Shit sentiment tbh. The climate crisis has never been as bad, we’re also experiencing the fastest mass extinction event in history. Far right parties dismantle democracies around the world, there’s nowhere to go if you wanted to flee (besides, mass surveillance, border militarization and growing xenophobia made escaping much harder than it used to be). Life has rarely been as expensive as it is currently. So no, the world has never been as on fire as it is right now.
What control do you have over any of that? Adjust how much you focus on something by how much you can control it, and you’ll be much happier.
Yeah, the climate crisis is bad, and has been for 50+ years, it’s just getting a lot more media attention lately. Yes, politics is a mess (always has been), but it’s getting a lot more media attention lately. Surveillance is bad, but rights have always been stripped as much as the powers that be can get away with, it’s just a lot more accessible these days w/ technological progress.
Life has rarely been as expensive as it is currently.
Life is around the cheapest it has ever been, if you exclude the last few years or so of inflation, at least in terms of what a typical person can afford. The main problem I see today is that access to credit (i.e. spending more than you have) is so prevalent, so many people get themselves into trouble by spending beyond their means.
If you focus on what you can control and do your best with that, you’ll be a lot happier. This means:
read less news - you’re more likely to get stressed than find something actionable
spend less time on social media - social media loves to hyper-focus on a handful of things it dislikes (e.g. climate change)
spend more time doing things you enjoy - get out in nature, work on hobbies, learn something new, etc
look for ways to improve your financial situation instead of wasting what little you have medicating the first two bullet points here
Doing more of things that make you happy and less of things that stress you out. Generally speaking, you’ll be better off that way, and your capacity to fix the things that stress you out will increase.
However, disconnecting from reality is not a good strategy imo. Too many libs care more about brunch than about climate change which is partly why we’re so deep in shit.
You might be right about affordability of fringe high tech products and fashion, but at least four generations before us had almost guaranteed housing. Now, buying a house is impossible and renting is expensive as fuck. My financial situation is fine (luckily) but seeing people around me struggle does not make me feel great tbh.
The advice that helped me way more than any of the calendar mottos you had to offer was ‘get organized’ and ‘improve your behavior’. I joined a party and local mutual aid orgs, stopped eating meat, sold my car, and stopped flying. Now I’m at peace because I know, even if everything goes to shit, it’s not my fault and I did everything I could. Put me mentally in a very good place.
Shit sentiment tbh. The climate crisis has never been as bad, we’re also experiencing the fastest mass extinction event in history. Far right parties dismantle democracies around the world, there’s nowhere to go if you wanted to flee (besides, mass surveillance, border militarization and growing xenophobia made escaping much harder than it used to be). Life has rarely been as expensive as it is currently. So no, the world has never been as on fire as it is right now.
What control do you have over any of that? Adjust how much you focus on something by how much you can control it, and you’ll be much happier.
Yeah, the climate crisis is bad, and has been for 50+ years, it’s just getting a lot more media attention lately. Yes, politics is a mess (always has been), but it’s getting a lot more media attention lately. Surveillance is bad, but rights have always been stripped as much as the powers that be can get away with, it’s just a lot more accessible these days w/ technological progress.
Life is around the cheapest it has ever been, if you exclude the last few years or so of inflation, at least in terms of what a typical person can afford. The main problem I see today is that access to credit (i.e. spending more than you have) is so prevalent, so many people get themselves into trouble by spending beyond their means.
If you focus on what you can control and do your best with that, you’ll be a lot happier. This means:
Doing more of things that make you happy and less of things that stress you out. Generally speaking, you’ll be better off that way, and your capacity to fix the things that stress you out will increase.
Thanks for your effort post.
However, disconnecting from reality is not a good strategy imo. Too many libs care more about brunch than about climate change which is partly why we’re so deep in shit.
You might be right about affordability of fringe high tech products and fashion, but at least four generations before us had almost guaranteed housing. Now, buying a house is impossible and renting is expensive as fuck. My financial situation is fine (luckily) but seeing people around me struggle does not make me feel great tbh.
The advice that helped me way more than any of the calendar mottos you had to offer was ‘get organized’ and ‘improve your behavior’. I joined a party and local mutual aid orgs, stopped eating meat, sold my car, and stopped flying. Now I’m at peace because I know, even if everything goes to shit, it’s not my fault and I did everything I could. Put me mentally in a very good place.