Sorry Alt-Text, but hard disagree. Drivers are INSANE, and need all the help they can get to not hit someone while they’re willfully distracted.
You go Dorothy, and rock that jacket. As for the doubling down on discipline, ehhhh. Maybe try talking to your therapist instead and recognize that even presidents (especially presidents) make mistakes, a **LOT**.
Funnily enough I quit my once chance at a degree so far, after slipping on the ice while thinking about my extra projects and fracturing my tailbone, causing me to need time off, which led to me being able to re-evaluate things (it was the wrong subject, and I was in the wrong town).
Dorothy probably won’t slip seriously, cause that would solve her problems far too soon and this looks like a trainwreck in sloooow motion.
(Truth be told though – when I’ve had a bad day, I FEEL like I should be doing something over the top to catch up, which seems so overwhelming that I don’t get out of bed at all. So I should probably not be judging. It’s just… Both me and Dorothy need to learn to sometimes just freaking relax without feeling guilty about it.)
You recognize that you have a problem. Perhaps you don’t always recognize it in the middle, but you recognize it at least some of the time. You’re already doing better than Dorothy.
She’s risking a hell of a lot more than slipping on ice. Among other problems her current line of thinking and behavior could take her “Exercise makes me feel good, I lost weight and people are telling me I look good . . .” can get into a vicious spiral even if you don’t think of yourself as fat. Sometimes it’s just about seizing your eating and exercise habits as one of the few things in your life you can control and exercising to an unhealthy level while also dangerously cutting calories. And that’s just one of the terrible places this could go.
You are seriously underselling the danger of her actions and thought patterns.
UrsulaDavina
On reflection you are all are right this is not healthy at all.
Bogeywoman
As an addiction-prone person I’ve gone down both the acoholism path and the exercise/health/work addiction path and they both led to burning up and dropping out for mental health recoup. With the latter I just looked better (and was perceived by others in a more positive light).
Hrodvitnir
Sigh. I know a [not active drug & alcohol] addict who is deep in running to survive (and also definitely has disordered eating). He experiences a pretty intense high both while running and post-running, and runs probably-too much.
I hope it’s a manageable level of addiction and doesn’t kill him. He’s maintained it for a long time.
Bogeywoman
It’s definitely an under-rated form of addiction (in that it isn’t given the same level of concern and support as other addictions) and in some ways harder to address because of how socially accepted it is with our cultures’ obsession with health and appearance. The health risks aren’t as widely known, so it can be hard to see them until they’re impossible to ignore (for me it was when I began fainting in class which was not acceptable for my perfectionist brain).
I hope he finds a good support network socially and professionally. It can make all the difference.
Uly
Yeah. I actually think that straight-up alcoholism might be better, because at least people would see that something’s wrong, and have a chance of convincing Dorothy to see it too.
UrsulaDavina
How is alcoholism better alternative? Alcoholism can lead to so many deadly long term health problems yes excersie addiction can be dangerous and I unfortunately downplayed it and I feel bad but I have seen family members die due to alcoholism related diseases. It also profoundly affects those around the alcholic as it can lead to the physical and mental abuse of others. I don’t i am not an alchoolic but i have seen the effects that alchoolism has on a person and their sorrunding family.
the risks of alcoholism can cause deadly longterm health risks hundreds of thousands of people die from alcoholism related dieseases. In the US its the 4th leading cause of death..
Just beacuse it’s more recognizable doesn’t mean the person will get help or even accept help before its to late if someone is an alcoholic chances are they have suffered some sort of long term health.
Uly
I just spelled it out. If she has something more widely recognized as a problem, she’s more likely to get help – even if she’s a functional alcoholic and is not suffering most of the health problems or inflicting trouble on her loved ones.
UrsulaDavina
So as some people have pointed out including yourself a bout of drinking may not lead to alcholism a bout of intense excersie may not lead to excersie addiction. But this a story with dramatic elements that yes may lead folks (myself included) to presume the worst will happen.
Dorothy has been shown to engage in self reflection she may not succumb to either Dorothy likely has underlying psychological problems that are more likely to manifest in front of others that would compell others to convince her to seek more intensive treatments then she is receiving.
However when it comes to addicitons neither habbit is healthy and its not right to trivialise someones excersise adicition in hypothetical scenario were Dorothy becomes an adict ,there is a reason why alcholism is far more noticable beacuse its far more deadly.
If you are an alcoholic you’ve likely done damage to your long term health Excersie addiction can result in some serious health problems like weaking your bones eating disorders and infertility and it can cause cell degeneration but death is far less common.
In a scenario in whcih Dotty becomes an adict you’re that Dotty should inflict her self with something that can kill her! Once again I mention it doesn’t just affect one person it affects everyone it’s also not a habit that one can easily break. I have watched family members die from this despite all the outreach tried they didn’t break the habit.
