I feel that autism also belongs in that list, due to the different presentation in women, and the underdiagnosis because of masking. Adhd/autism pairing also happens. If a person then already doesn’t have trauma, they risk encountering it. Ofc I also very much agree bio markers like thyroid must be investigated.

I’m a big fan of meal prep. With a freezer you can freeze the extra portions and then thaw things overnight from your built stash. Without I used to just eat the same several days. I don’t mind and it was just me :)

I feel that overthinking due to anxiety is like running on a treadmill. You expend a ton of energy but you’ve not actually moved forward. Better to apply that energy to preventative measures or solutions. And if it is outside of your control? Well then just like the weather, you need to accept it.

I immediately angrility opened the comments to respond. I think it’s just a side effect of working in this field. I have to be completely literal to the computer so in communication I prefer the same style. I will argue with people on the use of ambiguous language. More so if they are analysts. I can understand the business doesn’t always fully grasp the concept but if you give me a functional analysis it best be 100% clear. And yes, I’ve been tested for autism, it certainly flagged up as a possible trait, but it’s hard to know if this hasn’t just become an ingrained preference. Sure does help me when communicating with neurodivergent people, and I’ve heard from several neurotypical people as well that they actually appreciate the clarity!

We’ll need to ensure that this bias against female (and also male) patients isn’t adopted by the AI. We’re already not properly testing medicine on both sexes. Medical textbooks often list stuff as more or less common in one sexe. This is entirely possible but if the data isn’t properly screened we’re just moving the problem. Data can exist and be wrong for many reasons. We should address that urgently. It is bad for everyone. I think it is plausible an AI could have reached the same conclusion here because of all the mental health problems considered far more common in women. Did anyone ever even check where the source of that data is? Because some stuff really hasn’t been rechecked in the last 50 years I’m sure.

Not to this scale, but my partner’s father has spent a fair bit of money doing upgrades and repairs that are technically for the landlord. However, I should note that the contract isn’t registered, meaning the landlord cannot index the rent. This also makes it hard to hold the landlord responsible for doing any repairs. On the other hand, renter can’t be held responsible for modifications either. So legally there is more freedom on either side. Thing is, the renter can always demand registration. But usually this means no renewal of the contract. It’s very likely here the property would get sold and even if he brings up the money, it may be sold to someone else. So the short answer is really that people in poverty often don’t know or don’t dare to stand up for their rights and loopholes like this keep existing because you can get a cheaper rent on a building not up to standards.

She is absolutely beautiful. And full of tortitude I bet.

I do not have a proper autism diagnosis as I stopped after the initial screening (I am suspected to be though), but my existence is held together by habits.

Some of these habits are pure preference, such as the first tea I drink in a day will have some honey added to it. Other habits I have conditioned myself into doing to the point where it feels wrong not to do them, such as scooping the litterbox every day. I also do the thing where everything has a fixed spot or order, and I even have a checklist in the morning to see that I have gathered and done everything I need to leave for work.

The real challenge is making a difficult habit stick, or when something about my day changes. For example, in the morning on weekdays I brush my teeth as it is part of getting ready for work, but on weekends it’s not in the order of things that I execute so it gets forgotten about. I might remember and then do it, or I might not. I will however always still brush them in the evening because it’s in my evening routine. The difference here is that it is ok to maybe not do it then, but if I arrived at work with unbrushed teeth I’d be mortified and stressing all day…

The “don’t break the chain” method is good for difficult habits but I need to use something like a todo list to keep reminding me. I also struggled with tasks like doing the dishes for years because I absolutely hated the task. It’s only after consistently doing them every time that eventually it got to a turning point where I was excited to get those stupid dishes over with so I could feel good about having it done. However despite that some things just never stick. Or I will not start them. Exercise for example.

My partner has remarked it is a bit peculiar I do things always the same, but he has seen the advantage in that I am always prepared for everything. However while he can brush off having forgotten something, it can impact me greatly. It’s been suggested to me I should get ADHD screening (and finish the autism one) because I do am distracted, I can start a routine task and never finish it because I got sidetracked and it somehow auto-completed in my brain. But at the same time I think I very much use habits and routines to deal with the fact that it keeps anxiety under control for me. Control as a whole makes me feel safe. But it does come at a cost. Not everyone likes how I am, which is fair, because it can overflow from me wanting to control my own stuff to me demanding control over others.

Single flash of hazards to thank someone is common in Brussels traffic, there are a lot of very selfish drivers on the road who never let anyone merge in. Haven’t seen it outside of here, maybe because people are usually a bit more polite or zipper merging works as it should.

Common in all of Belgium to put hazards on to warn people behind you that there is a traffic jam up ahead. I really like that passing the baton system.

Also single flash of high beams to notify someone you’ve seen them and they can cross or pass where they’d otherwise not have right of way. While you should always be as predictable as possible, sometimes doing it wrong resolves the situation faster for everyone.

I also always raise my hand as a thanks when someone stops to let me use a crossing (I have the right of way as a pedestrian but I still feel like sending people a thank you for observing the rules correctly). Did that when walking in Brussels this morning out of sheer habit, realized that is probably actually pretty unusual for a big city. My small town habits are betraying me.

When I started my career and I worked at small companies, I figured they just didn’t know any better. Now I’m further along in my career I have come to realize that really big companies (as well as government agencies) have the exact same problems except on a much larger scale.