accountable and working on the things you’re not too proud of. While self love could be seen as a very easy road, it’s hard and there are moments of doubt.

Self-love takes forgiveness, and patience, as the things we don’t love about ourselves take growth and lots of work. It’s not about being angry with everything that’s negative either, it’s about accepting who you are while working on the person you’ll be.

Don’t punish yourself if you’re not there yet. Keep going. Every insecurity, or negative trait that you see in yourself, take time to change. Love the journey, and embrace all of the ups and downs that come with finding who you are.

You’re doing great, by the way, keep it up.
I feel like my world is falling apart around me,
By: Elizabeth Liedahl
Tags: Hardship, Relationships, Recovery

I feel like my world is falling apart around me,

my world is crumbling.

I’m shaking,

tumbling.

I’m trying so hard to strengthen the walls,

but they begin to feel like empty halls,

I try to make sense of what I’ve just heard.

No one to talk to, my mind takes a turn.

I cannot escape this truth, and,

even if I tried, it would haunt me terribly.

Still shaking,

in my bed in the corner room of the house,

I cry and squeal as would a mouse.

Telling myself it’s okay, it’s time to distance.

A toxic trait of mine, but it always works.

My world is in shambles.
Abyss
By: Cm. Cancel
Tags: Depression, Poets On Medium, Recovery

Published in Fourteen Poems first edition

There are galaxies worth of

oceans inside of my chest.

I feel their tides change with every breath.

Inhale, long and deep.

The swell of their waters are skyscraper high.

Exhale, slowly and all at once

into beautiful, devastating monsoons.

Fearful my dams can no longer

keep them from rushing out of me

and I have long forgotten how to swim.
You are brave to speak up about this important issue.
By: Megan H
Tags: Mental Health, Alt Right, Recovery

You are brave to speak up about this important issue. I hope your article will be helpful for many young men that see themselves in you.
HamRecycling.LLC
Tags: Motherboards, Recovery

HmRecycling is a full range it management company. We provide customers various options to handle their electronic handling needs. HamRecycling offers various services such as ewaste recycling, recovery, liquidation, consignment and much more.

Business Contact Address: Line 1 -548 Mary Esther Cutt off NW Address Line 2 -Ste 103–18 City — Fort Walton State -FL Zip code — 32548 Country — usa

Website:

http://www.hamrecycling.com

Address :

Beijing, China

Phone Number:

01–877–322–4277

Contact Email ID:

hamrecycling@gmail.com

Business Hours:

Mon-Fri 9:00 AM — 5:00 PM

Sat 10:00 AM-4:00 PM

Sun Closed

Services :

recycling, liquidation, ewaste, recovery, computers, pc, motherboards, gold chips
If You Are Cruel
By: James Hunter
Tags: Poetry On Medium, Heartbreak, Recovery, Relationships, Love

Your heart

will break

into a

million

various shapes

but none

will be

heart-shaped

and those

little pieces

are the ones

which put

you back

together.
I have been in the position your son is in and he isn’t crazy, he is probably hurting and needs…
By: Hayley Bolan
Tags: Mental Health, Mental Illness, Addiction, Recovery

I have been in the position your son is in and he isn’t crazy, he is probably hurting and needs love, support, and help. Mental illness and addiction go hand in hand and it is a tough battle to go through. There is nothing like it. Be there for your son. It doesn’t have to be right now but when he is ready. I hope things get better. Stay positive.
Meditation
By: Joe Gorman
Tags: Self Improvement, Meditation, Life, Recovery, Love

Humans like stories and usually imagine narrative elements at play in their lives. “Hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow,” says the young lady who is getting married the next day. “Hope it rains tomorrow,” says the farmer or gardener. Each of them might even get God involved in the narrative, pleading for favorite child status. That’s all perfectly understandable. Who wants rain on their wedding day? But when we let dissatisfaction with our circumstances or the frustration of our ambitions lead us to create stories that “nothing ever goes my way,” or “I can never catch a break,” we lower our vibrations, invite disease through our lack of ease with life, and adapt a pattern of poor-me thinking and a pessimistic attitude that causes even our friends to hesitate when they see our number come up on their cell phone. Meditation will help. Pema Chodron says, “Meditation is about opening and relaxing with whatever arises, without picking and choosing.” It’s the acceptance of life and people as they are. It’s reminding ourselves to have a humble, happy attitude, and to not take things like the weather or a referee’s bad calls personally. Meditation is reminding ourself that the Christian prayer asks that “They will be done,” not “My will be done.” Meditation teaches us to accept life as it is rather than demanding that a list of requests be met each day. It’s asking for the inner strength to deal with whatever arises.