Also there is no guarantee that Dorothy would get help if she became an alcoholic. Alcholism will result in long term damage to your health it doesn’t matter if it’s more noticeable, it’s more destructive. Alcoholism is more damaging then excersise addiciton and a choice between the two which the latter is “better”
Mark
On the other hand, recalling that Dorothy has been a runner all along, she could be an exercise enthusiast, obsessively measuring everything and comparing it with experts’ recommendations for her age, build and stature. She’s never seemed to me to be excessively concerned with her looks, just careful to always be presentable and mature-looking to match her I’ve-got-this attitude.
thejeff
Yeah, there’s definitely an unhealthy aspect to the “I screwed up yesterday, so I have to double down today” thing, but let’s not catastrophize here. There’s no reason to even suspect she’s heading in an exercise/eating disorder direction. It’s a control thing certainly, but she’s never even hinted about any concern with looks or weight loss.
I’m pretty sure colleges have people who de-ice the walks. You know. Liability exposure.
Tan
I mean, sure, the main walkways, to the degree reasonable, but they aren’t magic and you can see in panel one that there are many footprints in the snow along the path
Mark
The Facilities person driving the big motorized rotary brush will be coming around the corner any moment.
smoosh em both together and come out with moderate coping mechanisms.
Ethan has more realistic? expectations of himself, but Dorothy is going to retain her physical health.
Dorothy’s pushing too hard, denying the reality of her state and needs, and Ethan is like. denying himself the option of improvement or recovery.
Dorothy is more likely to graduate and get a job with health care. And one that she can actually afford food and rent. Unfortunately in America this means she’s more likely to survive long term even if she isn’t very happy.
Proxiehunter
A: When you push yourself into burn out like she’s heading towards your likelihood of graduating or getting a job plummets pretty sharply.
B: Some people seem to be overlooking the very realphysical issues one can cause themselves by trying to “Push myself so hard it’s like yesterday didn’t happen”.
thejeff
That’s fair. There certainly are issues with her approach.
But Ethan’s being healthier? He’s cut himself off from everyone. He’s apparently not going to classes.
HueSatLight
He is on the climb out of rock bottom. She’s still bouncing down.
I think Dorothy is probably still in a better place than Ethan, all things considered, but she’s on a downward trajectory while he’s moving upwards. That matters a lot.
This is a more positive response than I expected; I still feel like she hasn’t done anything to actually change or improve the situation, but baby steps are nice too.
223 thoughts on “Undisciplined”
Ana Chronistic
Speedrun Burnout Any%
Taffy
She’s not side-hopping with the camera pointed at the ground. Rookie move.
Decidedly Orthogonal
Sorry Alt-Text, but hard disagree. Drivers are INSANE, and need all the help they can get to not hit someone while they’re willfully distracted.
You go Dorothy, and rock that jacket. As for the doubling down on discipline, ehhhh. Maybe try talking to your therapist instead and recognize that even presidents (especially presidents) make mistakes, a **LOT**.
vulcanodon
As Joyce would say; “Ding Ding Ding!” Stop lying to your therapist, Dorothy.
Rose by Any Other Name
Ayup. Sounds like.
I wish I had something funny to say, but… it is what it is.
baroncognito
Oh, there’s no way Dorothy will burn out at anything less than 100%
Ana Chronistic
whatever it is, it will definitely be WR
I am retroactively very concerned she is running in slush(?) that could possibly have ice patches
Angel
lol maybe dorothy should have a session with booster
Needfuldoer
Dorothy thinks she can backwards long jump away from her problems.
In order to understand what’s happening here, we need to talk about parallel universes.
Shorduie
Oh boy
Clif
It’s cute that she doesn’t realize it’s cracks all the way down.
Doctor_Who
“My mistakes can’t catch up to me! They don’t do cardio! That’s why they’re mistakes!”
Nono
Whenever I try to go for a run, I feel like cardio WAS the mistake.
BarerMender
I haven’t gone for a run since bootcamp. In 1967.
Stanistani
As someone of a similar age, please tell me you at least mosey quite a bit.
Grimey
Panel 4 is everything, the two of them sharing the same thought of Dorothy.
Sirksome
Let the Dorothy Keener downward spiral continue!
Amós Batista
Oh God, no!
It is going harder and harder to watch, as the character is a die hard.
Warcodered
That looks like a great recipe for slipping on the sidewalk Dorothy.
Holly
Funnily enough I quit my once chance at a degree so far, after slipping on the ice while thinking about my extra projects and fracturing my tailbone, causing me to need time off, which led to me being able to re-evaluate things (it was the wrong subject, and I was in the wrong town).
