Mastodawn

How do you be aware of major issues in the world and locally without becoming deeply depressed and cynical?

https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/33816821

How do you be aware of major issues in the world and locally without becoming deeply depressed and cynical? - Divisions by zero

As someone in the US it’s so easy to see so many depressing issues from the ravages of capitalism, to war, imperialism, and genocide. How can one care about these issues and hope for change without allowing themselves to be affected mentally? I’ve been considering this for the past week, connecting it with Buddhist compassion towards the world and a need for mindfulness. But it’s so easy to fall into emotionlessness. I’ve also thought through the world has always had issues and though some are getting much worse some are getting better. I have gone to counseling before but they just make it an individual problem when it’s the world.

WeAreAllOne Dec 21, 2024

It’s indeed very difficult and my take is that the system wants us like this. To be depressed, full of fear and hopeless. Mainly of course through media.

What I considered one solution to fight back this is to discuss current events, solutions etc with a group of similar minded people. I don’t mean join a cult etc. No far from it. But finding people with same concerns by openly discussing them will bond them into bigger groups and this helps a lot. Gives a sense of fulfilment and hope.

Don’t fear. Act.

Mayor Poopington Dec 21, 2024

How do you find leftist groups? I’ve been to a couple local democrat meetings and I just can’t hang. It’s just older people that are okay with the status quo. And I want to break things.

WeAreAllOne Dec 21, 2024

See comment above. Don’t fall into the trap of lefts and rights.

Frisbeedude Dec 21, 2024

Don’t fall into the trap of lefts and rights

That is a very important comment, thank you! We are just being played to perfection at the moment, peak divide and conquer. If we can refuse to play these games, maybe we can all learn and evolve.

takeda Dec 21, 2024

You raised a very good point that I did not realize until now. In the past 8 years we actually stopped talking about politics to others, because it became so polarizing.

We absolutely need to talk about politics if we want to keep democracy. Hardliners likely won’t be converted, but at least, as you said, we should talk to like minded people.

Also, there’s indeed no point to worry about things outside of our control, and worry about things we can affect. Threat the things that happen, that we can’t control more as an obstacle that we have to deal with. Also support people who might have control and fight (governors, congress people, lawyers, judges, government employees, etc) so they know that aren’t doing it for nothing.

WeAreAllOne Dec 21, 2024

Correct. Also have in mind the all political sides, lefts, rights etc are all the same wearing different masks. True change comes from the base, from people, not from politicians placed by the system for people to vote. The base, the people when discuss and propose the most fit person to represent them , this is true democracy.

meyotch Dec 21, 2024

I’m in love with Stanford Beer and his saying “The purpose of a system is what it does”.

So yes, if most of us are depressed and anxious then that is what the system is for.

cymbal_king Dec 21, 2024

Agreed! I get this with my Unitarian Universalist church community. UUs don’t require anyone to believe a certain scripture, but we have a shared set of principles, like valuing democracy, science, and nature. The community aspect and music program are great by themselves, and our minister’s sermons have been a great source of motivation to keep fighting for what we believe in.

Unitarian Universalism's Seven Principles

Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote seven Principles and share a living tradition of wisdom and spirituality drawn from many sources.

UUA.org

metaStatic Dec 21, 2024

That's the neat part, you don't.

CallateCoyote Dec 21, 2024

Right? I’ve never believed that depression is a brain chemical issue. It’s an issue of being aware of the true nature of the world and species.

cdf12345 Dec 21, 2024

It’s both.

CallateCoyote Dec 21, 2024

No other animal suffers from depression. If it were a brain chemical issue, where are all the depressed squirrels and buffalo? It’s a human problem. That brain chemical imbalance shit is a neat way for the pharmaceutical companies to push their expensive chemicals on us.

gnutrino Dec 21, 2024

No other animal suffers from depression.

That’s probably not true

Do Animals Get Depressed?

Primates, rodents may show signs of sadness, study suggests.

CallateCoyote Dec 21, 2024

Behind a paywall so I unfortunately can’t read it. These are animals being held in captivity and being tested on by their captors? Heh. Pretty apt comparison if that’s the case. I’m sure the solution is to give them pills to numb them rather than free them no doubt.

cdf12345 Dec 21, 2024

Unpaywalled

archive.ph/7YtFu

TrickDacy Dec 21, 2024

Of course animals suffer from depression. This isn’t something I need to prove to you. This comment just goes to show that you’re either not very observant in any context or you’ve never been to a zoo. And no dipshit, it doesn’t make zoo animals not depressed because humans cause it in the cases where it’s easiest seen. By virtue of us being human, of course those examples would be seen by us. Jesus Christ some people trip over themselves to hold an insanely wrong viewpoint.

CallateCoyote Dec 21, 2024

Yeah, I’m sure being held captive by terrifying ape creatures isn’t what causes their mental issues at all just like the conditions that terrifying ape creatures inflict onto us isn’t what causes ours. It’s just a brain chemical imbalance you are born with, you see, and you have to electrocute the brain to solve everything… wait, no, shove this ice pick up your eye… well, that was problematic… take these chemicals! Hmmm… let’s try a dozen more until we find the “right” one.

