@MissNMTX @RoseyLittle @NickyMoon @kimmybunny @Zina @SquirtleSquad @DaddysCosmicBunny Ohhhh things are getting so good!!! The two have finally met and can you say TENSION?!?!!? Ugh I can already see the spice is gonna be good. I am however worried for how intense the third act breakup may be. That being said yall are free to read chapters 17-21!

@MissNMTX @RoseyLittle @NickyMoon @kimmybunny @Zina @SquirtleSquad @DaddysCosmicBunny Alright as promised here are questions for chapters 12-16. Per usual remember to spoil them and post in the linked topic below. Post here:

@MissNMTX @SquirtleSquad @Zina @kimmybunny @RoseyLittle Checking in! Are you still with me friends? If so what page are you on?

Spoiler quote from page 97

I love this! I have a little fox necklace that I use like this as well! I don't go into unknown situations without it. For Sanctuary, mine would be my blue couch in my room. I call it my reading couch and I have my pillows and blankets on it so when the world is too much I can go hide in my little cozy corner.

Spoiler page 140

@marshmalloww Thank you so much for sharing this, it takes a lot of courage to put words to something that feels so heavy and confusing. What you’re describing makes so much sense, and you’re definitely not alone in this. That moment of realizing “oh… this isn’t how everyone feels” can be both relieving and deeply painful. Feeling calm for the first time and grieving the years you didn’t have that is a very real and valid response. Nothing about that makes you crazy, it makes you human and aware. It’s also incredibly common for anxiety to spike when you start therapy and begin working through trauma. You’re loosening long-held coping mechanisms and your nervous system is learning new ways to exist, which can feel overwhelming and exhausting. The shoulders-up-to-your-ears feeling is such a familiar sign of how much your body has been carrying for so long. Being competent, decisive, and high-functioning at work while feeling undone by “small” things at home is something so many people with GAD experience. It doesn’t mean you’re weak or inconsistent, it means you’re using a tremendous amount of energy to hold things together during the day. Decision fatigue is real, and it’s okay to need softness and simplicity when you get home. Accepting the label can feel frustrating, enlightening, and grief-filled all at once. That tension you’re feeling around acceptance is part of the process, not a failure of it. You’re learning how to meet yourself with more honesty than you ever had space to before. As for “toughing it out,” many people find that the real shift comes when they stop trying to be tough and start practicing gentleness instead, letting rest be productive, letting emotions exist without fixing them, and speaking to themselves the way they would to someone they love. Progress isn’t linear, and the days that feel harder don’t erase the work you’re doing. You’re doing something incredibly hard, and you’re doing it thoughtfully and bravely. Please know that many of us have walked this path and recognize exactly what you’re describing. Be patient with yourself, healing is slow because it’s deep. And you’re already moving forward, even on the days it doesn’t feel like it. Keep up the good work and best wishes!💛

Such a great thing to remember! Amulet I find fuzzy blankets comforting. I just got a new hogwarts 1 for Christmas from a family member. I love curling up under them or even snuggling close to it. Only downside is my dog loves them too and steals them 😂😂

I haven’t had much time to read it lately, that said I’m on page 135.

Hi there friends! Still with ya! On page 144.

The weather here has become beautiful and cool. I am really happy. 💙🤍🍃🌥️

Hello! I am Akichan. Did you know you can "rent" Japanese boyfriends, girlfriends, wise older men, etc. online? I am super nerdy so I create slideshows on different topics (holidays, medicine, school, etc.) and study with them. It's been a great resource for me, so I thought I'd throw the idea out there for others!

Still here, on the start of chapter 18. I think I accidentally over read. Now I have to find the last round of questions to answer. New chapters on Wednesdays right?

On page 132 chapter 15 ☺️

🙏I’m so sorry you are going thru some really hard stuff, friend. 💜 praying for you both

Movie Night Begins in 5 hours, hope you can make it.

