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.
I chose not to participate.
I joined the military as soon as I graduated high school, got a solid 20 years of free food, free shelter, free college education, free travel, and plenty of life skills/experiences, all while collecting a solid income. Then I retired at 38 years old, collected a pension and a 100% VA disability check for the rest of my life (which includes free medical/dental for life), and inherited my childhood home in the countryside when my father passed away this year.
I do what I can to help out my local community, but I’m not working and have no need to contribute to capitalism. I make my own schedule each day, do whatever hobbies/goals I have the energy for, then call it a day whenever and start again the next morning.
My wife gets the same VA benefits, although she didn’t serve long enough to collect a pension; she was medically discharged. So we’re both just enjoying a quiet life in the countryside, no jobs, just focused on whatever makes us happy each day.
This is the life everyone deserves to have, and I’m upset that capitalism is basically the opposite of this lifestyle. They preach that if you’re not working, you’re a drain on society. Because the fewer workers they have, the less money that’s generated for the rich elites running the capitalist regime. That’s why our retirement age keeps going up. The longer people live, the more time they have to be productive members of “society” (read: capitalism). No thanks; I retired at 38 and I’m happy enjoying my youth while I still have some semblance of it.
EDIT: I just want to point out that military life was basically democratic socialism, with all our needs met, the govt ensuring we had food and a home, education was free, most all work-related expenses paid for. (uniforms, travel, etc.) Our paycheck was basically just spending money for us. We didn’t have to worry about covering bills because we received a separate “allowance” to cover rent/mortgage and utilities. Food was another allowance on top of our paycheck. If we were reassigned to another base somewhere in the world, the govt would foot the bill for movers and they packed your house for you. And you basically had to break the law to be kicked out of the military, so job security was excellent. We all got paid based on our rank and time in service, so it didn’t matter if you were a geothermal physicist or just handing out towels at the gym; everyone got the same wage across the board. It was an ideal situation. You’ll be hard pressed to find something similar in the rest of America.
Service guarantees citizenship!
But like, not actually a joke.
That’s not a shot at you, btw - more of a critique of the system that makes military service one of the only ways you can actually have a life like what you have.
Butt stuff
Currently? Mostly making shitposts about chaining CEOs to boulders and casting them into the Sea, advocating to build big bronze statues of cold-blooded murderers, and openly wishing for certain people to be struck by lightning. Some real Biblical shit.
It’s not a death threat if you just wish God does the dirty work!
US judicial system: Best I can do is 15 years jail with $100K bond.
Honestly, at this point, I think we need to admit the US cannot be fixed. It’s time to peacefully dissolve the US federal government in its entirety. Grant all 50 states independence, turn the lights off, and move on.
I think the last straw for me is the recent vote for House committee leadership among the Dems. Even the nominally liberal party is so utterly corrupt, so utterly surrendered to vanity, that it is incapable of learning even the simplest of lessons. Both parties have been so completely corrupted from the inside out by money, that they cannot be saved. The only people who can come into power are those who are utterly corrupted by corporate money, and they have zero incentive to repair the damage money has done to the system.
It is possible for a thing to be so thoroughly broken that it cannot be repaired. And we have passed that point as a nation. We simply don’t want to admit it.
The time has come to peacefully dissolve the US in its entirety. We need to grant all 50 states full independence. Then they can come together and form whatever new nation or nations they want.
This nation can no longer be saved. It is time to end the denial.
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.
I go to work, enjoy my hobbies, support my family, and drink a lot.
Preparing myself for the world Titor predicted. Small communities.
Learning to homestead as best I can as a renter. Lots of raised beds and planter bags.
I only buy things to support my hobbies. Saving up for land and a prefab home so I can go completely independent.
I don’t want to worry if critical food gets expensive again.
Climate change is really fucking that idea up here in Scotland.
Our ecosystem relies on now non-existant snowy winters to reset the pest and fungus population every year, instead we get mild winters and summer that have no actual rain to water plants yet are so humid that everything is permamently damp, pests and fungi ramp up year on year and plants that used to grow fine here (Talking potatoes and even some native trees) are struggling. I’d say a full half of the non-confierous trees near my house have started dying in the last 2 years.
I would have tried this so hard a long time ago but there is basically 2 things keeping me in the shackles: dentists & hospitals.
How do you deal with that?
Now there is a name I haven’t heard in awhile.
I organize and build relationships in my community. Everyone has something to offer and something they need. It isn’t always immediately obvious what those things are, so it’s nice to have an existing network when you figure it out. Get together. Have potlucks. Share your skills, knowledge, tips, tricks and resources.
I doubt you actually do any of that. Lovely vague community esque language. Oh have a potluck and effect great societal change! Give me a break. Hapy olidays!
I mean, I can’t prove it to you so you can just believe it or not. I definitely didn’t mean to imply that I’m making some “great societal change”. That’s not an attainable goal. The question was about how I deal with the state of the world. For me, my anxiety was peaking in the early days of the pandemic and the political situation in the US. I was just doomscrolling all day. Finally I decided that I just needed to do something/anything. I contacted a local mutual aid group in my area and started helping distribute hot meals around my area. I did that for about 2 years, twice a week. I have gone on to do more organizing (food, politics, skill shares) with some of the people I met there, and have expanded my network of like-minded friends. It has helped my mental health immensely.
Underwork when I can, especially if I feel underpaid and under appreciated. Humanity is doomed to destroy itself, so I don’t worry all that much about things. Hell, at this point I would enjoy watching it end. But until then, I’m gonna chill, smoke weed, make music and spend time with the good folks around me.
Smoke a lot of weed
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.
Weed and booze
I’ve cut down dramatically on the booze, increased the weed and feel a lot better. You can smoke so much more if you don’t drink, it’s awesome
Reading history books for greater context. Shit always finds a new flavor of fucked, apparently.
And drinking a boatload.
This can also backfire. It’s frustrating to see history repeating itself so clearly over and over again, while being utterly powerless to really change it.
Mostly, self-destructive coping skills, just not very well in general
It’s kind of like trying to cope with the reality of death