[Serious] What keeps you sane in these troubling times?

Should be asleep ramble but...
Honestly, had a lot of time to think back in chemo. Wasn't even old enough to drink yet. Caught early, pretty high rates for success... But still... Lots of time to think. Sat next to sweet old ladies with much harder fights...
I appreciate the cosmic absurdity of it all. This whole experience of brief life in a tiny blip of this stupid cosmic scale of infinity in all directions, billions of years either side.. Meaning comes from what we make it. It's the best of times, it's the worst of times. Try to enjoy the ride while it lasts.
Find hobbies. Learn a new skill. Get lost in a book, or museum, or at a disco. Get that extra slice. Take that road trip. Learn how to play that instrument. No, it's probably not too late to start skiing, or climbing, or studying French. Grind if you have to. Cool shit often requires luck, but those who put in the hours get lucky more.
I feed my brain new music every day, and try to add laughter to every room I'm in. Make art, be weird, find the helpers.
Much love
- From one tiny universal blip to another, thank you for your message. Stay real.
  
  'Preciate you too, and shall do. Keeping it real is the only way I know how to roll. 🤙

Read more history, even just the last 1-200 years. Really dig in to the shit they don't get into in school. What you'll find is that times have always been "troubling" and if anything I think there's a selfishness some people have when they always focus on somehow NOW is the worst time ever and NOW is when things are terrible and everything good will somehow end.
Honestly, whatever you think is "troubling" nowadays probably isn't even new or the first time. But so many people don't understand just how fucked up all of history has been and yet people and countries and cultures survived.
If anything, life today in general for most is far better than in all of human history. Due to advancements in technology and medicine, most people don't have to worry about basic survival things the same way they might have even just 100 years ago.

Bold of you to assume Im sane.

Bold of you to assume I'm sane

Prozac and therapy.
Which honestly, is working. If only I arrived at this method sanely, rather than nearly ending it all and winding up in a hospital.
- Glad to hear you're on the mend, friend. The world is a better place for having you in it. ❤️
  Despite the sheer absurdity and chaos of it all, glad we're sharing this weird spaceship called Earth during these wild times.
  Rooting for you. 🤙
  
  "Messages like yours" is my answer to the post.

Honestly, sticking my head in the sand in a way. I deleted all social media from my phone (minus Lemmy) and un-joined any news communities on here. I'm trying to keep my world smaller so I can stay sane and keep those dearest to me taken care of as best as I can.
Honestly, it's worked a treat. I feel a little guilty for not rallying for the cause or keeping up with the world, but it's just too much.
- Your eyes are a commodity. Choose wear they go. Anger and fear is what they need to keep your eyes on their media.

I started a sub as a distraction.
!dull_mens_club@lemmy.world
- I renewed my tram card today, it expired a few months ago so I was paying full price instead of the low income price since then. I'm happy to have crossed that out of my to-do list
  
  This could be its own post. I posted there about going to get a haircut and asking if sport clips is more or less the Hooters of haircut places. (I've never been to sport clips)

Avoiding the news mostly and resisting the urge to participate in most online comments. Not getting upset about things I have no control over.

The fact that I see and hear my family's ethos in everything The Right does. That makes me angry beyond comprehension and motivates me to keep going out of sheer spite.
The assholes who raised me didn't manage to break me, not enough to take me out of the game. The assholes who rule us now have their work cut out for them, because I came out stronger.

Lame and simple, but: It's still a privilege to be here. I am grateful I was born when and where I am.
Maybe it's because I like history, but while I want things to be different, and do what I can to push for them to be, I still get to live in a world that's better than most of the time's I've read about.
I think we have a tendency to visualize our populations' struggles against a lens of what could be better, which is a good thing because that's what leads to progress. The unfortunate downside to this is the mental health aspects that can evolve from not recognizing how far we have come despite the challenges.

Sorry, but this country fully deserves where it ends up.
I shut off all news and social media, stopped checking newspapers, TV, and podcasts, and unsubbed from all politics and news mailing lists and communities. Told family and friends and they're being cool about it.
Dove into 60's detective novels. Anything by Ross Thomas, Donald Westlake, and Lawrence Block. Have stocked up on at least a year's worth of out-of-print epubs. Will reevaluate once they run out. Mixed with a lot of outdoor walks.
It's been glorious.
- I haven't tried the 60s yet, but I've heard good things about Westlake. My entire reading world changed when I discovered the original hard-boiled works of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler.
- Yup, blocking the news groups was something I did. Half baked articles and idiotic, ranting, comments aren't worth my time. I don't watch the news since it revolves around either fluff or fear mongering. I pretty much glance at a news compilation app and scan headlines, blocking subjects that are there as rage bait. I'm very selective about what I read now.
  My basic rule is there is no point in getting upset about things you have zero control over and/or don't have the slightest effect on you.
- Which country?

