In EMS, there's a saying: if you drop the baby, pick it up.

Dropping the baby is like the worst thing you can ever do, but for Christ's sake, don't just leave it on the ground, do something about it. I've gotten involved in local government. Local government is great because you can still affect change there, and you can affect change that can snowball into something bigger with other people in other local governments making those changes. I'm on the city's bicycle commission, and I'm working with local organizations like the 'Council for Leadership and Justice' and 'Strong Towns' to try and make the world a better place than I found it. Is it futile? Sure feels like it sometimes, time will tell I guess, but the trying helps me feel better for a few reasons, not least of which because it puts me in contact with others who care enough to try too.

I don't. I'm literally on suicide watch trying new psych meds and wondering if the emotion storms are triggered by news, or the new drugs. Whee.

When the entire country is tilting day by day over the precipice about to fall into the abyss of fascist, one-party autocracy, it feels like the night before the Martians emerge with their tripods and heat rays. I feel like Fiver seeing the notice board portending the disaster of Sandleford Warren. I feel cursed for slighting Apollo somehow.

People are carrying on as if there's nothing wrong or nothing we can do, and I can't understand how they continue to function.

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.

Butt stuff

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.

Weed.

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!

Vintage non-internet connected devices, self hosting open source services, buying used clothes, while I slowly prepare my retirement as a hermit in the mountains of west virginia

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.

Cannabis and passive suicidal ideation

Edit: And if you're like me, make sure you call 988 and talk to someone. That's what I had to do earlier today, and this time it was actually kinda helpful.

50% socially acceptable self destruction (eating too much of the wrong things) and 50% dissociating while exercising (in hopes the collapse happens soon enough to make my physical fitness relevant.)

Treats and escapism 🥰

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.

Mostly, self-destructive coping skills, just not very well in general

Feel free to crosspost on !AskUSA@discuss.online

Compartmentalization. Prioritize dealing with the things I can control first. The rest is noise until I have extra time to worry about it.

Weed and booze

Moved out to the country, gardened, raised animals, breathed clean air and listened to the wind.

I find peace in learning and doing things well that, even if the system disintegrates, need to be done to move forward.

I go to asklemmy threads and try to sneak my message by their partisan hack, censorship/ban-happy mods by leaving subtle jabs like this one:

https://lemmy.world/comment/13937684

I focus on what tasks I have to get done today and do them. Then I doomscroll.

I say "thank goodness I don't live in China, or worse." Then I go back to trying to improve my life.

I feed and drug the dog, which reminds me to take my antidepressants and another pill which I have to take with food, and so I eat breakfast. I meme with my friends online. I compartmentalize the fuck out of life. I go to therapy. I give myself treats. I wrap the dog's pills in a hip-and-joint soft treat so he'll take them without me shoving them down his throat. I remind myself that I almost-own a condo, so I'm doing better that a lot of millennials.

I basically stopped participating. I work in a government position that is stable and pandemic-proof. I will never be able to buy a house so I don't even consider that. I live where I don't need a car. Basically, my needs are met and capitalism didn't work for me, ever.