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Lemon & Lively

I'm a neurodivergent lifestyle blogger and content creator. I'm moving to the Midwest in 2025! Subscribe to follow my journey. πŸ‘‡

white-and-pink flowers with green leaves

Why alters can't die ☠

There's a dangerous connotation in some parts of the DID community that alters can die. When we had a DID TikTok between 2021-2022, we noticed this happening with younger members of the population who had either been officially diagnosed with DID or suspected they had DID ― and had depression. Alters can't die; they can only go dormant. An alter wanting to die is as dangerous as a singlet wanting to die. Alters can't "unalive" themselves without doing the same to the system. Fusing and...
lemon & lively presents worth the click vo. 2 written in black atop a slightly transparent background of strawberries

worth the click issue 2: attend events as press + grey hair at 33 πŸ’€

⌚ 4 min read This is only my second email into reviving my link love column, and I'm really excited. πŸ˜… I started looking forward to this last week after the first one went out. I wish I hadn't stopped them last year. My hair started turning white/clear from malnutrition. πŸ’€ I hadn't been able to eat properly because of a TMJ flare-up, but I didn't think this would happen, and every time it does, I know my eating disorders (ED) + history are to blame. It's a sick, sinking feeling that happens...
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What if I'm faking my DID?

I don't fully accept that I have DID. A lot of the time, I feel like I'm lying about it. Or that sharing about my DID is πŸ’― wrong, as if I'm committing a crime. Or that my diagnosis is wrong, that the psychiatrist got it wrong. I see the expression on a doctor's face pause, attempting to maintain composure, after I say, "I also have DID." They look as if I've said I did something horrible. DID is, perhaps, my biggest insecurity. It's not a matter of IF someone will find out, but WHEN ― and...
lemon & lively presents worth the click vol. 1; black text against slightly transparent lemon background

worth the click #1: grab your winners by the coconuts, AI wastes water + more

heyyy. I used to do this on and off, so I'm starting over again from #1. ✨ It's a mix of links, quotes, tips, ideas, etc. for your life + blog. I'm currently dealing with a TMJ flare-up that seems to worsen when I'm tired or eat food when it's too hot/warm and went 1.5ish days without ibuprofen. πŸ’€ Separating everything...that's not sustainable for me. Monotropism is all I have to explain why I so easily get caught up in doing 1-3 things at once, why my brain zeroes in. Plus, I have DID and my...
close-up photo of fire at nighttime

πŸ‘‰ your perspective = your gift to the world 🎁✨

The things that don’t β€œfit in” that make you yourself β€” that is your gift to the world. ~Sharon Stone I have no idea if Sharon Stone actually said that, but I've loved that quote ever since my technical theater teacher in high school put it up on the board for our class warm-up. It's stuck to me. πŸ˜… Often, in blogging and online business or even life + traditional workplaces, there is this push to "find what makes you unique" or "different" to stand out. And I'm like, "Get out of here with...
orange smoke on blue background

anxiety looks different in autistic people

Did you know anxiety presents differently in autistic people? "Autistic anxiety", like "autistic burnout", is different from the non-autistic presentation of it. There is also the more nuanced difference between trauma and anxiety: Anxiety = often difficult to acknowledge. Trauma = specific event or collection of events/reasons you're behaving that way, especially if you're experiencing fear. And there's even more nuance to acknowledge, because autistics who struggle with alexithymia may...

are your emails accessible? 🧐

β˜• tea talks by Freya J. Lively, from Lemon & Lively Accessible emails...this isn't usually talked about anywhere. Why? Well...making content accessible only became "trendy" once it became a search engine guideline, i.e. people made their sites accessible because they wanted to rank in search. Emails don't show up in search, because they're not usually public. πŸ‘€ I switched from EmailOctopus to ConvertKit because I wanted more robust features, but what I miss most is that ConvertKit (CK) is not...

running a blog/business as a DID system

tea talks by Jane Lively, from Lemon & Lively In the first email I sent to you, I mentioned having dissociative disorder. I prefer the people who scoff at that sort of thing to unsubscribe straightaway -- and OMG, does it work! I put my "red flags" up first. So me referencing DID shouldn't be a secret. What IS a secret: My deadname. I started going by "Freya J. Lively", "Freya J." for short, on the internet because I was receiving messages from people who developed parasocial relationships...

3 things your blog absolutely MUST HAVE

β˜• tea talks by Freya J. Lively, from Lemon & Lively There are three things every blog must have in order to have any chance at success. (FYI -- I'm changing "Tuesday Tips" to "tea talks" 'cause I like that more πŸ™ƒ) This is the utmost baseline, regardless of whether you're blogging for business or hobby purposes. A functional site with blog software. There are ways around this, if you're familiar with web development. I've built my own blogging software, for instance. πŸ‘©πŸ’» Super helpful,...

About that Google algorithm leak...

Tuesday Tips by Freya J. Lively, from Lemon & Lively. In case you missed the news, Google's API documents were leaked and contained LOADS of search ranking factors. Google confirmed the document's validity. I spent a few hours each day going through the leaked document, and I had a lot of feels about it... lots of privacy concerns loads of anger the weight of imposter syndrome on my shoulders ...while also not being as surprised as other people. I think, if anything, I'm disappointed in...

I'm a neurodivergent lifestyle blogger and content creator. I'm moving to the Midwest in 2025! Subscribe to follow my journey. πŸ‘‡