Ways I am coping with being stressed out as F**k, July 2024 edition

The news cycle, the political panic, and all the stress about possible futures over the past three weeks have taken too much of the calm out of my head. Here are some tactics for coping:

News and Information

• First, I went into my socials and blocked the keywords Trump, MAGA, elections, Gaza, Israel, War, trad wife, pro-life, Jesus, and Allah.
• Next, I returned to my socials and unblocked the keywords Trump and election.
• Finally, I put myself on a social media and news diet: the press is as toxic as some of the candidates and their venal supporters.

Reading and Watching

• Devoured two excellent novels by Nicola Griffith about a heroic British woman in the 6th Century, AD: HILD (700+ pages, published 2013) and Memewood (900+ pages, published 2023). Brilliant work!
• Started watching Game of Thrones for the first time, pretending the Lanisters are the Trump Family;
• Escaped into Britbox shows Sandi’s Wood (a famous British lesbian/actor/writer/presenter who buys a rural woodland to restore with her partner) and 2017 episodes of British Baking (which Sandi Torvigson co-hosts).
• Now reading: The Guncle Abroad by Steve Rowley.

Department of Taking Comfort

• Family and friends are nearby, and it’s summer.
• Early-girl tomatoes are ripening nicely,
• Gym=mental health.
• Support systems change where I can: access to college for first-gen students, projects supporting equity around AI usage, shopping locally, not shopping, and reusing when possible.
• I am appreciating my bed and my blackout dark sleep mask.
• I am not giving up.

How are you managing all this stress and worry? 

Share your advice and ideas–or have a nice moment of venting; we all deserve that.

Back next week with more nonprofits and AI–I just couldn’t today.