Meditation helps us realize so strongly that we are loved and lovable that the fickleness of any other person can never disturb that realization. Confucius said, “To be wronged is nothing unless you continue to dwell on it.” Mediate on that. Meditation is realizing that everyone has always done their best. Sometimes the best our significant caretakers had to offer wasn’t very skilled but it was their best. Their actions said nothing about us and everything about them. We forgive them and move on because we deserve happiness now.
Post-Pandemic Music Ecosystems: How They Could Be Better in 2021: Part 2
By: Shain Shapiro
Tags: Cities, Recovery, Covid 19, Music, Development

This is part 2 of a series of articles about the future of music ecosystems in a post-pandemic world. The objective is to demonstrate that no matter where you live, 2021 can be a great year. Here’s Part 1, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5.

Civic regulation — policies that govern the built environment — impact all of us despite few showing any interest in it. Music ecosystems present a unique case in civic regulation. Most rules that govern music in cities and places have little to do with music. At the same time, specific rules that could be in place to better support music are often absent. One may need a dozen permits to stage live music in a city that has no formal music education policy. This is because music is impacted by, and impacts most built environment policy areas. Housing, regeneration, health and safety, equity, education, licensing, tourism, permitting all have a relationship with music. But few cities have music or cultural planners in their office of planning, or an artist-in-residence on the licensing committee, or a sound designer on their regeneration team. All are worth doing, by the way.

Because of this, there’s a lack of understanding that thriving music ecosystems are best when their component parts are arranged together. When it comes to music in this context, we give from one hand and take from the other. For example, the Michigan State Teachers Pension Fund is an investor in Concord, an independent label and publisher. Yet, music education in Michigan is facing severe budget cuts. It’s like investing in a bottled water company and claiming that ‘pond over there’ is fine in terms of getting all the water it needs. Once again, we disassociate the creator (the songwriter) from the created (the song) in how we manage music ecosystems in the built environment.

taken from https://www.borgenmagazine.com/music-education-fight-poverty/

We all use mobile phones, but few of us understand how they are built. There are over 300 parts to a phone, but all that matters is that it works. If the Michigan state teacher’s pension fund is returning a consistent yield, no problem then. It doesn’t matter that music lacks structural, on-the-ground investment in Michigan. That’s tomorrow’s problem.

If we think about regulation differently — how we incorporate music into civic life — I feel we can create far better music ecosystems in 2021 as we recover from the pandemic. Here are a few ideas and examples to demonstrate that this is worth pursuing.
POST COVID AIRLINE RECOVERY
By: Mohini Chari
Tags: Demand Forecasting, Airlines, Recovery, Post Covid, Revenue Management

As airlines started to breathe easy, with the recent development. It brings good news to the various stakeholders of the industry. It’s a sign of economies across the world taking new turn.

It has become more crucial to closely monitor the competitor’s pricing strategy for the airlines across the world. Now the airlines need to be super flexible in order to grab the market share aggressively. Probably for most of them it’s a new beginning. As the entire network strategy for every airline has been changed, airlines will have to redefine their competitors.

Keep aside the pricing strategy defined in Pre-COVID era. Analyze the Price elasticity curve, maybe it’s perfectly inelastic. Also, relook at the terms & conditions. That could be a deciding factor for customer’s preference. It can’t be stringent as Pre-COVID environment.

There might be more disparity as compared to the earlier. Airline revenue managers & flight analyst needs to watch like a hawk as disparity will be a common norm going forward as OTA, consolidators & META will fight for share shift. They will be more aggressive than earlier. Cost effectiveness is the new mantra to increase profitability. Increase direct sales by not letting others to increase the channel mix share.

Need to optimize the fleets & Capacity adjustment. Build forward bookings for base loads. Keep multiple plans ready, with different styles of demand curves, so that it’s easy for the swift move.

Also, one has to manage the RM systems right. As there is no history valid for the new demand & capacity shaping up. Need to monitor & influence demand forecasting. Marking the outliers as bad data. Recent data will be more relevant as compared to the traditional & seasonal demand curves. Cancellation rates has to be redefined. Watch future demand for long hauls, as it may start forecasting lower due to historicity for the next year. As long hauls are the early booking markets, set the next year’s vacation season right for domestic markets & summers for EX-International markets.

What is needed to recover?

· Need to ensure safety first to win the customer confidence.

