I focus on what tasks I have to get done today and do them. Then I doomscroll.

I look back over history and see that every system of social organization ever was rigged against the people at the bottom, and then I look further back into nature and see that nature is literally trying to kill you all day every day, and I just take it as par for the course.

Our current system is less rigged against me than would be literally any other system under which I might have lived at any point in the past. I’m more free and supported than almost any other human who has ever lived, and for that I’m grateful.

I guess you could say I deal with it via the deliberate choice to be grateful, and to ignore the people who think I’m foolish for being grateful.

My mental health is certainly better than it would be if I chose to be bitter and resentful of the facts of existence.

Being surrounded by hostile forces that want to exploit and eat me is just part of existence. I am also surrounded by forces that want to nurture and assist me. I focus on those.

The ideal is to be capable of fighting a war, and capable of laughing in easy joy at the same time. Why? Because existence is war, and war is dreary and miserable if it’s the only thing that exists.

Elie Wiesel wrote in Night about finding freedom while strapped down to a table being tortured by concentration camp guards. It’s hard to find a scenario in which a person is more fucked. But it was there that he discovered the freedom of his spirit. If he can be free in that situation, I can be free in this situation.

Weed and trying to understand what I value and want in my life and how that can be made to happen outside of capitalist structures

First I realized that I was reading the news for entertainment, not to actually get informed in any meaningful actionable way.

Then I started to doubt any headline that confirmed my biases. “Trump says terrible thing” boils down to a 3 second sound bite with zero context. “Trump voters regret voting for him” is a summary of 8 tweets taken off a recent trump post. “New study” has 23 participants.

In other words read the damn article. Things are bad, but not quite as relentlessly bad as social media would have you believe.

Also, I vote, I donate, I march. There’s not much else I can do, so what does all this “being informed” do me? Me being miserable doesn’t help anybody.

Second: stop consuming rage bait. 50% of Reddit is just videos of people being insane in public. It’d have you believing that we live in a warzone. We don’t. There is nothing to be gained from watching that shit.

Outside of that, picked up some video games and even started reading books again. Trying to deprogram the brainrot that makes it hard to concentrate on anything for more than 10 seconds.

Oh, and alcohol.

Lots of Minecraft

I refuse to have children in response to what I see with my own eyes. No thanks to my parents for making me exist.

Alcohol.

The understanding that death will eventually release me from this mortal coil.

And that all the assholes that work against the wellbeing of the average person are also going to die.

Try really hard to ignore all evidence against the afterlife.

Treats and escapism 🥰

i cry a lot and smoke a lot of weed lol

Simple, it’s play to win so I played and won. Whining and crying are not my style. Neither is this pessimistic, self-loathing, victim mentality.

I act like this is not a drill. We’ve put together an emergency kit. We have a reverse osmosis water filter. I’ve been stockpiling seeds, personal care items, first aid supplies, and shelf stable food. I spend my time reading, playing board games and doing puzzles with my spouse. We’re spoiling the heck out of our pets. Trying not to spend money unless absolutely necessary. Towing the line between staying informed and doom scrolling. Some days better than others.

I should probably be more active. I shouldn’t drink at all, but I still do on occasion. I should be eating healthier and engaging in my community. But I only have so much energy and to be honest I’m barely holding on. Secretly praying for a Hail Mary because I can’t believe this sham of an election is going to go through. I just can’t.

Quite frankly, a big part of managing the stress when looking at the macro-political situation and how that intertwines with the macro-econonics and fucks up the microeconomics of households, is to not dwell on it. Too much doomer content bringing you down? know when to stop consuming and do something else. There’s a point where you cannot change it and making yourself depressed thinking about it too much is just going to make your own life shittier.

I also work hard to find the best path to survive, thrive and live my best life. Sometimes that means taking some time to learn the rules of the game that’s set up so you don’t dive head first into the pitfalls that are setup for those who don’t pay attention to the rules. Learn more about the big scary words at play as you sign up for an insurance plan, and what they mean. Learn about interest (both on your debts and your funds) and how interest plays into your finances, how to budget and figure out what you can afford, and how to financially improve upon your previous choices that occurred either due to lack of knowledge or due to making the least bad decision available to you at a given point in time.

But also make sure to find joy and happiness in a bunch of different timescales to both be happier and improving yourself so that no matter how mundane your life is, you have sparks of joy to keep you always looking forwards to something:

• Small affordable indulgences, be that a yummy food like a small block of aged cheese, or maybe a small lego set or a small game. Whatever makes you happy that you wouldn’t normally spend on
• Take a moment to appreciate something in your environment. I like to take a minute to look at the stars every time I’m outside at night, but also actively take in the trees and patches of woodland and how they’re currently reacting to the weather. If you can keep a small plant, just checking in on your little potted plant every day can bring its own joy in caring for your little buddy
• Find a creative outlet, no matter how much you suck at it, just find something you can make that you enjoy making
• Pick something fun you can look forwards to at all times that’s just around the corner. A club that meets monthly to do a hobby you enjoy does well. I then try to also make sure to find some excuse to get together with friends and spend a little more money than I otherwise would every few months so its extra special and I can really look forward to those get togethers.
• Start exercising regularly. Your body was made to move, and making sure you’re actually using your body and pushing your muscles a bit 3-5 times a week is amazing for both your general health but also your mental health too. Take a walk, ride a bike, make a fool of yourself on a dance floor, struggle to do a pushup/pullup. It doesn’t have to be structured, just something to actually move your whole body throughout the week and actually use your muscles

TL;DR STOP DOOMSCROLLING AND GO POKE SOMETHING WITH A STICK…it might even be a little fun

Cannabis and passive suicidal ideation

Edit: And if you’re like me, make sure you call 988 and talk to someone. That’s what I had to do earlier today, and this time it was actually kinda helpful.

Weed.