The daily flood of idiocy is, alas, rather the point of it all, but for my own mental health, I have sworn off NPR and mostly all news except for whatever headlines happen to pass in front of me out in public or scrolling Reddit (my only ‘social’).
I am well aware of the aims and goals of the current folks in power. Tracking the ‘progress’ minute by minute neither makes me feel better, nor enables me to remedy the situation any more effectively. On the advice of my therapist, I severely limit my news consumption, and fill my head with the much more pleasant arguments of the best potatoes for mashed (golds) vs fried (russets) or how awful those POS tip nag screens are.
So this is what drew me in to respond. I happen to basically agree (I know you were just waiting for my opinion and are now extremely relieved). I constantly nag my wife to lower her consumption of the daily heartbreaking, aggravating, frustrating, angering news, since it’s definitely negatively affecting her.
HOWEVER… as a recently lapsed licensed therapist and a veteran of the '60s/‘70s social movements, I feel it necessary to say that there are many schools of therapy and folks are generally unaware that there is quite a bit of data and support for the notion that better mental health comes from getting more involved/saturated, coupling the increased intake with increased social action of some sort & stoking the flames. In other words, more social activism borne of outrage, less removal from stimulus. You can make the case that very different life issues, like substance abuse, are rife with approaches (AA, NA, Al-Anon, Rehab Centers…) that advise one to not remove themselves from society (yeah, I know, they don’t exactly recommend hanging out at bars or with junkies either) but in banding together to help themselves and others to cope with the problem.
Hey… just sayin’.
I have been socially active almost my entire life and very, very involved until recently including uniting refugee families separated by the government and training newly arrived refugees with job skills and placements. It hasn’t improved my demeanor. Ymmv. Losing faith that civil disobedience and activism actually still work didn’t help my outlook. I can still be convinced.
Well, it won’t be me convincing you. As I said (before my long treatise), “I happen to basically agree” with Lectroid’s therapist comment & with Lectroid’s described approach. HOWEVER (I gotta be me), only social activism will get us out of this mess (if we ever do get out of it) so I fight myself to not lose my optimism (well, really not to increase my cynicism). Since you have a much more pleasant demeanor than I, my advice is to keep it however you can. So, let’s figure out specific dates in Dec that you’re available for a group dinner & we’ll peruse the menu for “optimism” food.
Find a way to tune it out. I listen to the radio and have reduced that to just local news and weather. If something else inserts itself, I go straight to music; my own or radio. I watch PBS shows and tune out their news. The only internet I view nowadays is my personal email and this site. It is just too much, too much out there. Good luck. These are strange times 7/4 and 9/8 etc.
I remember bitd when I was on Facebook there was a woman who posted every single thing she was thinking or feeling. Whether it was feeling bloated or deciding if she needed a new this or that, it got tiring quickly. You gotta screen out your screening! We used to call them psychic vampires back in high school.
Some people may call me cynical, but I like to refer to myself as a realist.
It also bears mentioning just how much social media have corroded basic civil discourse, and it will never cease to amaze me just how many people — when given the choice between being nasty or kind — will inevitably choose the former.
My advice/MO: spend as much time offline as possible, i.e. “touch some grass” as the kids say (or maybe snow, given the seaon ), spend time with like-minded folks, organize with friends, protect the most vulnerable members of one’s community, and DO something — anything. I am part of a rapid response network helping immigrants in our area, and it does make a difference.
We can all make a difference. We just have to try.
I’ve been doing that more since COVID. I was one of the few who stepped AWAY from watching TV while having to isolate. I will watch local/national news (ETA: hitting the Mute button on occasion if warranted because I couldn’t listen to something anymore), and then switch to reading on my Kindle or watching YouTube videos on occasion to break up the time.
But as retirement draws nearer, the “DO something - anything” becomes more prevalent in my brain. So I’ve started to think about that in a volunteering sort of way.
Oh, I watched far too many shows and movies during covid (when not working my tushie off for Instacart), but I enjoy watching stuff… like, a LOT.
I also do most of my work online, so the temptation is ever-present. And the temps outside, well… they aren’t too conducive to a lot of outdoor activity
I suspect there will be something related to taking care of animals in one of many local shelters near me…although as a newbie, I’ll probably be relegated to cleaning out litterboxes, which I do enough of at home. LOL But helping at my local food pantry is a definite option/possibility as well.
Working in an animal rescue in college was one of my first experiences. And in a seminar on HIV/AIDS we were assigned to patients that we would assist with basic needs-- grocery shopping, picking up prescriptions, etc… Got me inspired.
At one point, Sunshine volunteered to teach English to people not born in the US (English was not their first language). She is a retired English/School teacher.
Being a previous teacher was not a requirement. I’m sure you are more than qualified to teach English or other important life skills (math, reading, etc.) to those who need assistance.
Both grandmothers and my mother were all English teachers, but I’m not sure I’d be able to teach it myself. And math? I don’t math well AT ALL, so that would be out.
I’d probably prefer teaching basic cooking to kids who were interested. That’s a life skill that people SHOULD have but often don’t.
CCE
(Keyrock the unfrozen caveman lawyer; your world frightens & confuses me)
2357
Basic cooking, and also food shopping skills. I keep running into youngins who think ramen is their only budget friendly option.
There’s a pair of red tailed hawks hanging out at my daughter’s house. Haven’t gotten a good pic of them yet to be certain of ID, but they have that classic “bird of prey scream” that gets used in movies.
That’s what I assume the snow owl was doing that I hit on a dark December eve on my last delivery out to the boonz. I felt terrible, but that owl was on the road for a reason.
7/4 and 9/8 
etc.
), spend time with like-minded folks, organize with friends, protect the most vulnerable members of one’s community, and DO something — anything. I am part of a rapid response network helping immigrants in our area, and it does make a difference.
