Word Of The Year For 2025

Leriff Anduion by sketchygoat (deactivated. if anyone has a link to their current social media, please let me know so i can update this post!)

"Remove shoulds from your vocabulary this year. Start your journey of self-love now." - Kelly Martin

My Values.

What do you hold sacred/value above all else? How do these values translate to actions and our daily lives?

Love To love is in the nature of all things. Everything seeks to be loved and all also give love, whether it be to another being or an object. It is love that creates. Without love, we are solitary; alone. Nothing is meant to exist alone. Communication, time shared together, gift giving, physical touch.

Nature If the natural world suffers, all do. It is by the grace of the Earth, itself, that we are able to live. By neglecting nature and all that exists within it, we are erasing not only our future, but the future of the planet. Maintaining gardens for pollinators, picking up trash, creating less waste.

Kindness We exist in the same plane and each of us has our own struggles. There is no need or reason to make someone's existence more difficult. A little bit of kindness can change someone's existence. Volunteering, saying thank you, helping someone else reach a goal.

Creativity To create is to bring about life. Art, literature, music, food, and theater all represent life and experiences. I believe we all desire to create, to express ourselves in various manners through different mediums, to leave a bit of ourselves with others so that we might exist in diverse ways. Writing, cooking, putting on makeup.

Remember to reevaluate values and actions at the turn of the year!

“How can you enjoy horror?! How can you enjoy feeling fear and anxiety? What's wrong with you?”

I came across a video discussing this and it really made me think about myself, a horror fan who delves deep into the genre and loves to explore the different subgenres. But why do I enjoy it so much? Why do I prefer to sit in a state of anxiety and fear and watch others suffer?

The general answer would be: Because I am comfortable in that state. Those feelings I have lived within for most of my life, and it is where I feel most ‘safe’ in a sense. I feel that a lot of people can relate to horror in various ways.

Why?

Trauma. It all relates to the trauma I have endured from a very early age. Horror gives me various ways of sitting in these emotions and processing them. Even the different subgenres offer me different points of views and thoughts on how to approach these feelings and release them. No, I’m not talking about acting upon violence, because that’s just a very small part of horror.

Body horror is my favorite subgenre. The drastic metamorphosis of the human form turning into something we cannot comprehend - something that is alien to us. The suffering of being in that form that’s in between reality and the unknown. Struggling to understand it, attacking it because we don’t. I see my own body this way. I have never felt comfortable in my physical body. No, I do not suffer a debilitating disease or suffer the loss of body parts, but when I look at myself in the mirror I wonder, “Is this really what I look like?”

I forget that I do not look like the image I have of myself in my head and being reminded of that makes my stomach feel tight and I feel actual fear. I do not like how I look on the outside. I also do not like knowing what’s on the inside. Blood and gore make me queasy, not only on the screen or in a book, but in reality. The knowledge that my body is filled with fleshy pieces and liquid that can so easily be spilled and lead to my demise is terrifying.

Gothic horror. This one is a bit more subdued. It’s the past versus the present, time leaking into the future. It’s a reminder of how the past affects the present and how, in turn, the present affects the future. My past clings to me, I live in it. I am doing my best to let go, and movies in the subgenre and usually about doing just that. The happy ending of moving on from past trauma, of learning to cope healthily or close a chapter of your life to look forward to the future. This is a subject I desperately try to improve in myself, but this subgenre is where I feel so… understood.

Cosmic horror is so intriguing to me. It makes me dive into analyzing otherworldly subjects, working my mind to try and grasp whatever understanding I can from the horror introduced. It shows humanity struggling against an unknown but overcoming it… or being driven mad. It reminds me what it is to be human; how not understanding everything is terrifying, but real. We are not meant to understand everything, we cannot scientifically break down things and we can either accept that or fight against it.

Humanity’s true hubris is trying to understand the core of the universe, to examine everything in a way that we will have infinite knowledge and pluck at the strings of reality so that we can control it. How we, as a species, crave domination. This subgenre makes me take a step back, realize there are things we should not meddle in, and sometimes we should accept things as they are… lest we see what lies in the mountains of madness.

Paranormal fiction gives me hope. Strange, isn’t it? The idea of ghosts or demons haunting us. Thinking that we could be tormented by an entity that lives beside us that we only need to give an ounce of attention to. So why does it fill me with faith? Because I feel so alone. Not only due to my schedule of being someone who is only active over the evening and night, but because I have a habit of isolating myself due to my intense fear of abandonment. The paranormal is unseen right next to us and, as much as I don’t believe in spirits, heaven, or hell, a part of me does hope that maybe those I have lost are still here.

That I am not sitting here alone at my computer. Perhaps a phantom stands with me, watching me in intrigue of this new technology they cannot understand. Maybe a specter paces the hallway, reliving a certain moment in their lives over and over again, not knowing that I am here… but they are present. Is there a fiend wrapped around my shoulders, damning me throughout the day by placing me in difficult situations and causing havoc around me? Well, they’re dealing with my annoying optimism and having to listen to me break down, too. If they felt joy about it, I’m sure they would be tired of it by now. We’re just nagging each other at this point. Yet, neither of us would be alone.

It’s about grief.

It’s about self-animosity.

It’s about trauma.

It’s about feeling understood.

I enjoyed the show Stranger Things, for example, because I could relate to the characters. I was a gifted child who was exploited by the authority around me, I never felt that I fit in, and I tried so hard to do so. I was smart, but in turn I was looked down upon and still told I was not by adults. I had special interests but never found friends who shared in those. I was afraid of being alone.

Enjoying horror does not mean there is anything “wrong” with you. It’s a platform for exploring deep emotions, expressing questions we are too afraid to ask, and finding comfort in a way you can understand in a safe place. (By safe, I mean your living room or bed.) I know horror can be dangerous, but it can also be a form of therapy. Writing in the genre allows you to work through uncomfortable emotions, to get your feelings out in a way that doesn’t avoid those emotions.

I do not speak for everyone, and this is about my person views and experiences. I would love to hear the views and stories of others.

When the neighbor's cat comes running to welcome you home, walks you to the door, then tries to come in with you. I am the Cat Lady. I guess I got adopted.

I don't understand why we can't have a Monster Hunter where we can just run around in the same environment and hang out. Why we can't just be bros and maybe see one another while we're doing other things. Explain.

youtuber finishes talking

me: mhm yeah

Tis the season of "Cool tattoo! What is it?"

My husband, @notleriff, showed me the synopses for the upcoming WoW expansions.

And I started crying.

The good memories came flooding back and my favorite zone is going to be front and center and it just felt like "oh, that's home...". But I realize that going back might not be in the cards for me. Playing WoW was definitely the most toxic era of my life and I suffered heavily for it.

But damn... going 'home' sounds so nice.

While I feel good at the start of my day, it always begins to slow down, and the weight of depression settles in. It's hard to motivate myself to do anything and even if I do get it done, I feel as though I haven't done enough and have to keep going. I have to do a lot to feel I accomplished anything and by then I'm overwhelmed mentally. It's not a good feeling.