Related Recs

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being An animal

I think the value of your body lies so much outside of its perception. Like, in the world its obviously going to be perceived always and that will affect you for better or for worse. But your body is not FOR others, it’s for YOU. Nothing is constant or forever or is anything you can truly count on. You won’t have your family and friends forever, your job doesn’t always matter, your thoughts and feelings are unreliable. But your body will ALWAYS be there as long as you are alive. Otherwise you wouldn’t be alive as you are. It allows you to experience taste, smell, sight, touch, and all the other things you may be lucky to have. You know that if you have certain habits, your body will have certain capacities, or not. It’s predicable, and it will always be that way. And I know that this isn’t true when you have health issues, and when that happens to me at least, it’s always really scary. But you always have more that WORKS than you think you do. What’s the only non-arguable purpose of being alive? To me, it’s that I am in MY body, when I could have been born as anyone else, or any species of animal, or a blade of grass or something. But THIS is what I have and so I will Notice it, and Use it. I think it’s a waste of time to focus on what your body does for other people. That’s not its job. We are literally just animals. But with the luxury of knowing that, we can use our bodies however we want, for survival or otherwise! How freaking fun. Although, we didn’t jump out of a coconut tree or whatever so none of that is to invalidate the implications of bodily appearance in society. Just a diff topic ig

@imkhushi

Sep 29, 2024

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SAY THINGS THAT MAKE PEOPLE THINK “ARE THEY ON SOMETHING?”

the other night, i said to my friend “wow, isn’t it fantastic that we were born on a planet where flowers grow on trees like that?” while fully sober, and she laughed and said it sounded like something someone on dr ugs would say. i like to think about the world that way, like i am looking around for the first time ever. sometimes we forget how lucky we are, especially in the digital age where 100 alternatives to the real world breeze by us in just a few minutes. isn’t it fantastic that outside my window, there are trees that are alive and breathing? birds that were born, and sing, and love, just like we do? how lucky are we? when i look around at the world with that point of view, i never run out of things to be astounded by. if you look for whimsy everywhere, it will be found there too.

@natgeowild

May 5, 2025

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ascended move

literally do whatever the fuck you want and whatever feels good and free. everywhere at all times yes

@coolshieldbubble

May 18, 2024

Top Recs from @salad_valet

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The anti-capitalist nature of pi.fyi

i’ve been trying to articulate why i enjoy this space so much. yes, the UX is reminiscent of Tumblr and the early days of the internet. and there’s genuine sincerity and vulnerability on here that makes it feel really cozy and real, which i haven’t felt online in at least a decade. but i think what’s undergirding my love of this space is how anti-capitalist it feels. most of the recs everyone shares are vibe-checks, quality of life shifts, meditations and offers, music and movies, just plain good art. i don’t feel compelled to buy anything when i come here. i feel excited and pumped to be a cheerleader, find connection, find common ground. and FWIW the recs i’ve shared that have gotten the most traction are my suggestions for leading a less capitalistic / consumerist life (quitting Amazon, getting off of Spotify, building community to take care of you and your things). all of this is to say, i love it here and i love you guys.

@salad_valet

Feb 7, 2025

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Breaking free from spotify

i canceled my Spotify account over the summer and have spent the last few months rebuilding my digital music library on a refurbished iPod Touch. reading critiques of the app (and it’s enshittification), i realized i wasn’t even sure of my own musical tastes and preferences. i had stopped picking for myself, stopped seeking out new music, ceasing to know how to choose what i wanted or articulate what i like. breaking free from the algorithm has been such a joy! i’m borrowing gobs of music from the library, rebuilding my old playlists, and consuming more music than i have in years. and better yet, my data isn’t being tracked by Spotify and i own what’s in my personal library. further, my receptors are more open when i’m out in the world exposed to music, searching for recommendations in an organic way.

@salad_valet

Jan 16, 2025

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Quitting amazon

hear me out—this one might feel impossible, but i quit purchasing items on Amazon in 2018 and cancelled my GoodReads account shortly after. i did some serious reflection and realized i’d become super reliant upon, and frankly, quite used to the instant gratification of purchasing something and knowing i’d have it within a day. that’s not normal. the labor practices, economics, and environmental impacts of getting what you want from the internet delivered quickly and right to your door are skewed. i was filling a void in myself with mindless purchases. i’m aware that they service a huge swath of the internet (Amazon Web Services), own Whole Foods and Abe Books, and will likely take over more businesses we like and rely on. weaning off and avoiding entirely is very very hard, but it can also be a measured decision. that said, i know that it is a privilege to abstain from Amazon. i am able bodied, i don’t have kids, i have access to a car, i live in an urban environment with access to a lot of stuff at my fingertips. but making the choice to break out of the Amazon loop has ultimately been better for my pocketbook and better for my relationship to these mega-tech-companies that have their fingers in everything. in contrast, i’m becoming more interested in alternate economies, like bartering and sharing. i love the idea of having commonly shared tools and items (tool libraries are very cool). we don’t need to own it all, we have each other. interested in exploring more? the zine pictured below is a great start, and summarizes a much larger book by the same author on how to resist the leviathan that is Amazon.

@salad_valet

Jan 22, 2025