Movie Night begins in one hour! https://hyperbeam.com/i/lwi0Z4lw

@MissNMTX @RoseyLittle @NickyMoon @kimmybunny @Zina @SquirtleSquad @DaddysCosmicBunny Alright friends it is assignment week!!! It is our first week doing 5 chapters so let me know what yall think. That being said feel free to read chapters 12-16! Can't wait for our main folks to meet!!!

@MissNMTX @RoseyLittle @NickyMoon @kimmybunny @Zina @SquirtleSquad @DaddysCosmicBunny Alright all here are questions for chapters 9-11! Per usual make sure to spoil them and post in the topic linked below. Post here: https://www.ddlgforum.com/topic/64956-nocticadia-question-answers-spoilers/#comment-369768

Spoiler page 91

I don't have this but my twin does (I got the Persistent Depressive Disorder from my mom and he got her GAD). I asked him your question of "How do you tough it out and still be kind to yourself?" and his answer was "You don't. Sometimes you just have to feel it and not be tough in order to be kind to yourself". I know for him a big help has been channeling that anxiety after work into something creative. Lately he has been sewing but before that it was poetry and making bracelets. Pretty much anything that doesn't require serious decision making and lets him focus on something else. It sounds like you are doing the work by doing therapy and recognizing when your anxiety is building though. Just remember to make space for yourself to not be perfect and to feel your feelings. We are all here to remind you how awesome you are when you need reminding 🫶

Oh! I have a sanctuary too... my bed 💗! That's covered in stuffed animals and ungodly amount of blankets and under pillow twizzlers lol. I also crawl in here when I need to just peel off the world and be small. I would say i have a map, its something my coworker told me that i keep in the back of my mind. 3 P's - Most things aren't perfect, personal, persistent. It helps me reframe a lot of things.

@RoseyLittle @NickyMoon @MissNMTX @kimmybunny @Zina @SquirtleSquad @mecwmello @DaddysCosmicBunny Alright the pole is over! Thank you friends. Starting tomorrow we will be doing 5 chapters a week instead of 3 so 2 additional.

Heyyyy my name is skylynn Davis chubby cute brunette 😇😘🥰💜

I have an "Amulet"... a palm sized, mini pink squishmallow I put in my pocket when I need her. I call her "Little Foxy" since I have a giant squishmallow fox named "Mama Foxy, a pillow sized one named "Foxy" and small one named "Baby Foxy" (who likes to chill in the collar of my onesie and try to steal my paci while I'm coloring!), and a Fox onesie sleeper I lovingly call my "Foxy Jammies" .... Anyways... back to Little Foxy... I carry her in my backpack all the time and when I need her, I stick her in my pocket and she's there for me. I can put my hand in my pocket and give her a quick hand hug whenever I need reassurance. Or I can hold her while I practice my deep breathing. She's super soft and gentle.

I will start. Chapter 8 page 80

Hello everyone. This is my first post in this section, so I thought I'd show you some photos from where I live. They were taken at different times but show the view I get every day. Aplogies for the quality, they had to be compressed to upload as there is a file size limit

I like taking random snapshots on walks or even when cooking, then uploading them to my frame from nixplay.com. It sits on my nightstand and loops those little everyday pics so they don’t get lost in my phone gallery. Makes things feel more cozy and personal, especially on tougher days.

Hey everyone! Texi here. I’m new here but not really to ddlg. So far this seems like a great place I can be my bratty little self. I’m really looking forward to making new friends that understand the lifestyle. I’ve never felt so welcome from an opening post 😊

It’s so nice to have found you and this forum! After 30 years of marriage and 25 years of wondering why D/s didn’t “quite” work for us in the way we thought it should, my husband finally figured out that he’s a nurturing dom (we use the term “Daddy Sir” as neither of care for alliteration- LOL!). And we also figured out that I am very happy as a little/middle (kind of both depending on time/day/mood). My anxiety was so bad it was affecting our marriage and two weeks after discovering what might finally be the right fit, I am SO much calmer and there is almost no anxiety yelling on my part anymore. It’s like a third honeymoon!

Hey, friends. Hope you're having a nice weekend and stuff. 😎 I'm doing a little bit of kanji study and was wondering what the "little ケ" means? I've seen it occasionally, but cannot for the life of me understand its purpose. I know there's the character which indicates twin kanji (such as「 時々」). Thought this would be a good learning opportunity for the group. Thanks!

