Contrary to most here, I'm thankful for being raised in a country/culture that happiness comes before economic accomplishments. And also for having found my way on Software development and land remote jobs working for richer countries. That provides me with the best of both worlds (1 & 3).
Ask HN: What are you thankful for?
271–280 of 304 posts
Re: Ask HN: What are you thankful for?
#272After struggling with a disabling fatiguing illness for 10 years and thinking it was incurable, I was just diagnosed with a rare sleep disorder and am awaiting corrective surgery. I'm excited to see what I can accomplish with a normal energy profile.
Re: Ask HN: What are you thankful for?
#273I'm thankful for Hacker News and its community.
I am successful largely in part because of the community and its discourse. I was introduced to the growth mentality when browsing this site back in 2010, and astonished by how open and humble people approached their failures.
This resonated with a lot of my personal struggles. However taking on a growth mindset put me on the right course and helped me take on increasingly larger scope and responsibilities at work, and also improved my relationships with family and friends.
Fortunately I'm now in a position where I can help shape culture, and pushing for learning and open mindedness has been an underlying principle for many of my actions.
Re: Ask HN: What are you thankful for?
#274I'm thankful that I was lucky enough to be exposed to computers at the very young age of 6. Until I became around 11 or 12 years of age, most people only had routine access to them when working government or highly technical jobs (Eastern Europe in the 2000s), so I am aware it was a very kind gift from my parents.
They actually worried that I spent so much time playing video games afterward, but games taught me English, made me competitive for the first time, gave me a few tips on empathy, and helped me develop a passion for solving problems and understanding systems, which I tried to use to make my own games, which ultimately led me to pursue a career as an engineer (which eventually led me to HN, and eventually to this post. Ha!)
Re: Ask HN: What are you thankful for?
#275Earlier quoted context omitted.
They put in what is essentially a tube similar to what a scuba diver would wear with a piece that goes between your gums and lips. Then they monitor your breathing for a bit and they start to countdown. Then they just turn off a valve and no air can get in. As long as you don't panic your chest doesn't move. If you do panic they make you take Ativan before each treatment. I'm extremely claustrophobic so I take a numb…
Is the ability to hold your breath for 90 seconds common? I can’t imagine doing this. At least not without days or weeks of preparation.
90 seconds is uncommon for complete novices, but most people can get to 2-3 minutes within a day or two of training. It's almost entirely psychological up to that point; blood oxygen levels barely drop for the first few minutes you hold your breath while at rest. You just need to learn what the sensations are, that they are normal, that you aren't at risk (assuming you've done some basic amount of safety education), and to relax into it.
Re: Ask HN: What are you thankful for?
#276Earlier quoted context omitted.
Please keep nationalistic flamebait far away from this site. We don't want it, or what it leads to. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Edit: since you've mostly been posting unsubstantive comments and/or breaking the site guidelines, I've banned this account again. If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the…
This should apply to the whole thread rather than that comment.
"What are you thankful for?" is not nationalistic flamebait, or flamebait at all.
Re: Ask HN: What are you thankful for?
#277Nothing. All the conventional things, the things people are posting here repeatedly. I don't have. I either never had them like truly loving family, or they were taken from me like health and security. There were a handful of wonderful people but they are all gone while the shit ones thrive. There was a career helping others and making the world a better place, but that was taken too. Even the one thing I actually ca…
Last night I actually just binge watching Youtube and Youtube sent me to that side of Youtube, where I gradually progress from watching something about instagram reality, then people being ugly living in society, abandoned by parents and families, and then....to people with crazy incurable debilitating diseases and disabilities such as conjoined twins on head, torso, people having burns all over the body literally looked like a living zombie, people with bended bones all over the place, people with no limbs, people with extra skins that made them looked like elephants, people born without eyes, people with flesh eating diseases, people with upside down head due to backbone disease, and a lot of these people are kids....
and yet they are still fighting daily, encouraging us, who are luckier than them, to not give up. I felt sad, but at the same time really encouraged and thankful. I hope all of them will find love and peace in spite of their conditions
Re: Ask HN: What are you thankful for?
#278Nothing. All the conventional things, the things people are posting here repeatedly. I don't have. I either never had them like truly loving family, or they were taken from me like health and security. There were a handful of wonderful people but they are all gone while the shit ones thrive. There was a career helping others and making the world a better place, but that was taken too. Even the one thing I actually ca…
Last night I actually just binge watching Youtube and Youtube sent me to that side of Youtube, where I gradually progress from watching something about instagram reality, then people being ugly living in society, abandoned by parents and families, and then....to people with crazy incurable debilitating diseases and disabilities such as conjoined twins on head, torso, people having burns all over the body literally lo…
Yeah I am one of those people in many of the ways you have listed so the "we should appreciate how lucky we are" thing doesn't really apply to me. I am not lucky. I was disfigured, disabled, left in severe pain. I do not have a loving family or social support. I lost everything I worked hard for. That's the entire problem...there is no hope or help or luck. I am really an idiot for ever speaking about this because it's always those sort of scripts, or criticism, or hopes and prayers...the one thing that would help people who have it this bad...time and money...aren't something people are willing to spend. I need to stop expressing myself at all because the same old same old is just upsetting. Desperation makes you a fool and causes you to beat your head against the walls closing in on you even though all it does it make it hurt more.
Re: Ask HN: What are you thankful for?
#279These reddit-like feelgood threads have, IN MY OPINION, very little to do with HN, hackers, programming and whatever. Moreover, they feel very US centric. Off to a downvote shower ciao
Thank you for this. It's very religious, very US-centric and indeed off-topic.
How is it religious? It's scientific: "[...] young adults assigned to keep gratitude journals showed greater increases in determination, attention, enthusiasm, and energy compared to the other groups". Humans have a known and scientifically proven innate negative bias. In other words, negative experiences and feelings are felt stronger than positive ones. Being mindful and intentional about appreciating the good things in your life trains your mind to balance the negative bias. [1]
[1] https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/images/application_uploads/...
Re: Ask HN: What are you thankful for?
#280Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Seems like these days half my friends are on anti-anxiety and depression medication. I am immensely grateful for my anti-anxiety medication.
Anti-anxiety medication doesn't seem to be working for me, but I am having a hard time figuring out what to do next with my psychiatrist. It's not as if switching medication is somehow better than sticking with something that's of unknown efficacy. Ugh.
That sucks. Everyone’s different but, some anecdotes from my experience...
The Lexapro that I’m on right now basically did nothing for me at 10mg, but I stuck with it for almost a year. I eventually went to try and get something else, and humoured the psych by trying to go to 15mg first. The change was dramatic and positive.
I started doing the keto diet for strictly weight related reasons, and found that as a side effect it also had a big impact. Took eight weeks or so before I noticed a difference.
Cutting my alcohol consumption has also seemed to have a pretty good effect.
I’ve found beta blockers to be great for any break-through anxiety, but might be placebo effect.