This past weekend, I was out in my local area doing some community service/volunteer work, and for the first time in a long time, I felt like I was taking some kind of action to make things better, and that it was something I could ACTUALLY do!

Even if I didn't manage to stop or even slow down The Horrors™ of the present day, getting out there and doing LITERALLY ANYTHING made me feel a lot less fatalistic about the state of the world right now, and I think it's helping me approach the things that are genuinely disturbing with a better headspace and a more proactive mindset.

So if you're like me, and have been doomscrolling and just waiting around for the end of the world, get out there and do SOMETHING! It doesn't even have to be anything even remotely related to current politics! This weekend, I helped set up and run a charity breakfast for an art gallery, and last weekend, I was involved in a road cleanup! No, it won't make the big scary headlines go away, but you'll be surprised how quickly your mindset changes, so we're all of the mindset that taking action in these dire times is possible! Collective action may be the best way to inflict large-scale change, but that can't happen until enough individuals are on board!

RE: https://hear-me.social/@garrett/115313649853985871

Aaaaaand the spam accounts are back. Going request-only again. See the quote post below.

The world lost a truly noble man and a champion of human rights this morning.

Rest in peace, Jesse Jackson.

After the second public execution in Minneapolis today, all this chaos happening around me is legitimately taking a toll on my mental health.

And to those who say "oh, just get out, organize, and protest!"...I agree! Unfortunately, I haven't heard of a SINGLE protest happening ANYWHERE near me (which is baffling considering I don't even live in that remote of an area and there have been so many over the past year), and I don't have nearly enough connections to start one myself. I also don't have much time or money to contribute to causes either.

So what now? If I choose to log out, stop the flow of information, and spare myself the agony, I'll essentially be conceding defeat: the regime wants me not to hear about their atrocities. But what the hell am I going to do with that information anyways? It's not like I can spread the word to friends & family, because they all keep up with the news and are just as disturbed by it as I am! Social media? This is all the social media I have, and my 99% of my posts get literally zero engagement!

I don't know how much more of this I can take. The world is going to shit, and things aren't great in my personal life either. To hope, in these times, feels like a rejection of reality. But if there truly is no hope, why do I continue to put in any effort each day? Why do I continue to go out of my way to stay informed about the state of the world? Why do I even get out of bed in the morning?

I don't know. I haven't known for a long while now.

But what I do know is that, even though a growing part of me doesn't want to do any of those things anymore, silence and ignorance are complicity and collaboration in the hostile takeover of democratic society. And to stop doing those things, even though they make zero impact on the state of things, feels like a betrayal of my integrity, even if they're breaking me down to my very core right now.

IMO, glitter is probably the most overrated thing there is.

Maybe this is the cishet white man in me talking, but I just don't see the appeal of bright, tiny little specks that stick to you any time you touch anything with them on it.

I'm ashamed to admit I recently caved and joined Bluesky a few weeks ago, because with Survivor 50 & The Traitors S4 coming up, I knew both of those communities were more prominent on Bluesky and I didn't want to clog up my Mastodon feed with that sort of thing.

Quickly, I'm seeing how much of a mistake that was, with their admission of the violent murder gang known as ICE.

Mastodon >>>>>>>>>> Bluesky, and I knew this from the start, but unfortunately my posts do actually get shown to people there, so I have to remain 😔