Moved my youtube habits away from doom and gloom news channels and instead to history documentaries and old episodes of Best of the Worst.
Similar to that, spend more time on Pluto TV/Roku/Tubi watching terrible low budget sci-fi and old comfort episodes of Quantum Leap and TNG.

Times were troubling since the day you were born, because since the day you were born you were going to die. Life has a 100% death rate. Make your life matter to you, because that's all that matters.
Also, don't read comments on articles. Stay off of social media. Those things are a mind cancer. Negativity bias and fear mongering drive profits by keeping your eyes on it. Find healthy stuff that makes you happy.
You are going to be ok.

Honestly, right now, stardew valley.
- Factorio
- Can't wait to play the 1.6 update as soon as I finish my BG3 campaign. It's taking me forever though because I am a loot goblin.

China installed 181 GW of solar power capacity from January to October 2024. It's installing about 200 GW of solar every year. In about 20 years we will have so much renewable energy and renewable storage mechanisms that oil will no longer be a reason for wars. In 100 years from now generative AI might exist and humans will be on Mars. Everything I do that's constructive for the world, that isn't exploitative, keeps these positive developments progressing however slowly so that future generations of humanity will not know our suffering.
- In 100 years from now generative AI might exist...
  I believe you mean Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) We currently use generative AI.
  ...keeps these positive developments progressing slowly so that future generations of humanity will not know our suffering.
  Hear hear!

Don't do this yourself but alcohol and weed. Lots of it. Unhealthy amounts.
- I'd cut the booze, but yeah, I toke up. A lot.
- What is the criteria one has to meet for consumption to be considered unhealthy? For me it depends on the day. Sometimes I can get by with a few hits and other days I feel like I can't function without a constant blaze across my face.
  
  I smoke all day everyday and drink myself to sleep each night. I'd consider both of those to be unhealthy.
- My advice to you...

Absurdist but intelligent humor. Here in Argentina, watching or listening to old shows by Les Luthiers gives me life.

Stopped reading and watching the news. No point.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/leslie-moonves-donald-trump-may-871464/amp/
https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/e-jean-carroll-les-moonves-assault-1203250251/amp/

Started listening to more episodes of 'The Rest is History' podcast to remind me that we've been under worse times before, and that everything ends eventually
Sci-Fi books as a form of escape
Starting gaming as another form of escapism
I also plan on exercising more as I've neglected my body over the last year

This book describes it well, I think, around page 32.
Tribe by Sebastian Junger
Basically, helping others keeps you sane.
- I have a very well-honed core of self hate that's tuned to provide me endless empathy for everyone else.
  Helping people keeps me alive sometimes.

Being involved in a local socialist org, having community, logging out

The responses are rough, man 😅 Some of y’all are hanging on just out of spite - which is totally valid tho. Hope you all will be able to find beauty in the world again and enjoy life!
For me it’s my family. Had a real fucking shitty day yesterday. Everything went wrong and then some. Then just got a glimpse of a picture of my son playing with his grandparents, laughing, happy. That was it, my day got 1200% better that instant.
- Same, although my offspring has already left the nest, but addition to the Mrs I got my house full of plants and animals.
  Maybe I'm not that sane 🤔
  
  Ahh, yes. I can also add plants and pets to the list!
  Go over bury your face in the plushy fur of your dog/cat? Day suddenly looks way less gloomy.
  And fuck, it is a good feeling to see a new leaf or bloom sprouting from your favourite plant-Bro 👌

Following news from China where pretty much all the positive developments are happening today.

Reminding myself that even though times are crazy, as I get older more and more of my life is in my control. So even though things might seem like they are getting worse, with a focus on self improvement and a humble, healthy schedule, things could get progressively better; hopefully that can spillover to people around me.
On that note, I hope OP is having a great day :D

An egg?
I try to channel all these lessons I picked up in therapy like "everyone is trying their best" and "we're all just billiard balls"

Reading theory helps me contextualize and analyze the world around us, which gives hope for a successful future for Humanity. I even wrote an introductory Marxist reading list to help anyone else who wants to start reading Leftist theory.
In addition to that, I find comfort with my friends and family, reading, cooking, gaming, and otherwise engaging with my hobbies.
- I definitely find that understanding what's happening and why goes a long way towards removing anxiety and fear.
  
  Yep! A lot of it can be scary, but the unknown is more terrifying because you can't correctly combat it.

Psychedelics, weed, alcohol (willing to quit alcohol but it's always a bad week to quit drinking)
- As someone who had been there, done that - please don't. You matter. Hope you find a way without this shit.

Simple, I don't get knee deep into politics and whatever everyone else is doom scrolling on.
- you've heard about global warming though, right? You don't exactly need to doomscroll to at least have an intellectual understanding of what kind of situation we're in.
  
