Today I had a bolt of insight. My Cushing's makes it close to impossible for me to lose weight. The band isn't going to help me lose weight. Cutting my calories and increasing my excersize and activies isn't going to help me lose weight. Until I get this thing straightened out with the celulitus and my skin graph, all work on the Cushing's has to go on hold. Boo-hoo for me.

No matter how I try, I cannot make the change in my Firefox browser so it doesn't show signatures, so I have to look at everyone's signatures. All the Turtles have to look at everyone's signatures.

Now, if you are not a Turtle, you cannot understand what this does to us. You cannot understand what it is like when we see your signatures and you have lost twice as much weight, in a third of the time. It is so increadibly discouraging when we see that you have lost 60 pounds to our 30 pounds.

We Turtles understand all too well that you want to celibrate your success. We in fact, celibrate them with you. But watching your tickers makes us feel like we did when we were kids, when we were the last ones picked for sports teams, when we never were asked out on dates, when we were outsiders.

This is just something that hit me today. This is one of the reasons Turtles get discouraged and leave.

Vines, Im not sure what settings in Firefox you are talking about but there is a check box in your LBT options for showing signatures. Its under Quick Links (top of this page) Edit Options, then scroll down the page until you find it. I hope this helps.

Thanks p'nut, I've tried and tried, but changing the settings doesn't stick.

But that's not the point. The point is I figured out why one of the reasons I'm so discouraged, why this is so emotional for me. I know that I speak for many Turtles.

It's being left out, yet again.

Wow.. I purposely didn't approach the meat of your topic until I'd had more time to think this over. I can certainly understand your feelings, I was always fat as a kid. Never picked for any group for anything. This continues today. I am an avid photographer freak, and I recently contacted a pro in my area who teaches outdoor photography. I emailed him about possibly studying with him and he emailed back, respectfully of course, inquiring about my 'physical abilities'. He let me know that he hikes and camps for a week at a time and I would need to be fit enough to join such a class. I had to write back and tell him I'm overweight and can do short hikes, roadside work, etc and asked if he would be willing to take me on as a student as I am losing my weight and getting in shape. He turned me down.

And in the past I have been so damn depressed and discouraged on weigh in day when Dawg has lost 4 pounds and I have gained 1. I would be angry and hurt and jealous, and I couldnt understand why I was being left behind when I was trying just as hard. So yeah, I do understand the feelings. I understand them very well.

The thing is though, we cannot expect the world to march to the same beat. There will always be those who lag behind, and those who far exceed the rest of us. And we should not expect everyone to pretend to be on an even keel. To tell those who are succeeding that they can't share their joy and excitement over their success would be like telling you that we don't want to hear what a bummer it is that you aren't losing fast enough. It drags us down. It's depressing. That would be horrible, wouldnt it?

No, we will never all be the same. But we are all humans struggling along the same path in life and we can be happy for each other and share the burdens of our friends when the bad times hit us. Most importantly, we can help hold each other up and keep on keeping on.

Stop caring what others have done. Focus on you. Focus on getting yourself healthy. Focus on how many people here love you and are here for moral and emotional support. That's what its all about. (regardless of how many people tell you the hokey pokey is what its all about *grins*)

Crystal, I changed my settings and see no sigs. I know this is a dumb question, especially for the person I'm asking...but did you click "Save Changes"? (ducking to avoid shoe...)

No, no, My post has been mis-construded. It isn't about whether people have signatures or not. That is not the point.

The point is that is was pissing me off. So I looked at WHY it was pissing me off. Once I figure out why something affects me, it generally has less effect, or I at least understand why I feel that way. It's like corn syrup. Other people have no trouble with it, while some people are really affected. Me, corn makes me feel like I'm starving, so if I take care to have protien and fat with my corn, I'm ok.

It was pissing me off because I felt like I was that little girl, being the last one picked again, being excluded. Unloved and unwanted.

But I had one of those AH-HAH! moments, so now I understand. I just thought that this might be the same for others as well.

Ah ha! Well why didn't you say so?! *laughs*

Yes, the playground scenario speaks to me as well. The social butterfly in me wants to NOT be left out. I understand completely how seeing amazing sigs...even not so amazing ones, brings about similar feelings of being the last one picked. It's good you recognize your reaction. It's good to know you won't be run off by the presence of sigs!!

I still have that feature disabled and I kind of like it! Things pop up quicker with my evil dial-up, too. Any luck?

There is NO WAY you are unloved and unwanted on this board. I know you know that. Sometimes it's good to hear it. And hear it again.

Ah the joy of text.

My initial reaction to your post has changed significantly having read your second Vine's.

I decided to not post on this one because I couldn't think of anything constructive to say.

I still can't but I at least understand what you were trying to convey in the first message.

Thanks for additional explanation.

I do so hate text, no tone, no facial expression (not that I have any). No way to read between the lines.

Unfortunately lots of things still don't truly support FireFox. I will say though that I've downloaded the Beta of IE 7, and the tabbed browsing experience in that version is nearly identical to that of the current Firefox.

I too like understanding why things irritate me. It's like you are irritated that you are irritated, but once you figure out why you are irritated to begin with, you only have one set of the irritation... or something.

Seeing some tickers drives me mad, lol. I'm so so happy for the person the ticker belongs to and so so jealous that it isn't mine.

Thank you for sharing your frustrations with us. I think sometimes it just helps to see other people sharing in your feelings, even if you wouldn't wish it on anyone.

I'll come right out and say I hate tickers. It makes me feel like everyone is in some sort of race. I don't think it adds anything helpful to the information that is shown in text sigs, and the graphics are clunky and distracting. They inflate when they're updated and all around they are a big downer. (Tell us how you really feel, Alex!)

So I don't blame you one teeny bit for being irritated. And I'm not going to try to talk you out of it.

Vines, I understand, so I have removed my numbers from my signature. I admire how hard you work and the rest of the turtles you speak for. I also understand how feeling discouraged can have an impact. So I will only post updates in the challenges I sign up for .

I have a great idea. I am personally only going to show my sig when it is relevant, such as in the challenges, etc. I see no reason to post it when talking about a new recipe or potty habits or when I am whining about my doctor refusing to give me a decent fill!!!! Besides, I can visit it anytime I want (I copied it and put it in my journal as well!!!)

Vines, I totally understand what you are saying - there are some people on here that are such bunnies that I want to wring their necks, skin them, and make me a really nice fur coat out of them!!!:Bunny hope you know I am just kidding

I know you were just making an observation, but my faith says to do what you can to help others, and I say if this may help others from becoming discouraged, then I am all for it!!!! Hopefully others here have the same love for others and will follow suit!!!