I enjoy calmer games most times I’m gaming so I have a lot. The genre I most like is puzzle games, but there are a few exploration/ walking simulators here, too. Among the games already listed, there are:

• The Room
• Doors
• Boxes
• Machinka Museum
• My Brother Rabbit
• The Gardens Between
• Stela
• La Rana
• Dawn
• Manifold Garden
• Discolored
• Tree Bonzai

This. Got a place just before the pandemic that wasn’t well taken-care-of and had German roaches, assuming that’s what you’re seeing (tinier, and fast as hell) got this kit (granted it was $20 cheaper a few years ago) and rotated out with a couple of the other kits that come after A’s formulation every 6 months. Gone after 2 years. Now I just see the regular ones sometimes- because FL. Saved my sanity.

Also, I wouldn’t advise feeing the critters to your chameleon since you don’t know what the critters have been exposed to or got into, pesticide wise.

To add to what others have said, boundary-setting is a skill we develop over many social interactions. It may feel awkward or mean setting a boundary initially, but it’s essential to maintain one’s “social battery” and priorities/sanity.

Speaking of priorities, those are a good indication as to when setting boundaries is helpful. For example, you have an important appointment to get to, but a family member/friend is asking your help with something at around the same time. Communicating you have a prior engagement at the time of your appointment while being willing to help out after, or giving them suggestion on how else they can get the help they need, is you setting a boundary of what you can do with your time.

When we have concerns of feeling like an asshole, we want to consider from where that originates. Sometimes we’ve been raised around family members or “friends” who take advantage of another’s kindness and treat people maintaining boundaries as the villain (e.g. “Why are you leaving us hanging?/ Why couldn’t you help me/your Old Man out this one time?”). This is often a sign of emotional immaturity/ poor insight, empathy, and/or self-awareness. Healthy connections will respect your boundaries and maybe check in later if a raincheck is suggested. When interacting with people who don’t respect “no” as a full sentence and answer, sometimes reminding them of our limits and empathizing with the person’s situation can disarm them.

Well, that took a turn. Sorry to hear that! I love how picking/making a new together is becoming slightly more common that in earlier decades.

Tell me about it. The discipline it takes to not consume something the general public has been consuming as the norm is a struggle sometimes, but tasting the flavors I otherwise wouldn’t notice from something not deathly sweetened is a plus. As well as better teeth. My parents also restricted sweet drinks to family trips and parties growing up, and I don’t think I can thank them enough.

Yep, racists are going to be racist.

Back when I was using reddit, I found Uplifting News to be a helpful source of positive information. Some of it can be reminders of our boring dystopia, like students helping another by starting a laundry program at the school, but it’s something. Here is the lemmy version.

I know you’re joking, but for those who don’t understand sarcasm it’s more akin to a rebirth name when changing it after religious epiphanies or extreme cases of cuttingoff communication from one’s origin family/tribe.

Your last line about hiding reminds me of a peaceful species, the Nox, from Stargate SG-1, who had many abilities one of which was to become invisible and shield their community from detection. But funnily enough, they were so powerful and advanced they may has well have been treated like gods by anyone else.