@Onasunbeam I am not sure what the best way to study would be but I would imagine listening to people speak the language in a casual form would help. Watch Japanese YouTubers and Japanese news channels. Because of how we speak and the similarity between words almost every word we speak would be accompanied by text, I would then take that text and translate it with Jisho.org like Sir Charlie said or even Google to get a basic idea. I would suggest too finding an online study guide to help you start building the basics of sentence structure and the vowels and how they sound. You could also probably find those on YouTube as well I hope this helps ^^

@Lil_Bear That's quite fitting for the first post in this thread. Thanks for sharing. It also reminded me of the pottery practice of 'kintsugi', which means something like 'gold patchwork'. Katakana: キンツギ Hiragana: きんつぎ Kanji: 金継ぎ This is when broken plates, pots, and others are reassembled using melted gold or silver. It creates a unique aesthetic where the cracks are highlighted with gleaming precious metal. The idea is that the pottery was once shattered but is now whole again, and that its exposed flaws make it more beautiful than ever. I feel that's something that many people here will appreciate.

I wanted to add something but I was not sure what would be interesting to share. I thought about it a lot and given the forum and how people come here to find connections I would share a Japanese word/saying that is all about the inevitable connection. Koi No Yokan (恋の予感) although there is no direct English language translation it can roughly be translated into “premonition of love”. It is also the name of the American band Deftones seventh album but all it share is the name haha but in description it is used to describe the sense a person has upon meeting another person, the future love between them is inevitable. This is not the same thing as “love at first sight”. An example would be like, “Your smell was never unfamiliar”.

Im feeling very high stress amd anxious and figured it would help to just share. I've started therapy and working with a psychiatrist and have been diagnosed with GAD. I always thought that it was normal that I have always been tense and that the pressure in my chest always sat heavy and my ever racing mind were just normal. I felt crazy when I started fluoxetine because all of the sudden I was calm for the first time and then sad that I had never experienced that before. Since starting therapy and working through some trauma, im experiencing higher anxiety and with work stress I notice my shoulders are up to my ears. I find it frustrating and enlightening to have this label. I think what throws me off is being a very serious decision making person throughout my work life and still feeling like world crashing around me over random small things. Then having decision fatigue when I get home. It exhausting. Has anyone experienced this as you've worked through your own stuff. How do you tough it out and still be kind to yourself?

Hi, it's been a minute since I've been here. If I may, i would like to request prayer for my sister and myself, please. Around the first part of the Year or early summer? My sister found out she had Melanoma annnnnd Basil cell cancers. Thru the grace of God and many people praying, she's at this moment, cancer free. With having to see the Dr. every Year for about 5 years. After we received the news about her, our oldest sister passed away unexpectedly. She had clots on her lungs, they thought she was in the all clear, was sent home and within a few days, she passed away, we think and hope, in her sleep. I'm still dealing with the grief and emotional struggle with that. Yesterday,i noticed I had a spot on my foot, that just wasn't healing. I've had it for about a month now, but yesterday noticed it didn't look right. So i sent a picture to my sister to we what she thought. (it's where a couple of her skin cancer was, on her foot also), and wouldn't you know it?! She says it looks like cancer, and to get into the Dr's as soon as possible. I'm not able to get in until the 7th of January. So if y'all don't mind to say a lil prayer for us, it would be so very greatly appreciated! From the bottom of my heart. Thank you!💖

Given your family history, This must be very scary. Remember that the Lord is the great physician and that faith in him can provide peace beyond understanding. Of course, we'll be praying.

Sending prayers of course

@Juju made Jehovah Rapha (The Lord Who Heals) place His mighty healing hands on you and heal whatever is not aligned according to His word. Letting His healing follow from His hands unto you and your family. You and your family are in my prayers Juju 💟

Y'know, I have the hardest time just accepting it. But I know that's the truth. Its feel harder sometimes. Its a slow process but im working on it! I appreciate you and your twin!