Shaving notes of the MaineYooper

Inside of an old lady's purse?  I might have to close down this thread 

Tabac is so polarizing [in a good natured way]. T is the only soap I use every week [Saturdays]. I remember 10 years ago I did not like it. It grew on me like a wart.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

Inside of an old lady's purse?  I might have to close down this thread 

Tabac is so polarizing [in a good natured way]. T is the only soap I use every week [Saturdays]. I remember 10 years ago I did not like it. It grew on me like a wart.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

Yous guys are too kind!

Prepare yourselves!

Congrats on the MRI  Eric.  FWIW I liked the video too. 

Temptation Log

• Blackland Era 
  
• Asylum RxV2
  
• Custom Trotter Handcrafts handle, collecting color ideas and shapes 
  
• Supply Black Label injector blades (Eric on TSD called them a great discovery during his injector focus in January)
  
• Longterm: a Vector in Ti? Loads of money, but unknown if it would work for me. I may post a WTB in March and see what happens. 
  
  

I just quoted and added inside the quote another item. This will be how I make changes to the log.

Nice unboxing vid Eric.

A mini milestone today! I have made it 200 days without skipping my daily shave! I don't purposefully track that number, but the cool Google Forms sheet I use to record my daily shave does. Recently, Dave posted about hitting #1000 (okay, maybe not THAT recently, but several months ago, lol). I realized I couldn't remember the last time I skipped a day. I usually skip a shave if it was too early, or I am not wanting to take the time that day. But lately I have noticed how much I am looking forward to the daily shave. I went back and tallied up the number of "skipped" shaves and when the last one was. I was sort of surprised to see that it was months ago!

I developed the "bad" habit of skipping back in January 2019. That, for me, was the Year of the Big Suck. (I had worked the bench with a pharmacist who used to say, every time things got feeling like we were losing it, "time to embrace the suck!" We could then laugh and refocus.) 2019 started with my wife's nervous system and muscles going haywire, resulting in a 2-week hospital stay. Then deaths of loved ones. And medical stuff just consuming all our time and lots of our resources. So I excused myself for missing shaves and made it a point to really enjoy the time when I could take time to have a good shave.

By 2020, skipping was more common, and a sign of depression. Seriously. I found myself lacking the desire to get out of bed if I didn't have to. My wife noticed it and we talked about it, and I made an appointment with my doc. And I started cognitive behavioral therapy from home (one benefit of the Pandemic has been expanded telehealth access. Some insurances used to deny claims for telehealth in the past, citing various weak reasons. But now, I can meet with a professional in southern Maine while in my PJs, sitting on the couch with a coffee mug (he has coffee too!) and I make sure the camera only picks up my head and shoulders, as I do wear a nice shirt!).

[Well, this turned deep and personal!]

All that to say that as I got out of my funk, and even though life continued to challenge me, I began skipping the skips! 
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I have looked over the above and almost deleted it. I meant to just say, "hey, 200 in a row! Go me!" But as I wrote, I started analyzing the Whys. And the above is what came out. I believe mental health is important. So, while this may be Too Much Info into my life, I think talking about how various pieces fit together to help me realize it wasn't fatigue or stress alone causing me to stay in bed, it was depression, and literally try to hide from the day. 

Mods, let me know if this oversteps house rules or just isn't the place. I have no problem editing it!

Thank you for sharing, Eric. I came to Gentlemanly Shaving in late 2020, 9 months into the "big COVID shutdown." Being relatively new to my area and having to isolate meant no social connections outside of my household. The shaving forum became a source of social connection that was beneficial to me.

Eric, thanks for sharing and glad things are on the upswing for you! Congrats on the 200 milestone!!

Eric, congrats on the milestone and thanks for sharing your personal insights. You never know who is reading and will benefit from your story.

I have been struggling with some personal things the last few weeks that are beyond my control. It has effected my journal entries, but not my shaves. I need my daily shave time to clear my head and refocus. Hang in there.