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No you don't. Stay with us.
For what?
That's the neat part: The fight never ends. We just keep fighting and fighting and fighting.
I'm tired boss...
That does not feel satisfying to me. And I’ll constantly wonder if there was anything else I could have done.
(I'm halfway through my daily ration of grog so I'll ramble along with you)
I've been doing the right thing since 2000. I vote in every primary and general election. I donate to candidates. I did text banking for Bernie. I'm doing what everyone says you should do. Hell, in 2000 I swapped my swing-state Nader vote with someone in a solidly blue state because I knew how much it mattered.
But every election makes me feel like some kind of alien creature. People act more and more irrationally, arguing about more and more inane things. And nearly every time things get worse. I'm trying to be a good little raindrop but the rest of them are going in the opposite direction as hard as they can.
When do I get to stop doing something that feels like beating my head against a wall? It's been two and a half decades of this and every single time I feel like we get further away from what I'm working toward because everyone else is acting crazy. And every time I feel less and less like I'm even a member of the human species. They're all so alien to me.
I appreciate the sentiment, friend.
I think it's important to keep your mental health. I try not to dwell on the bad and just know that I did my part along with millions of other people. Even in the reddest state, there are A LOT of rational people.
BTW, I live in a red state so I usually feel like my vote legitimately doesn't matter. But we got the Chief Justice that we wanted (she wrote the minority opinion that an abortion ballot measure should stay on).
It's not mental health per se. I've been in a pretty good mood today, surprisingly. It's more that every election I feel like what I do has less and less impact, because everybody else isn't pulling in the same direction.
And, yeah, the state senator and representative I wanted won, so that's nice. But these tiny victories feel so useless against the weight of a nation determined to destroy itself and the world.
Plus even the rational people don't make sense to me in other perplexing ways. If I just reinserted myself into the ad-filled, algorithm-driven existence they all seem to inhabit I'd feel less like I beamed down from outer space. I'd be able to talk about TV shows and Facebook and other normal people stuff. But I've been there and I didn't like it.
Hey, I really like the sound of the eightfold path. Is there any Buddhist literature you would recommend? It might be really nice right now.
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/
I like Theravada because it is closest to simply the Buddha's teachings without a lot of other side stuff that is found in some of the sects. The thing that has helped me the most is learning to allow emotions to happen but not react to them by going off on a long chain of destructive thoughts, which trigger more bad emotions in an ongoing cycle.
Meditation helps you learn how your own mind works. The idea is just notice that the thought or feeling happened and go back to concentrating or observing (depending on the type of meditation you are doing). Eventually you notice them when they happen during normal activity and can just let go of them without reacting.
Hey. Europe is nice. You are welcome to come and live here :)
Also: Please don’t kill yourself. If you think about doing so, please talk to a professional. There are also plenty of friendly people available via free hotlines. The world is a better place with you in it. Don’t let them win :)
So you can be among those who help others survive. People need you. We need everyone we can get.
We could have some pizza and milkshakes and watch a cool 80s movie?
I would also like an answer to this question