Fucking hell no.

TrickDacy Dec 21, 2024

You seem like the type of person who cannot accept that things are complicated and multiple things can be true at once.

CallateCoyote Dec 21, 2024

Only thing I need to know in this case is that I don’t trust that industry and find it terrifying that they have been given any credibility and legal power over others. Quacks with degrees in pseudoscience whose book of diagnostics was written by the same people on the pharmaceutical boards. I will have nothing to do with it.

You do you and follow your own beliefs and practices.

TrickDacy Dec 21, 2024

Right, you’ve already told us you think in binary terms. Either psychology is a perfect science or its total bullshit. There could never be a case where any part of it is valid if any part of it were not. /s

CallateCoyote Dec 21, 2024

More bullshit than perfect as it were. Maybe someday with enough guinea pigs to experiment on, eh?

TrickDacy Dec 21, 2024

I took some prescription drugs to help with my very real depression and they didn’t work for me. You know how I responded? I stopped taking them. But I didn’t pretend that experience is not only exactly like everyone else’s, but also made me smarter than all the world’s mental health professionals combined. If I did think that way, it would make me pretty idiotic.

CallateCoyote Dec 21, 2024

So you took the pills to find out the same thing I knew not taking them and now you are lashing out calling me an idiot and downvoting every one of my comments though I don’t mirror that same hostility and disrespect. Very cool.

You know, getting depressed sometimes is a part of the human experience. Some are born into happier conditions than others and some are destined to misery by virtue of the family, class, and culture they came into. It’s all random chance in a chaotic universe. I still think being born human beats being born as a friggin’ tapeworm or bedbug or some other shit animal though, so it could be worse. Just do your best to distract from the depression when it strikes, don’t label yourself with some bullshit diagnostic another flawed ape monster put on you (who no doubt has many of their own mental issues), enjoy the small things, and know that this all comes to an one day (thank God). Fuck it.

TrickDacy Dec 21, 2024

Yeah this is just you adding a new spin to “I’m smarter than an entire field of study”: self righteousness

CallateCoyote Dec 21, 2024

Man, you really are just a miserable cunt then. Best of luck with that. Maybe those venerated geniuses will come up with that magical solution for you.

Imagine we’re at a party. I am now grabbing my beer and going to talk to somebody who isn’t an asshole. Don’t follow me.

TrickDacy Dec 21, 2024

Imagine you’re at a party and there’s some idiotic claiming to be smarter than everyone else. Imagine what you would want to say to them. Instead, you go home and tell others what a fuckhead you just met.

But you are that fuckhead.

CallateCoyote Dec 21, 2024

Look, I know that you love me, but I asked you to please not follow me. Maybe we could have had something great, but you ruined it. And that’s on you, kid. I don’t believe in second chances.

TrickDacy Dec 21, 2024

BuT iM sMaRtEr ThAn GeNeRaTiOnS oF aCaDeMiCs

CallateCoyote Dec 21, 2024

Shhh shhh shhh. Fly away, little moth. This flame doesn’t burn for you. This flame burns too bright.

TrickDacy Dec 21, 2024

Me SmAHT

CallateCoyote Dec 21, 2024

I’m gonna block you now, bud, because it’s getting creepy. You have to learn when to let go.

TrickDacy Dec 21, 2024

I wanted to say there is some truth in what you’re saying but the more I read, the more clueless you sound. Depression is real, and drugs that fuck your sex life up are probably worse. I have a lot of bad days but good days, good art, and a well placed joint help. Just because a lot of the current understanding of depression is flawed or wrong doesn’t make it a fake made up condition. You probably aren’t depressed if you can say that. Being the kid who was always super sensitive, would cry for hours, and getting really sad just thinking about something briefly are all things I experienced which prove to me that depression is real. No one else in my family was suffering like that. And I could say I was of higher intelligence and that’s why, if I wanted to jerk myself off like you’re doing, but the truth is it’s a lot more complicated than that.

enbyecho Dec 21, 2024

I’m curious. Have you always been a complete jackass?

CallateCoyote Dec 21, 2024

To become this enlightened has taken some time, so fret not. There’s hope for you. Perhaps once you’ve lost a couple of friends to this destructive industry. Until then, I can see you’re quite comfortable in the circle jerk.

enbyecho Dec 21, 2024

So, yes.

CallateCoyote Dec 21, 2024

I’ll be whatever you all need me to be and I’m quite confident in my beliefs on the matter. I will also continue to be able to achieve an erection and orgasm until my age naturally catches up with me. You do you.

NotSteve_Dec 22, 2024

Seriously, you don’t know what you’re talking about. SSRIs saved my life. I was recently barely clinging on with my job as I was on the verge of a panic attack nearly 24/7. I’ve been off and on SSRIs before so I do know they’re very difficult to quit, but I was close to institutionalizing myself from the level of anxiety I was dealing with.