· Go slow but steady. Don’t go overboard, don’t initiate price drop, it will not simulate incremental demand in this situation.

· Understand the changing demand curve, POS shift & booking velocity.

· Short term & long term strategy needs to be formed by all the stakeholders -Planning, Optimization, Pricing, Sales, Marketing needs to work more closely than before and keep each other updated with the ongoing developments in their respective areas.
Assault: You Can Recover
By: The Rant
Tags: Recovery, Assault

Sexual assault and Physical Abuse.

According to Wikipedia, “Sexual assault is an act in which a person intentionally sexually touches another person without that person’s consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which includes rape. Physical abuse is any intentional act causing injury or trauma to another person or animal by way of bodily contact.”

There are bright sides to this dark and horrid experience. Those who have faced assault can live their life to the fullest. Yes, the recovery process can take years, but throughout that time you can be happy. This is my guide to living life after an assault.

First, keep your mind on positive things. Positivity can defeat negativity. One smile can affect your whole day. Don’t just sit around wallowing, or else your traumas will sneak in. Now I’m not saying that you are never going to think about them again. This is just to limit the times you think about it. It’s easier said than done, but it’s not impossible.

Second, It is okay to set boundaries. Speaking from experience, I was at dinner with a few of my friends. One of them began to talk about abuse and how it is so common nowadays. Talking about abuse happens to be one of my triggers. I began to cry at the dinner table, flashbacks were paying me a visit. I had horrible heart pain. Panic attacks and flashbacks are not a pleasant thing to experience. It is okay to set boundaries with your friends. Politely ask your friends if they could not bring up that sort of stuff around you. I’m sure they will understand. If they don’t, for your own health and safety, withdrawing your time and energy with them is okay. It doesn’t have to be forever, only until you are a little more stable.

Third, Come up with a safety plan. If you know you suffer from panic attacks or flashbacks, then you should make a safety plan. One thing you can add to your safety plan is bringing a distraction. A good distraction I like to use is a little bottle of perfume. Observing and smelling it can distract you. You can do something else! Anything that can distract your mind. A girl from my program suggested an object that creates noise. So your mind focuses on the noise rather than the thoughts in your head.

Now if your thoughts get really bad, talking to someone about your problems or thoughts can really help you process them. Even writing them down on paper. You could even draw out how you are feeling.

Fourth, If you feel unsafe call the police. If you feel like you are going to hurt yourself or others then call the police. They will get you the help you need. Don’t be afraid. It’s okay.

These are just a few ways you can help yourself. I am not a professional or licensed, but I am experienced. Experience can go a long way.

Recovery is a long road, but it’s not impossible to get to it. It is possible. You are in charge of how you feel today. What consumes your mind controls your life. Don’t let your traumatic experiences define who you are!
The Box
By: Elyse Wright
Tags: Freedom, Sisters, Recovery, Poetry, Friendship

Photo by freestocks on Unsplash

There are moments where I see glimpses of our lives, outside of the box.

There’s love — the real kind, and sadness — real and wrenching.

I am happy happy and you are too.

We are strong and brave and steadfast.

In these moments I see, we are still sisters, holding hands and hanging on for dear life.

It’s scary to break through the box.

But it’s scarier to stay the same,

And it’s scarier to break through alone, and-

This won’t be how the story ends, I whispered to you at that moment.

The pseudo safety that the box gave us ultimately caused destruction.

We may never be completely beyond the box, but the walls are becoming more malleable.

Eventually, they’ll just be a curtain, still there, but easily brushed aside.
Recovery
By: Never Sugarcoated
Tags: Addiction, Recovery, Alcoholism, Mental Health, Poetry

Recovery

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels

Suddenly, I’m awake.

The cold stings my skin,

Light pierces my eyes.

It hurts.

I can’t move,

I can’t speak,

Can’t go back

To my dreams.

I’m trying to save my life.



The knife of truth

Slices through

All the lies,

And it stings,

Like a thousand small

tears to my heart.

It won’t stop.

Is the reason

I’ve lived

My life

In a dream

Because

Honesty

Makes me feel

Cheap?

Is the pain so great

That I’ll cry if I feel it?

Will my body keel over

And die if I feel it?

