I don’t even know how to say this anymore without sounding like a damn broken record, but ever since Trump got elected in November, my mental health has been slipping. And lately it’s not just slipping. It’s more like I jumped off a cliff and freefalling toward jagged rocks.
I’ve done everything I’m supposed to. I stay active. I run 3 to 5 miles on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I exercise 3 to 5 days a week. I spend time outside. I touch grass. But none of it works anymore. It just doesn’t take the edge off like it used to.
I know doomscrolling makes it worse. I know the news and social media are built to keep people angry and scared. I try to pull away from it. But even when I do, I get hit from another angle. My girlfriend sends me political messages all day long, like she’s trying to convince me of something I already agree with. I’ve told her to give me some space, but it doesn’t stop. It’s like she needs me to be in constant panic mode with her, and I just can’t do it anymore.
Lately I find myself dreading conversation. I don’t even want to hear another human voice. I’m tired in a way I don’t know how to fix.
I thought retirement was going to bring me some peace. I’ve worked hard my whole life. I thought I had earned some quiet. Instead, the world keeps getting louder, and none of the things I used to do to cope are cutting it.
Is anybody else feeling this way?
Find a way to help that connects with who you are. I pick up litter at the park. I can’t fix the worlds problems but don’t have to look at the same fast food packet every day for a week whenever I walk my dog.
Yes. I feel exactly the same way and nothing I do has any effect on it.
I think you have to take a real sit down with your girlfriend and try to explain this with her. I know she just wants to commiserate with someone, but if it’s damaging your mental health then it might be a better idea for her to find another political outlet.
I‘m mentally fine, but I’m worried - every single day. They only thing you can do is not to let it eat you whole.
Sport and touching grass is good start, but it’s not enough. Are you an American? Start planning how to get out of there. It will be getting worse, much worse. You can also think of stuff were you can do something to contribute helping others.
Curate your online presence. Get news from a mix of reputable news sources. Try to use your phone less. Do some journaling to sort your thoughts.
Personally I go more and more analogue recently. I write with a fountain pen in an old fashioned Leuchtturm journal. I bought an old canon camera und take pictures on film. I even bought a typewriter on a flea market for 5 bucks, but I haven’t used it yet.
The only reason I’m on Lemmy is I want to support a reddit alternative and I want to stay in touch with recent developments. And of course because of memes.
Are you an American? Start planning how to get out of there.
This isn’t a realistic option for most people. On an individual basis, it’s expensive and difficult if not nearly impossible for many people. On a macro level, there is simply nowhere so many of us can go.
What exactly is a realistic option for most people?
Nobody said it’s easy. It might be easier now than at a later point.
Macro level
So you’re saying better be quick and be among the first?
Honestly, any American having issues and not organizing the means to overthrow your dictator, has zero sympathy from me.
Rise up and fight, or shut the fuck up
-Canada
I feel this deeply. Others have said it already, but the thing that’s helped me the most is getting involved with the solution. Local community organizing, mutual aid groups, political candidates in your area, etc etc etc there are many options (and feel free to message me if you want more help finding them) and nothing felt ok until I could feel like I was doing something other than passively sitting around watching the country/world collapse.
Others have also said closing off news and social media. This is also a good step, but I would caution against doing so 100%. Maybe set aside a day or two a week where you get caught up for an hour or two then turn it off the rest of the time. It’s still important to be aware, particularly as the suffering is becoming more and more local and ubiquitous, but it definitely becomes all consuming if done too much.
You sound like an empathetic person, and people like you are needed to help drive change. Fascism won’t go away in it’s own or with one more election cycle to vote it out. The upshot is most organizing and community strengthing efforts are just generally positive for mental health in their own right and may lead and may lead to new friendships and activities that you enjoy
Shit, you made the same comment I had in mind but worded it way better
You are most definitely not alone. I microdose magic mushrooms to keep my sanity and avoid TV news of any sort like the plague.
I was never heavy into social media, so staying off of the major commercial platforms has been easy for me, and it’s been a dream. I quit Xitter once Musk took over and while I still have Facebook and Instagram accounts, I’ve removed all of my data and never look at them.
Same, though it’s not just this guy, it’s the world’s trajectory in general.
I just want to cease existing but I’m not brave enough.
Listen: the world is not as bad as news media and social media make out. People love wallowing in misery - don’t let them bring you down.
In many ways we are living in a golden age - technology has never been so advanced, you have at your fingers more power, knowledge and freedom than any generation before has ever had. And despite all the gloom and doom, renewable energy is exploding electric cars are everywhere, people are living longer and healthier, poverty is down across the world and falling. Good news doesn’t cut through on social media or news. Seek it out - it’s all around you.
The world is far from perfect but it’s also no where near as bad as it sometimes seems. The world has always been in a state of flux and changing. We lived through a brief period of stability after the fall of the Berlin wall but normal service has resumed. Somethings will get better, some things will get worse. Sometimes good politicians will be in power sometimes bad.
