Buddy story · Plateau
Twelve weeks of nothing, both of us at once
Mark and Kez hit a long flat stretch at the same time and spent three months talking each other out of quitting on alternate weeks.
- Paired
- October 2024
- Cadence
- Sundays
- Status
- ongoing
The alternating is the notable part. They were never both despairing on the same Sunday, which neither of them can explain, and it meant there was always one of them able to say the sensible thing.
The sensible thing, in the end, was mostly Ada's: a plateau is not a verdict, and the body is not refusing to cooperate out of spite. Both of them had been reading it as a personal failure and had been reading each other's flat weeks as ordinary. Mark says being able to see the double standard from the outside was what broke it.
Both are still here. Kez went on to have another long flat stretch in 2026 and reports it was substantially less frightening the second time, which is the most useful sentence in this entire story. There is a guide at plateaus, what is happening and what helps.
I thought my flat weeks meant something about me and her flat weeks meant nothing at all. Once I noticed that I could not un-notice it.
The second plateau was much easier, and the only reason is that I had already survived one with somebody watching.