Ignore a lot of stuff.
When I feel that I can’t improve the world, I improve myself and focus on my family.
I have been reading a lot of fiction lately.
Listen, the important thing isn’t to court optimism. It’s to avoid pessimism. Pessimistic thoughts tend to be sticky and refuse to go away. Mindfulness meditation can help you give those thoughts the boot.
But it also helps to stay busy. Like my hobby of reading fiction.
Exercise can also help.
Staying optimistic can backfire if you’re over optimistic at all.
- Avoid (edit: centralized/closed) social media like the contagious dumbifying plague it has become,
- get my news from a selected few news sources (from opposing sides, so I never risk thinking they’re right just because they say things I want/like to hear). And only paid-for news,
- read books (classics, poetry, plays, essays,…),
- write, to put a semblance of order in my own thoughts,
- take long walks, daily.
- Spend quality time with my spouse.
- Listen to music.
I don’t.
I stay out of the 24 hr “news cycle” noise chamber, I stay away from SM platforms run by ultra-wealthy oligarchs, I avoid negative, destructive people as much as possible, I spend a lot of time “touching grass” and just enjoying very simple pleasures.
Self delusion.
I still travel because learning about the world is fun(and cheap) and every time I’m in a new country it’s no small measure of reassurance that most people are kind.
I’ve been in the dark for so long that I’m comfortable in it. So bring it, if you got it to bring.
I’ve been listening to RADIOHEAD.
You can try the best you can,
you can try the best you ca-a-an,
The best you can is good, enough,