CallateCoyote Dec 22, 2024

I personally am writing them off entirely for personal use, but I am happy they work for you. I’ve been saying the entire time in this thread that it’s a personal decision… I’ll admit I was playing it up for that one user who was super rude to me because it was fun to piss him off, but you are cool.

NotSteve_Dec 22, 2024

Thank you, and I do get it. I have a love/hate relationship with SSRIs, but 2024 was really rough for me and they were the only thing that pulled me out of it all.

They are a heavy drug though with withdrawals worse than any other drug I’ve tried. I’ve fought to get off of them before in the past (when my mental health was doing better). I’ve spent entire years slowly tapering while still dealing with brain zaps and mood swings.

Like I said, last resort thing.

CallateCoyote Dec 22, 2024

Yeah, I was there when a former best friend went through it after her online psychiatrist put her on a cocktail of Adderall, antidepressants, and who knows what else and she was having the brain shocks, withdrawals, vomiting. That’s definitely very real.

It does make me angry when they prescribe it all willy nilly like that without trying other things first.

Wish you the best of luck getting clear of them and living a happy life.

NotSteve_Dec 22, 2024

Yeah those symptoms sound accurate. It’s not fun.

Thank you though, you as well!

ShittyBeatlesFCPres Dec 21, 2024

One thing I do — and it sounds like you may have tried a version of this — is take media breaks (social media included). Go camping, read fiction, play video games or whatever floats your boat. You’ll almost always find that nothing major has changed and you were just dwelling on things beyond your control.

I’m not saying stick your head in the sand and pretend nothing is wrong. I’m more saying you can keep just as informed without wallowing in the news slop.

Mayor Poopington Dec 21, 2024

Easy, I was depressed and cynical before the election

𞋴𝛂𝛋𝛆 Dec 21, 2024

I get my news from here. If it is really important it will bleed into the periphery to places like this. My physical disability with social isolation makes this a best self health situation. The news is not real news any more, it does nothing to inform. It was changed to “news as entertainment” long ago.

PolandIsAStateOfMind Dec 21, 2024

Communism…

ShimmeringKoi [comrade/them]Dec 21, 2024

9point6 Dec 21, 2024

Not for everyone but political activism is a good outlet, be it protests or volunteering to help the election campaign of the opposition when it comes round again. Make sure everyone you know lays the blame in the correct place when shit inevitably hits the fan.

Other than that, get off corporate social media, rage bait is the most effective content for driving interaction, corporate social media algorithms are designed to maximise interaction. You will always be shown the worst of everything on social media.

Similarly identify where your news is coming from and if it’s coming from somewhere with a tendency to sensationalise. Cut anything like that out too.

It’s important to be informed yes, but it’s not essential to be aware of absolutely everything for most people, and if that’s better for your mental health, you should prioritise reduction in consumption.

That_Devil_Girl Dec 21, 2024

We are each just one person. We can’t save the world, and it would be unreasonable to carry that burden.

But we each can save a small piece of it. A kind word here, a forgiving of slights there, and work in some patience & understanding for others.

Little things can make waves. And if Six Degrees of Separation remains true, your little deeds affect more people than you realize.

_thebrain_Dec 21, 2024

Simple: I’m just naturally deeply depressed and cynical, so there isn’t a big difference

GHiLA Dec 21, 2024

born of it, moulded by it…

cRazi_man Dec 21, 2024

Heavily filter what you consume. Following all news is not the morally correct thing to do, a MD you can cut back on it.

Tetsuo Dec 21, 2024

I literally don’t understand people having kids in this “climate”. That’s how cynical and hopeless I feel about humanity’s future.

I wouldn’t want to inflict that… The heat, the natural disasters, the risk of nuclear wars. The genocides considering multiple were or are active at any point (Palestine, Syria…). The fall of journalism…

Many things I discuss with my friends but nobody could ever dream to fix. So all this shit stays with you. And seeing how our politics are reacting to climate change, this is lost. Because everything else is pointless if you don’t have a place to live.

Caveman Dec 21, 2024

Just had one, my only social media is lemmy which really helps

ComradeMiao Dec 21, 2024

How old are they now? :) mine is 10m

Caveman Dec 21, 2024

2 weeks, fresh out of the oven :)

ComradeMiao Dec 21, 2024

Without knowing which you are, let the wife get some extra sleep and cook or takeout extra for them. I regret not doing that more! They deserve the world. Also, if you don’t have help from family it’s worth asking for a night nanny. It’s so hard on everyone

Congratulations! How have the past two weeks been? W

Caveman Dec 22, 2024

Pretty nice, I’m on morning duty plus cleaning, diapers and general support. It’s been nice so far except I’m worried the wife doesn’t get enough sleep.

zante Dec 21, 2024

You are brainwashed

Cataphract Dec 21, 2024

Yeah! Can’t understand why they believe checks comment…oh… climate change? Umm, sure. You got them, glad you gave them that mental check and brought them back to reality…weren’t just being insulting or anything.

zante Dec 21, 2024

Fuck off