That’s absolutely on point; worth typing out and resharing:
There are several risks to being overloaded with disturbing/negative content:
️ Complacency - becoming so used to the deluge that it all starts to seem normal. ️ Paralysis - that is, being so overwhelmed, you can’t figure out what to do/how to move forward. ️ Crisis perspective - you get trapped in the Breaking News cycle where everything seems like a potentially world-ending crisis to you. ️ Depression/PTSD - you don’t have to be on the frontline of a war have either/both. Disturbing content is absolutely a trigger.
Dont ignore current events:
TAKE ACTION. Volunteer for a food pantry, canvass for a political candidate, donate to a NGO, visit a sick friend. Seriously. Service of some kind in your community lets you be part of SOLUTIONS. You will see RESULTS when otherwise you’d feel helpless.
Conversely, for those who may take tip #1 to the extreme–know that you alone can’t save the world. Accept your limits. You aren’t a 7/11. You can’t always be “open.” At the end of every day when I reached my limit, I silently told myself, “I’ve done what I can today.”
RESEARCH BEFORE PANICKING. Easier said than done, but everything will seem like crisis/earth-ending if you don’t know what has/hasn’t happened before. If it has happened before, it’s can be hugely comforting to know how it was resolved and/or what might happen next
GET UP & MOVE. Put the phone away, turn off the TV, log out of Twitter. Go for a walk, sit outside, get some coffee, call a friend. CIA is full of ppl walking the building with a colleague/friend. There’s a reason. Our brains & bodies need breaks from stressful content.
SET RULES. Because of my work at CIA, I had a rule–I only read fiction at home. I had enough reality at work. In the civilian world, I set blocks of time each day where I turn everything off–no news or social media. Let yourself recharge so you can keep fighting later.
AVOID DARK HOLES. (I’m sure there’s a joke to be made about that.) It’s easy to get sucked into the swirl of bad news. You watch a gruesome YouTube video and the next one is all queued up to play right after it. Focus on one issue at a time. Deal w/ it before moving on.
YOU NEED FUN. When there is suffering, war, despair, etc. around you, it’s easy to feel guilty when you have fun, feel happy, have a good meal with friends. You NEED these things. You will be better able to do good in the world if you let yourself have these things.
TALK TO SOMEONE. Often, we curl inward socially when overwhelmed w/ negative content. It’s a means of protection. One of the great things at CIA was that everyone else knew what you were going through. Whether it’s therapy or talking to your person, talking helps.
“None of this is easy. I got burned out a lot in my career & many days recently, I’ve felt overloaded by the barrage. I’m sure you have too. But you and I can’t check out. We can’t give up & we need to stay engaged, but we can’t do that if we get overloaded. Keep going.”
Real talk; when you’re going through Hell, don’t fucking stop; keep going.
(You know shit is beyond weird when I’m the one playing the role of ‘cheerleader’ and ‘diehard optimist.’)
Given that Trump and his ilk spend a lot of time and effort questioning the basis of the law of refugees, I wonder if it might be counterproductive to cast aspersions on the society of friends and pacifism in general.
(I’ve left a rhetorical record that makes it quite difficult to pretend to be a pacifist, so please don’t ask me to try.)
Links to a Facebook page. I can’t read the Facebook page because Facebook hits readers with pain/animation.
Funmilayo Celestina Ekundayo:
So i just got this message when i attempted to update my voter registration.
This is a lie. I became a naturalized citizen in 2005. Drove all the way to Memphis Tennessee for the ceremony.
I have voted in 2 elections; i have an American passport I’ve traveled with, and i have gone to the Department of safety and homeland security to update all information, last time i did was 2 years ago when i needed a copy of my social security card.
So, a warning to all naturalized citizens inTennessee , check your status now!! https://ovr.govote.tn.gov/Registration
Something is happening. update
I have confirmed others that are having this issue. Folks, this is Not a drill!!
Check your statuses. update 2
Still trying to find answers. After calling the Department of homeland security and safety, i was told by the representative that he didn’t know what was happening and would like to refer me to an “immigration officer”. The wait time is 57 minutes. The office closed in 17 minutes.
I will try again on Monday.
Until then, i am taking my passport with me Everywhere!! EVERYWHERE!!!
That reminds me of my friends who always calls the military the “killitary”. Upon which I always remind her both my parents are from countries occupied by the Nazis, and that we’re very grateful to the Allied military for liberating us.
Yeah, it’s a complex issue. On one hand, the US Armed Forces are the embodiment of imperialism. On the other hand they’ve helped block and destroy more evil empires. Not every soldier is a callous killer, but the collateral damage inflicted as a result of imperialism is still in living memory.
It says something about the state of the union that our congressional representatives are giving speeches like this, urging protests and impeachment despite death threats:
“I know that there are those who are talking about censuring me, talking about kicking me out of Congress, talking about shooting me, talking about hanging me,” Waters added.
“All I have to say is this: If you shoot me, you’d better shoot straight. There’s nothing like a wounded animal. I am prepared to make whatever sacrifices need to be made.”
Also, if you watch the video (which I highly recommend - it is an inspirational speech) note the scroll at the bottom around 6:33. WTF is this really just now happening in 2018?!?
Three senators introduce bill to make lynching a federal hate crime. Measures to criminalize lynching have repeatedly failed and congress is now prepared to correct the failure.
Things like this and the mayor and police of Portland refusing to help the feds are indicators that we may be approaching an inflection point.
Also, why does anyone think the “staff member” excuse (a.k.a. “we fired the intern”) is any excuse at all? The buck stops with him. Besides, this isn’t the first time this has happened with him, not by a long shot. Somehow I think this isn’t a problem with the “staff members” but a problem with Ron Paul himself.
There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.
This is horrific. An avowed Nazi running for Congress. To the good people of Illinois, you have two reasonable choices: write in another candidate, or vote for the Democrat. This bigoted fool should receive ZERO votes. https://t.co/9WYlvCMKaF
— Ted Cruz
Nazis still have a bad odor about them, so to speak, so they don’t like the label. But it’s funny they never complain about white supremacists.
And I detest this business of “we’ll lose our culture!” Culture changes all the time. They should just look at their kids. Sometimes I can barely understand young people. Their kids’ culture is going to be vastly different than theirs.
If you want to preserve values, traditions and legends that are important to you…
It helps if anyone can join them, so it’s not exclusionary to join them.
It helps if people can rework and reinterpret them.
It helps if people can participate in them.
Which is going to help people relate to, for example, English traditions?
A role-playing game about resisting Viking raids
Condemning Robin Hood as loudly as possible as often as possible: “I don’t think we should be subsidizing Foxxcon!” “Robin Hood! you’re a fucking Robin Hood, steeling from the rich and sending them to Siberian gulags…”
️ Complacency - becoming so used to the deluge that it all starts to seem normal.