  Key word here being "intellectual". It's important to recognize the issues and think of how we can affect the solution, but this is not what media at large provides or induces. It sews panic, doom, and ultimately loss of agency.

My mantra: "Behold, the field in which I grow my fucks, and see that it is barren."

Curiosity

My wife and dog (a little tiny Chihuahua). Regardless of what happens in the world, they'll be there for me, so I can take comfort in that at least. Married six years this year and adopted the dog four years ago.
- This is basically me, we’ve been married five years but she had the two dogs (one chihuahua, one mixed chihuahua) since about 2013.
  I work from home and am super attached to the dogs. We live in California in a big apartment in a small building so I’ve always got the doors open and they’re happy. I walk them on my lunches and they really do keep me sane.
  The one I’m more attached to (despite trying not to play favorites) even plays with me now (even though chihuahuas are typically not playful), and when he wants something we do this weird thing where I keep jabbing my hand at his paw and he does the same to me.
  I never wanted pets due to the responsibility but these little guys have totally won me over and I love them to the moon and back!
  
  Chihuahuas are the best. My gf's is as playful as he is affectionate and the friendliest little doggo.

Rock climbing (indoor) is the only thing, but honestly it’s been dark recently and I’m not sure I can last another 25 years until I could retire.

Finding things I can do, and people I can help. Get involved and get organized!

Nothing, I just wait for unbridled rage to give me a fatal heart attack, or for a driver to run me over to get out of a parking lot or driveway a second sooner.

Love and curiousity. For the latter, my ability to find things interesting has allowed me to look past the immediate and into the past and the far future, the details of the world that add up from countless actions of people or movements of particles, creating such wonderful complexity.
But it would all be for nought had I not someone to share it all with, my friends, my lovely girlfriend, a mind alone and silent is a mind wasted. And I could never waste such a precious gift, I'm grateful to share my intelligence and stupidity alike, for they are my diversity and a symbol of complexity as a human being.
It also helps me understand why things are happening, especially in relation to economics, history and politics. When tragedies occur, I'm able to be more immediately dispassionate as I see the causes and the trends and parallels to history. Yet it has not made me lose my humanity, if anything, I have turned kneejerk emotions into an olympic fire of sorts, never out, always there, always aware. In the words of a forgotten British punk band "I cultivate the hate to anhiliate the state"

Family and friends!

Filtered most of the political content out of my Lemmy and other feeds, went back to using RSS to deliver content (a surprising amount of sites of all kinds absolutely do support RSS, it's not dead in the slightest), focused more on family and things on hand.
Generally, regaining sense of agency over whatever's around you is a single best antidote.

I lost all my sanity points decades ago. I also purged my social circle back during the second intifada, and by opposing the Iraq/Afghanistan wars- categorically improved my mental health as a result- I didn't even have to cut anyone out of my life after Oct 7!

As bad as times are, these times are still better than 99% of human history.

Just singing this song everytime something happens https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=T2T0vdfT1ps

nihilism

Lately for me it's been the Octopath Traveler II soundtrack. Whenever I feel stressed out I just listen to the character themes and it totally transports me to another place.

"That's my secret, Cap, ..."

Resubscribed to XIV online. it's a good escape from this shitty reality.
Also reaching out to old connections that sizzled away

Nihilism. It's unlikely that humans will destroy the ability for earth to sustain life, just make our society collapse.
Humans lives aren't as important as life itself.
- I would go a step further to say life isn't that important as a whole in the grand scheme of the universe
  We as humans place value on it because we're part of it, we rely on it to carry on existing, and we're curious and find it interesting
  Could argue that intelligence/sentience is important but it's only important from the perspective of beings with intelligence
  
  I suppose I'm not 100% on Nihilism in that sense.
  I still value life of course, but the climate change existential dread which I feel pretty constantly is alleviated when I tell myself its only complete societal collapse/mass extinction event, rather than total destruction of life on the earth.

It helps to realize that all times are troubled times.
The first noble truth of buddhism is: “Life is suffering”.
Not “Life in this decade in this country is suffering”. It’s not a locally-scoped phenomenon.

Marxist theorists have known for many decades that the rise of fascism was coming. They called every step of this so accurately, you’d think they had a copy of Biff’s sports almanac.
But the same theorists also predicted the eventual fall of capitalists/fascists, and that socialism/communism would follow. I just hope we get to that point before climate collapse. But I’m doing what I can as an individual, and trusting the process.

Cyber attacks and hybrid attacks have already occurred, and the risk of a full blown invasion increases. Should I be worried? Maybe I should ask Ukrainians how they’re handling these troubling times.
So, what’s on your mind these days? Talking about it might help.