Dorothy probably won’t slip seriously, cause that would solve her problems far too soon and this looks like a trainwreck in sloooow motion.
Mano308gts
Hmmm… Having finished two degrees, and working on a third- I can tell you, the reevaluating of life choices never goes away.
Holly
Oh, I know, and not just in terms of degrees!
Stanistani
The unexamined life is not worth living, said Socrates, according to Plato.
GholaHalleck
That, and barring another time skip, she’d be in a cast for the next 2 years of reader time.
Reltzik
…. you probably already know this, but I’m pretty sure that’s not what’s meant by college students busting their asses working on projects. 🙂
Holly
I’d not thought of that 😀 😀 😀
Masumi
I’m am sure this is not problematic at all.
Masumi
(Truth be told though – when I’ve had a bad day, I FEEL like I should be doing something over the top to catch up, which seems so overwhelming that I don’t get out of bed at all. So I should probably not be judging. It’s just… Both me and Dorothy need to learn to sometimes just freaking relax without feeling guilty about it.)
Uly
You recognize that you have a problem. Perhaps you don’t always recognize it in the middle, but you recognize it at least some of the time. You’re already doing better than Dorothy.
UrsulaDavina
I mean way less problematic then alcohol abuse though she is risking slipping on ice also she really needs to talk to her therapist.
Uly
Having a single binge is not alcohol abuse. It’s just not. I mean, it’s not *great* – but neither is this.
Bruno
She didn’t have a binge, either.
Uly
Given how cheerful and awake she is now, I agree.
But she clearly was planning on a binge and probably thinks it’s even worse than that.
Proxiehunter
She’s risking a hell of a lot more than slipping on ice. Among other problems her current line of thinking and behavior could take her “Exercise makes me feel good, I lost weight and people are telling me I look good . . .” can get into a vicious spiral even if you don’t think of yourself as fat. Sometimes it’s just about seizing your eating and exercise habits as one of the few things in your life you can control and exercising to an unhealthy level while also dangerously cutting calories. And that’s just one of the terrible places this could go.
You are seriously underselling the danger of her actions and thought patterns.
UrsulaDavina
On reflection you are all are right this is not healthy at all.
Bogeywoman
As an addiction-prone person I’ve gone down both the acoholism path and the exercise/health/work addiction path and they both led to burning up and dropping out for mental health recoup. With the latter I just looked better (and was perceived by others in a more positive light).
Hrodvitnir
Sigh. I know a [not active drug & alcohol] addict who is deep in running to survive (and also definitely has disordered eating). He experiences a pretty intense high both while running and post-running, and runs probably-too much.
I hope it’s a manageable level of addiction and doesn’t kill him. He’s maintained it for a long time.
Bogeywoman
It’s definitely an under-rated form of addiction (in that it isn’t given the same level of concern and support as other addictions) and in some ways harder to address because of how socially accepted it is with our cultures’ obsession with health and appearance. The health risks aren’t as widely known, so it can be hard to see them until they’re impossible to ignore (for me it was when I began fainting in class which was not acceptable for my perfectionist brain).
I hope he finds a good support network socially and professionally. It can make all the difference.
Uly
Yeah. I actually think that straight-up alcoholism might be better, because at least people would see that something’s wrong, and have a chance of convincing Dorothy to see it too.
UrsulaDavina
How is alcoholism better alternative? Alcoholism can lead to so many deadly long term health problems yes excersie addiction can be dangerous and I unfortunately downplayed it and I feel bad but I have seen family members die due to alcoholism related diseases. It also profoundly affects those around the alcholic as it can lead to the physical and mental abuse of others. I don’t i am not an alchoolic but i have seen the effects that alchoolism has on a person and their sorrunding family.
the risks of alcoholism can cause deadly longterm health risks hundreds of thousands of people die from alcoholism related dieseases. In the US its the 4th leading cause of death..
Just beacuse it’s more recognizable doesn’t mean the person will get help or even accept help before its to late if someone is an alcoholic chances are they have suffered some sort of long term health.
Uly
I just spelled it out. If she has something more widely recognized as a problem, she’s more likely to get help – even if she’s a functional alcoholic and is not suffering most of the health problems or inflicting trouble on her loved ones.
UrsulaDavina
So as some people have pointed out including yourself a bout of drinking may not lead to alcholism a bout of intense excersie may not lead to excersie addiction. But this a story with dramatic elements that yes may lead folks (myself included) to presume the worst will happen.
Dorothy has been shown to engage in self reflection she may not succumb to either Dorothy likely has underlying psychological problems that are more likely to manifest in front of others that would compell others to convince her to seek more intensive treatments then she is receiving.
However when it comes to addicitons neither habbit is healthy and its not right to trivialise someones excersise adicition in hypothetical scenario were Dorothy becomes an adict ,there is a reason why alcholism is far more noticable beacuse its far more deadly.