The unknown scares me more

Than the truth that I’m dying.
A Coinbase user could stuck in Account Recovery process
Tags: Coinbase, Xrp, Recovery, Account, Btc

I am a coinbase user for cryptocurrency exchanges since 2017. Recently I lost my correct Coinbase Google Authenticator code after upgrading my phone without any proper backup. Panicking and saddening, I am not able to access my Coinbase account anymore. Then I started research on how to get my access back for a week. I’ve tried to call official Coinbase support number 1–888–908–7930 many times and got no progress. There is no way to talk to anybody alive. There is only one option on the main menu for compromised accounts only. I dare to press the option that blocks all of the account logged in and asks you to login with your username and password, then Authenticator code.

I tried to follow what is described on the Coinbase website to get Coinbase Account Recovery. Unfortunately I couldn’t get in the right Coinbase Account Recovery page but still asking for second factor code. Upon clicking Start->, I got “Enter the 2-step verification code for you Coinbase account” that is something I don’t have. Do you know why it is like that? Or please kindly reset my 2FA or to my cell phone number that is associated with the account. I completed the form on help.coinbase.com many times and never heard anybody from the Coinbase support.

Now I’ve realized that I stuck in a dead loop of the Coinbase Account Recovery process.

If you think you can help or you are a Coinbase support team member. Please contact me in the comment area. I really appreciated!
How I Survived Early Sobriety
By: Never Sugarcoated
Tags: Addiction, Recovery, Alcoholism, Mental Health, Sobriety

How I Survived Early Sobriety

Photo by Alex Knight from Pexels

After I broke up with alcohol, I felt like an alien species visiting Earth for the first time. It was like waking up during the season finale of a show I’d never seen, only to find out I was the main character. Oof.

Looking back on my early days of recovery, I was able to stay sober because I went out of my way to do things that made me uncomfortable. A wise, sober friend told me: you can’t change your life without changing your life.

I had three main fears about getting sober, aside from giving up my beloved liquor: telling my friends, losing my friends, and looking like a loser at parties.

In case it’s helpful to someone else, I put together this little toolkit based on what helped me get and stay sober during my first year without booze.

I asked for help

At first, I felt ashamed about getting sober. I didn’t want people to think I was a party pooper or that they couldn’t drink around me. I didn’t want to be judged, or even worse, to appear as though I was judging others.

I needed people on my team.

After I had been sober for about a week, I told a few of my close family and friends. I did this for two reasons:

Accountability

Since I told my best friend that I seriously wanted to stop drinking, I knew she would say something if she caught me drunk in a week. If no one in my life knew I wanted to stop drinking, then no one could hold me accountable.

Support

This one was a little bit tougher. Telling people I wanted to stop drinking was one thing, but directly asking for their support felt like a stretch. I didn’t want to burden anyone with my problems.

In hindsight, I realize that the people who truly loved me wanted to be there for me, even if they didn’t fully understand my decision. I was a closet drinker. Most of my friends and family had no idea how much I was actually drinking. But once I talked to them, they respected my choice.

For me, asking for support went something like this:

“This is hard for me to talk about, but I trust you won’t judge me. I’ve decided that I need to stop drinking because alcohol is negatively affecting my life. Can I count on you to be supportive by not offering me alcohol or encouraging me to drink?”

Were there heavy-drinking friends who told me to shove it? Yes. But that’s how I figured out who had my best interest at heart. If I kept hanging around with people who didn’t support me, I don’t believe I would have stayed sober.
Book Review: Unraveled
By: Michelle Renee Kidwell
Tags: Memoir, Addiction, Book Review, Recovery

Unraveled

A Mother and Son Story of Addiction and Redemption

by Laura Cook Boldt and Tom H. Boldt

Greenleaf Book Group

Greenleaf Book Group

Pub Date 10 Nov 2020

I am reviewing a copy of Unraveled through Greenleaf Book Group and Netgalley:

Unraveled is a book Co-authored with Mother and Don Laura Cook Boldt and Tom H Boldt. This book delves into Tom’s drug and alcohol addiction, and how that trauma reverberated with family and friends, it is a raw account of what they had dealt with. This book also tells the backstory of her own battle with alcohol addiction, so she refuses to stand by on the sidelines. She struggled with alcohol addiction firsthand but remains emotionally and physically sober and present for her son during his collision course with disaster. This book shows the families, love, compassion and understanding as they work their way through deep fear, sleepless nights, and crushing setbacks.

Unraveled offers a powerful portrayal of addiction and its agonies how one family faced their issues and found a stronger, more sustainable path forward. For many readers they will be able to see themselves in these stories and will come away with an abiding sense of hope, not just for Tommy and Laura, but for themselves, too.

This book has fresh brilliant writing, with Mother and Son’s writing blending together and the two voices working together and against each other makes Unraveled even more memorable. Tommy’s gift for one liner’s energizes the story and contrasts cleverly with Laura’s witty yet measured and concerned maternal tone.

