Flip TildeI left Anthrocon feeling much more alive than I did before I showed up. Despite only getting a few hours of sleep each night, I left with tons of energy, both physically and mentally. Normally if my Uber driver tries to talk to me, I freeze up and panic, but I comfortably chatted with them the whole way to the airport. The next morning, instead of lying in bed for hours, I woke up feeling like I wanted to run around, so I went outside and did that. I've been thinking about this a lot lately
This isn't specific to this recent Anthrocon, by the way; I sometimes get this from other cons too. I'll feel incredible after the con, and then the effect wears off after a few days. But I often wonder if I could modify my life in some way so I can feel like that more often
One big difference about cons vs. the average day is that I'm burning WAY more calories. I have to eat ~600 extra calories per day to keep up. At bigger cons, I'm suiting for basically the entire day, and I'm pretty animated in suit, but even then, the difference is surprising. At home, I still exercise every day, but I wonder if it's overshadowed by sitting for 8-12 hours. By comparison, I basically don't sit down at cons, haha, at least not for very long. (I don't wanna mat my butt fur!)
Another difference is that, at cons, I'm actually socializing, and quite a lot! It always takes me a while to mentally adjust and get over my social anxiety, but talking to others and getting positive feedback makes me feel really good and boosts my confidence just a little. By contrast, at home, I can go several days at in row without seeing friends (or anyone at all for that matter), and it feels a bit isolating at times
Also, just in general, cons are very stimulating for me (at least, bigger ones with lots of activity in the common spaces), and I think I get bored too easily at home. It makes me feel kind of like a zombie, like my brain just kind of shuts off and it's hard to get myself to do anything. I always feel like that in my apartment (to an extent that's kind of embarrassing to explain) but going out helps. I'm not sure what it is! I've suspected for a while that I have ADHD but I don't know
Anyway this entire thread is inconclusive and kind of pointless, but unfortunately I promised myself that if I typed something I wouldn't just erase it like I always do, haha
Sev Yote@FlipIsGay It was an interesting read! Going for a walk or a drive, or working in the yard, anything to get outside the house and do something, is often helpful for me to get out of that zombie mode, but yeah, it can be really tough to break out in a lasting way.
@Sev Unfortunately the effect is temporary and dies off the moment I go back inside, haha. But I do try to spend about an hour outside most days