If you are an alcoholic you’ve likely done damage to your long term health Excersie addiction can result in some serious health problems like weaking your bones eating disorders and infertility and it can cause cell degeneration but death is far less common.
In a scenario in whcih Dotty becomes an adict you’re that Dotty should inflict her self with something that can kill her! Once again I mention it doesn’t just affect one person it affects everyone it’s also not a habit that one can easily break. I have watched family members die from this despite all the outreach tried they didn’t break the habit.
Also there is no guarantee that Dorothy would get help if she became an alcoholic. Alcholism will result in long term damage to your health it doesn’t matter if it’s more noticeable, it’s more destructive. Alcoholism is more damaging then excersise addiciton and a choice between the two which the latter is “better”
Mark
On the other hand, recalling that Dorothy has been a runner all along, she could be an exercise enthusiast, obsessively measuring everything and comparing it with experts’ recommendations for her age, build and stature. She’s never seemed to me to be excessively concerned with her looks, just careful to always be presentable and mature-looking to match her I’ve-got-this attitude.
thejeff
Yeah, there’s definitely an unhealthy aspect to the “I screwed up yesterday, so I have to double down today” thing, but let’s not catastrophize here. There’s no reason to even suspect she’s heading in an exercise/eating disorder direction. It’s a control thing certainly, but she’s never even hinted about any concern with looks or weight loss.
Taffy
Yes but something that isn’t the most dramatic possible scenario wouldn’t be the most dramatic possible scenario, so it doesn’t occur to some of us.
BarerMender
I’m pretty sure colleges have people who de-ice the walks. You know. Liability exposure.
Tan
I mean, sure, the main walkways, to the degree reasonable, but they aren’t magic and you can see in panel one that there are many footprints in the snow along the path
Mark
The Facilities person driving the big motorized rotary brush will be coming around the corner any moment.
Proxiehunter
Neither of them’s doing great right now, but it kind of feels like Ethan’s response is healthier than Dorothy’s.
Carms
smoosh em both together and come out with moderate coping mechanisms.
Ethan has more realistic? expectations of himself, but Dorothy is going to retain her physical health.
Dorothy’s pushing too hard, denying the reality of her state and needs, and Ethan is like. denying himself the option of improvement or recovery.
Vanessa
Dorothy is more likely to graduate and get a job with health care. And one that she can actually afford food and rent. Unfortunately in America this means she’s more likely to survive long term even if she isn’t very happy.
Proxiehunter
A: When you push yourself into burn out like she’s heading towards your likelihood of graduating or getting a job plummets pretty sharply.
B: Some people seem to be overlooking the very real physical issues one can cause themselves by trying to “Push myself so hard it’s like yesterday didn’t happen”.
thejeff
That’s fair. There certainly are issues with her approach.
But Ethan’s being healthier? He’s cut himself off from everyone. He’s apparently not going to classes.
HueSatLight
He is on the climb out of rock bottom. She’s still bouncing down.
Thag Simmons
I don’t know that it is, he’s been spiralling a lot longer
Rogue 7
I think Dorothy is probably still in a better place than Ethan, all things considered, but she’s on a downward trajectory while he’s moving upwards. That matters a lot.
Mr. Random
I don’t know if this level of physical healthiness is mentally unhealthy.
Uly
It’s not the running that’s unhealthy, it’s the reason for her running.
The behavior, taken alone, is neutral. But read what she’s saying about the running. Nothing about that is healthy or normal.
DailyBrad
Right, yeah.
Bryy
Yeah.
If it was anyone but Dorothy, I’d say it was a positive attitude.
Kyrik Michalowski
This is a more positive response than I expected; I still feel like she hasn’t done anything to actually change or improve the situation, but baby steps are nice too.
Mark
Seconded. My first thought when I saw today’s strip was, “oh, good, Dorothy has pulled herself together a bit, things could have been much worse.”
Carms
hahahahha Booster caught like ‘no it’s perfect i was undi sc i pl i n e d ! !
As Dorothy dopplers past
EmTaya
Girl is gonna break so bad
Needfuldoer
If that happens, all she has to do is put herself back together and try harder!
/s
Karla Jean
“My car breaking down is just proof I haven’t been pushing the engine hard enough!”
– Dorothy, probably
Yotomoe
You’re gonna slip, Dot.
GholaHalleck
She already is, this is just the comedic wobble bobble before she lands right on her metaphysical ass.
Kyrik Michalowski
I think you mean, “on her metaphorical ass.” Dorothy hasn’t reached a metaphysical state of any kind.
Cattleprod
So, if she’s running away from them the whole time, how much of that speech did Booster and Ethan actually hear?