Unraveled tells of chaos and near-death experiences that shares personal and private moments and the intense challenges and grueling work it takes to get sober and remain sober. This is a powerful and unique story of a mother and son’s journey that ends with on-your-knees epiphanies that leave both parent and child asking for help.

I give Unraveled five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!
Dread on the Bed
Tags: Failure, Chachawrites, Blue Insights, Emotions, Recovery

Dread on the Bed

I don’t want them to be right. I wanted to be right. I want to write. Chacha Follow Dec 15, 2020 · 2 min read

Photo by Jake Colling on Unsplash

I feel like a failure right now. My parents tried to warn me, but naivety overtook me. I don’t want them to be right. I wanted to be right. I want to write.

I’m depressed and irritable. Success is defeating me. My food is eating me. My heart is beating me.

I don’t know what this is. I haven’t done it before. Perhaps a new kind of poetry you’ve never seen before.

Ding my phone rings. The phone hits the floor. I fall into my bed once more.

Bury my head deep in the covers. My tears hit the covers. My fears become uncovered.

Smother myself. Uncover myself. Shake my head, stop the dread. I am not dead.

Alive. Alive, I will survive. I must revive. I shall not die.

My love for myself and my love for my health will help lift me to the highest shelf. The shelf of the self.

Feel it. I’ve felt it. With, I’ve already dealt it. There’s no need to melt it, for solid my emotions shall stand.

As solid as solid can be anyway, for we are all vibrating particles just like the thoughts that cloud our heads and cause us dread.

It’s all in your head. Get it out of your head and onto the notepad instead.

Change. Change all the misled. Get out of your bed. Get right with your head.

Head up. Heart up. Thoughts up. Hands up.

Happiness lands. This is so grand. Now, get on with your plans.
Here’s How You Can Tell You Are Healing From The Loss Of A Loved One
By: Aamna I. Rizvi
Tags: Heartbreak, Recovery, Relationships, Love, Loss

Here’s How You Can Tell You Are Healing From The Loss Of A Loved One

Half-asleep, in the early morning darkness I saw my phone-screen light up from across the room. I pulled myself out of bed and read what was easily one of the most heartbreaking texts I have ever received.

A bus had skidded off the road winding up Karakoram Highway. 13 people were killed. Multiple injured. My friend Shehzad had been in that bus. He was no more. It was a text from his sister. And it hit me like the roof of my room had caved in on my head.

Moving forward, for months, I avoided my phone like a plague. I developed a weird phobia of entertaining texts specially in vulnerable situations. I never cried during movies but during that time, I watched movies and cried during them to release pent up emotions.

I still struggle with getting back on texts quickly enough. I blamed the Ministry of Infrastructure and Development up North and hated the lawlessness of where I live with a passion for years after that. Every time a similar incident occurred, I relived that traumatic morning. I didn’t travel at all for two years after that.

After years of that incident now, I finally feel like I am in a place from where I can trace the signs that made sure I was on the road to healing. If you see these, it’s likely you are slowly but surely getting better than yesterday too.
The Bumpy Road to Bulimia Recovery
By: Emily Wilcox
Tags: Eating Disorders, Food, Mental Illness, Recovery, Mental Health

Thursday 26th November:

After a horrendous binge episode last night, I’ve come to realise that relapses are normal, common and okay. I think where I’ve been going wrong is I’ve still technically been participating in some form of tracking — albeit at the end of the day, after I’ve eaten everything — but perhaps that has been reinforcing the restrictive attitude in my mind. I’d only count my calories just before bed after having noted down everything I’d eaten that day just to ensure I’d met my 2300 calorie minimum for recovery, but I think maybe that in my mind has still painted the idea that calories matter, that there’s a set and defined amount. So. Not even going to do that anymore.

From now on, my only focus is: much more water and much more mindfulness. I slipped back into that blind frenzy last night, where I didn’t give myself long enough to pause and say hey, sure these are strong urges, sure they feel like they’re mine, but I am in control of my muscles. I can feel this all I want, but I do not need to put the food in my mouth.

I do not need to put the food in my mouth. I do not need to put the food in my mouth. I do not need to put the food in my mouth — regardless of how strong the urge might feel. No matter how loud it might scream. Despite it’s uncanny impression of me. Even if my mouth waters and my stomach growls and inner demons start laying out the fancy china, it’s me who gets to decide what goes in my mouth. Me.