Trust me as someone now in their 40s, you will look back and wonder why you wasted time worrying about things that ended up not smattering. When I was 20 it was all about George W Bush dooming the world and America. It wasn’t about the positive things that actually happened - like the mobile phone, the internet, falling poverty, rising living standards around the world, the solar panels, and wind turbines and electric cars, and so much more. I work.on Healthcare - diseases I learned were death sentences like cancer or even diabetes and HIV are now treatable and some even curable. Others realistically look they will be cured in my lifetime. When I was 20 those possibilities were all dismissed as wishful thinking, and the main worry was narrow stuff about a politician you probably barely know about and a war people don’t care about anymore.
And now - the world has moved on and now everyone is agnosing over Donald Trump. We’re still worrying about climate change but we’re still not talking about the global renewable energy revolution.
The last 20 years have been nothing short of miraculous in many ways, yet you’d think from social media and mainstream news that the Human race is already extinct and we’re just waiting for the lights to go out. Fuck that. Ignore the shit, get out and live your life. The world is amazing. Go out and see it.
You are struggling with the circle of concern. You’re spending time worrying about things that concern you but that you can’t change. You will feel better if you focus on things you can directly control or things you can influence.
So look more local. DO something positive in your community. It will help you feel grounded and effective.
I go to local protests, donate to the local food bank, etc. Even just showing up with intent feels positive. Heck, go to the library. Showing up helps their numbers and helps their funding.
I’ve made it my personal mission to get as many people I know out to the protests. It helps a little though I’m still hopelessly depressed.
Next nationwide protest is this Thursday! July 17th. Good trouble lives on.
Where does this stuff get posted? I hadn’t heard of the one on the 17th. I should go to one. This whole thread is hitting me pretty hard. I didn’t even want to go to the pool with the wife and kids today.
Thankfully someone I knew posted it on social media. Seems to be the only way information gets spread around now. Been trying to do the same. It’s by the same group that did the no kings protest and they have said they plan to continue planning protests so I would just follow that group for upcoming protests. I had googled “next no kings protest” after I heard about it and it popped up.
Good trouble. This is the answer.
And good books, we’re not alone out here.
I just finished One Day, Everyone Will Always Have Been Against This by Omar El Akkad. Not just about Gaza and the collateral damage of empires, but also about the tiny manipulations we’re all subjected to that make us feel alone.
Great reading.
Note: the link is to the Chicago Review of Books.
Good for you, I can’t make myself do it. People would react a weird way if I went to any protests ha.
Let them.
I remember waking up like the morning after election day in 2016 and was shocked why a competent woman lost against some bussinessman who was never in politics (this was way before I fully understood politics), I was rooting for Hillary to become the first woman president, I was already feeling very egalitarian at the time, and also because she’s a Democrat. Also because I immigrated to the US, so I naturally root for the more pro-immigration candidate. So yea I heard the news that Hillary lost despite having more votes, thats around the time I learned about the electoral college and that felt like bullshit. Luckily, I had derivative citizenship at the time, so I didn’t really think too deep.
But now this 2nd term is honestly terrifying. both the 2020 and 2024 election nights was just filled with dread, and now that fear has become a reality, doesn’t feel remotely to the first term.
Anyways, now my brain is so scrambled like an egg. Idk wtf is life anymore. Kinda having an “identity crisis” about my nationality/citizenship because that thought of potentially being deported is constantly lingering on the back of my mind ever since 2024 the morning following election night after the results were announced. I mean if I lose my citizenship, I’m gonna look so silly for ever refering to myself as an “American”. That’s like saying you’re part of the family, then your parents removes you from the will.
Oh yea I have no other citizenship. My previous country does no do dual citizenship, and its a dictatorship. Funny how I’m running from one dictatorship right into another. 🙃
Depression definitely does not mix well with political instability/autocratization.
The issue is there’s a large subset of people who view politics as their superbowl. I know these people. The stupidity is scary.
This administration ends the same way Mussolini’s did.
The way we prevent it from happening in the future is to force wealth equality.
You are NOT ALONE.
There has been a fucking epidemic of mental unwellness cascading since November.
We are all dealing with this, you are NOT alone.
This is a known and statistically verified fact.
What you are feeling is a normal response to a clear and present danger. If anything, your reaction is rational.
Fucking stay strong, we in this together, those of us who know, know, and we watch out for our fellow brothers and sisters.
You are not forgotten, you are not left behind, we are all just regrouping. Your emotions are valid, yes, this is real, this is not a drill, reality is in a state of emergency, and you are not insane.
Ok?
❤️
I have basically felt that the future was all down hill 10 years ago. Nothing has convinced me otherwise. Thats why I stay in my own little bubble and try to disconnect from the happenings. There is no point raging about what we can’t change.
I have a hard time watching the news now too. News outlets only show “good news” which is the administration succeeding, which hurts. I want stories of hope.
That goofy, fun loving person that I remember I used to be is now replaced with a quiet, cynical shut in. My dream of living in a house I own is forever gone. Debt, disease in the family, the onset of potential wars, and the cost of just being alive have pushed that fun loving person down into a deep dark hole. I used to live in fear of the world ending in fire but now, as fucked up as it may sound, I kind of sympathize with the villains in movies. The world has gotten to the point, in my opinion, that shit needs to burn to make way for a new world. This world is just too fucked up beyond repair. It needs a hard reset. So, you’re not alone. The mental health has taken a nose dive and hit every branch of the ugly tree on its way down.
