Everyone’s been urging me to take some time off, so that was my plan today. The plan got messed up a little due to a family dental emergency, so it turned out to be more like a regular day, only one in which I self-consciously try to avoid the news.
In any case, I’m trying to take a bit of a mental health break. I’m just not very good at it.
“The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”
Hopefully you can salvage some time off for yourself. Hang in there.
It is difficult, I know. Every night I come home and my wife dives right into the Trump “stupid of the day”. I have usually skimmed a few blogs already, and know the gist of what I need to know. But then the television comes on and we have two or three hours of Trump immersion from the talking heads playing in the background, of which I simply cannot allow myself to partake. The inside baseball aspect, on top of the sheer stupidity of it all, is just too much for my mind to take after a day of work.
So I cloister myself in the opposite end of the house, with a book or some music or any kind of mental distraction that allows me a brief interlude of a quiet mind. I have to take this in small and strategic doses, enough to understand what’s going on and where my activist energy might best be utilized. Even getting together with the local Dem Party has turned into a bit of a tough mental lift. There are a whole bunch of newly energized people showing up with unchanneled rage, fear and nervousness. And they are all looking for some way to make a difference. Trying to help figure out where to point these people, and matching up their skill set, enthusiasm and the time they have available with some activity that will make them feel like they are making a difference. There is so much that needs to be done and the sense of urgency is simply everywhere.
Defending democracy and the rule of law in the face of the threats we have is exhausting. But there really aren’t any other options. We all have to find a way to lift each other up. That is what we are trying to do locally. It is tough. And sometimes it is truly depressing to realize this is necessary. But it is what it is.
I work on software. You might try some kind of mental or manual hobby. Software, reading, machine work, woodwork, painting, sculpture. Gardening is good, but unless you live in California or Hawaii, it’s not a 52 week hobby.
Agreed, Booman, it’s tough to disconnect from the pressure and influx of news these days.
TAKE SOME TIME TO REGROUP
Like Mike said, it’s very hard to disengage because we have so much at stake, but when we become so overwhelmed with the news, we tend to shut down elements of critical thinking and resort to simple emotions. We need calm, logical assessments of what’s happening. We need to temper our initial response of horror and disbelief with reason and patience.
The Republicans and Trump are deliberately creating unrest and upheaval. That’s how they operate: shock and awe, blitzkreig, lots of noise and fury. But we just have to stand up to the bluster and present the facts. We cannot let them overwhelm us. We are better than they are.
We have years of evidence that just standing up and presenting the facts only leads to failure. We need more than that, even if logical analysis is always the first step.
We can’t all work on this all of the time. Just so some of us are working on it all the time. We rotate in and out. With enough people someone is picking up the ball at any moment.
Enjoy your time away, Martin. Trump, McConnell, Ryan and the rest of the wrecking crew will be here when you return. They’ll still be horrible. Our American movement will complete more actions to stop them, and we will create additional spaces to plant legislative and spiritual flowers within the encroaching weeds of repression and regression.
See you soon.
Feeling crazy?
So are the rest of us.
At least you have good company.
And here’s some more.
AG
Enjoy your kid; enjoy your wife; enjoy your day. And good luck with dentist.
I take time off for my own mental health then feel guilty for not doing enough.
Taking time off for your own mental health IS PART OF doing enough.
Self-care is critical for us all going forward. There are enough of us to keep the resistance going while folks get away for a much-needed respite.
OK. Here’s the test. Explain to me how, if neoliberal HRC had been elected, we’d have had the likes of Scott Pruitt at EPA. Go.
the time for starting those kinds of fights is over.
Yeah, that ship sailed back in November. Might as well start an argument about the merits of Thomas Dewey’s pick for the NEA.
PBS, NEA, AmeriCorps, Legal Services Corp to be eliminated in prelim #Trump budget. Per @nytimes
Another example of how we have two corporate parties in America.
All I can tell you, Boo, is that you do need to take a bit of a break, but this fight is worth it. I was a 20-something Naval Reserve officer during Watergate, and absolutely consumed by the need to see Nixon leave office.
Trump is incomparably worse, and the situation is inflamed because of the utter depravity of the GOP in supporting him, at least for now. It wasn’t like this back in the 1970s. Thus each citizen, like us, must be even more engaged because: The only thing that’s going to get this monster out of office is relentless public pressure that makes the pols know they will be swept away if they don’t act.
It’s going to be a strain on everyone who gives a damn about democracy in this country until this happens. But yeah, you can’t let it eat you alive.