I tracked nothing today. I drank plenty. I listened to my body, ate nutritiously and ate what I fancied (though Robert Pattinson wouldn’t let me take a chunk out of him). I just haven’t given food the power it’s used to taking. And I’ve realised, rather than focusing on the metrics and the quantities of what I’ve eaten, there are better ways to measure your relationship with food. This is when I found this list, by Lily Nichols:

1. I listen to my body.

2. I always eat when I’m hungry. (Here’s how to know if you’re truly hungry.)

3. I eat foods that I’m actually in the mood to eat.

4. I put my full attention on the meal in front of me.

5. I notice the sensations in my body before, during, and after eating.

6. I sit down when I eat.

7. I chew every bite before taking another.

8. I savour the flavors, texture, mouth feel, sounds, richness, crunchiness or softness, saltiness or sweetness.

9. I make an effort to eat healthy foods and make an equal effort to eat the healthy foods that taste good to me.

10. I sometimes choose to eat foods purely for the pleasure of eating them, even when they are not “healthy”.

11. I sometimes choose to eat more food than is comfortable, either because the food tastes really good or because I know I wont have time to eat again for a while (such as during a busy work day).

Give it a try. It’s not always easy to remember to do, but it is useful. And it enhances your ability to remain mindful throughout these food-related moments.
500 odd applauded for the story!
Tags: Recovery

500 odd applauded for the story! You dug deep for those. Like a lot of things in life I guess digging deep is the new hip cool thang! My friends used the term “deep” for a reason, going deep strips away all the layers for me. I always go deep and now I guess, that’s what makes us real. Great read and thank you. I applaud for the insight.
Artificial Intelligence: A tool or a threat?
By: Muhammad Usman Khan
Tags: General Ai, Autonomous Vehicles, Unemployment, Autonomous Weapons, Political Propaganda

Alegendry Physicist, Stephen Hawking, once said “I visualise a time when we will be to robots, what dogs are to humans and I am rooting for the machines” . Not only him but Bill Gates, Elon Musk and many others have shown their concerns over the advancement of artificial intelligence but wait a minute why are they concerned? Today AI has led us to a world of efficient medical diagnosis, advanced security systems, advanced internet surfing and much more. Let me tell you that today we are using AI for small tasks in many fields called applied AI but the real concern is about general AI, in which systems can handle any task that intellegent humans can perform and most likely beat us at each of them.

Face recognition: An example of applied AI

The first and foremost effect of using general AI is the rise in unemployment and increasing social inequality, causing social distress as machines replaces humans at workplace.

Another risk is that it is making weapons autonomous. Thing to concern is not that they might gain mind of their own but about the dangers they will be having with indivivuals or organizations that doesn’t value human life.

AI can also be used for political propoganda as in 2016 US presidental elections, a company called Cambridge Analytica collected data of 50 million facebook users and through AI used it for its own means in the election campign.

Part of what humans value in AI powered machines is their efficiency but if our commands are not clear, they can cause danger to the society.As in case of self driving cars , for example if we command them to reach to hospital as soon as possible without mentioning that to follow traffic rules , so in that case we will probably reach to the hospital, not in that car but in ambulance as these machines always get literal meaning.

Here I want to ask you some questions….How can we build AI machines that will refuse an illegal or unethical command….How can we build AI that we can trust…How can AI be designed to recognize and resist hacking, abuse or malware that aims to weaponize AI aganist vital human interest…. How can we ensure that the economic benifits of AI are justly distributed rather than growing political and economic risks of extreme inequality…..Should any artificial agent occupy a position of responsibilty…What would that mean..Can machines be held responsible for the actions they take without human directions and can a machine ever understand and accept risk.

These and many other questions in my mind, continue to make me feel that “Artificial intellegence is a threat to humans” but what do you think about that?
First driver-less delivery service to begin in California in 2021!
By: Salman Hasan
Tags: Technology, Autonomous Vehicles, Automation, Startup, Future

Nuro delivery bot vehicle. BBC

First driver-less delivery service to begin in California in 2021! Robotics company Nuro received the go-ahead from California’s MVA to charge for its delivery service. The tiny, oval cars would be limited to 35 mph and good weather.

The vehicle has an egg-shaped frame that is smaller than most cars in the US. It also has two temperature-controlled compartments for deliveries. Doors raise up to reveal the items once a code has been entered by the recipient. — BBC

A similar trial is on in Shanghai for a firm backed by Alibaba. Wonder what will happen to all the delivery drivers if this becomes the future! Also another acquisition target for Amazon?