It seems in fact that your girlfriend is right there with you, but like it was already said here I feel you need to communicate it to her in a way that she actually understands that you are trying to limit your news intake because of your mental well-being. Maybe advice her for you and her to try to do it together or something? Like that neither of you would read as much (political/economical) news so that she wouldn't even feel the need to try to alleviate her panic by sharing it with you, as I'm assuming that's the reason she's sharing her panic with you. Then maybe try to spread this "ideology" of sorts to your immediate surroundings, if all you hear there as well is just the doom and gloom of late-stage capitalism. Rather talk about good things, like the inherent beauty of ever-present life if all else fails.
Things that have helped me in the past with my personal mental health problems was to not push myself too hard to achieve beyond my current capabilities. If you feel worn down by everyday life too much maybe you can reduce the amount of physical activity at the moment? Don't get me wrong running AND exercising 3 to 5 times a week is amazing, especially for a retired person and something I have never been able to achieve, but I still think it's worth making adjustments as needed. But that's up to you to decide if you feel that's something you want to keep up.
Another thing could be community work. Current situation in the world seems hopeless on a grander scheme, but I have personally found much joy in volunteer community work, in my immediate community. I don't know where you are or what is available to you, but I suggest looking into something like that.
And of course, as you know already, stop doomscrolling. I removed my social media accounts some time ago, but still find myself occasionally mindlessly scrolling the feeds on youtube and lemmy. Which is still just doomscrolling. The short-form video is one of the worst – if not straight-up the worst – drug I have ever tried (and I've tried several) for ease of relapse. Maybe look into private DNS providers and internet content blockers if you haven't already to help you with avoiding the shit that's out there.
I'm guessing there will be many people in the comments who share your predicament and will have other ways of alleviating, here are some of mine. Good luck!
don't know for sure, was born after it's collapse so never had a chance to visit. Never been to China, DPRK, Laos, Vietnam or Cuba either because travelling is expensive (thanks capitalism!), but doubt that the people there would bother with shit like that tbh
I am suddenly reminded of an ad for a restaurant in some local city that was something along the lines of: "come sample the taste of the USSR which, unlike their inspirations, actually exist!" Communism is when no food, huh?
I feel like "the rest of the world does not care enough because it’s all happening too far away" is a bit disingenuous, as there are civil movements and protests against Israel's actions in Palestine around the world. Some "faraway" countries like South-Africa even filed the original ICJ/ICC case against Israel for acts of genocide in December 2023. I think it's the nations who are for Israel, but most of them haven't represented the actual will of the people for a long time. Of course the US being Israel's closest ally is quite a deterrent against any government with a spine (among other geopolitical skullduggery), so alas.
"IDF allegedly killed Hamas commander in cafe strike that killed or wounded at least 41 civilians, including 3 journalists and 2 athletes, as well as children and families gathering for a birthday party", but you'd never hear BBC utter those words, now would you? Shameful, absolutely shameful. Also the "Hamas commander" in question is a son of an already killed Hamas commander, and also Israel claims to have used aerial surveillance to "mitigate the risk of harming civilians", so in other words they knew there were civilians there including children. The absolute scum of the earth.
But yeah, sounds like a valid plan. That is if you believe things will ever change by voting, or that Trump & Goons LLC will be ready to release their power come 2028. A fool's hope, certainly, but a hope nonetheless.
Yes, capitalism can only serve the capitalists, and maintain a (highly relative) peaceful environment (not counting the subjugated peoples and areas in the global south atm) in only the most auspicious of times. And even then the system will inevitably shit itself and die every few years or so and must be resurrected by national intervention using said nation's taxpayers' (=working class) money. So the system is fundamentally flawed, which has never and will never "work" insofar as the working class is regarded.
Indeed the US is in quite dire straits, having replaced its national industrial capacity for outsourcing to countries with cheap labor, and also positioning the US dollar as the world currency, thus having the leverage to force dissenting nations to either go bankrupt or accept its imperialism. Now there is no industrial capacity in the US and its populace (completely understandably) not wanting to do two or three full-time jobs just to afford housing and groceries, neverminding everything else you need to live in there (like health insurance, so you best hope you don't get sick ever), just to bring the industrial capacity back at minimum wage. And now the administration is driving out the only ones willing to do the manual labor at minimum wage, the immigrants; while being willfully ignorant to the fact that the entire nation's history is that of immigrants, as most of the natives died on the Trail of Tears or were otherwise killed off and cordoned to reservations.
It seems that there are only bad tidings afoot for the USian worker, having also been brainwashed since birth into the impossibility of communism. Doom and gloom.
I tried killing myself with my insulin a while back, but chickened out basically 'cause that shit wasn't tranquil. Nor have the times I've had diabetic ketoacidosis (where one's blood turns acidic etc.) been tranquil neither. Sure once you lose consciousness it gets real calm and silent, but up until that point every cell and fiber of your entire being is screaming for life, and those screams are all you can hear as your blood hums in your ears drowning out everything external. And then there's the horror also.
But yeah, I wouldn't call any of the times I've almost died peaceful.
Narri N. (they/them) @ narr1 @lemmy.ml Posts 5Comments 138Joined 7 mo. ago
I can assure you you aren't alone in this.
It seems in fact that your girlfriend is right there with you, but like it was already said here I feel you need to communicate it to her in a way that she actually understands that you are trying to limit your news intake because of your mental well-being. Maybe advice her for you and her to try to do it together or something? Like that neither of you would read as much (political/economical) news so that she wouldn't even feel the need to try to alleviate her panic by sharing it with you, as I'm assuming that's the reason she's sharing her panic with you. Then maybe try to spread this "ideology" of sorts to your immediate surroundings, if all you hear there as well is just the doom and gloom of late-stage capitalism. Rather talk about good things, like the inherent beauty of ever-present life if all else fails.
Things that have helped me in the past with my personal mental health problems was to not push myself too hard to achieve beyond my current capabilities. If you feel worn down by everyday life too much maybe you can reduce the amount of physical activity at the moment? Don't get me wrong running AND exercising 3 to 5 times a week is amazing, especially for a retired person and something I have never been able to achieve, but I still think it's worth making adjustments as needed. But that's up to you to decide if you feel that's something you want to keep up.
Another thing could be community work. Current situation in the world seems hopeless on a grander scheme, but I have personally found much joy in volunteer community work, in my immediate community. I don't know where you are or what is available to you, but I suggest looking into something like that.
And of course, as you know already, stop doomscrolling. I removed my social media accounts some time ago, but still find myself occasionally mindlessly scrolling the feeds on youtube and lemmy. Which is still just doomscrolling. The short-form video is one of the worst – if not straight-up the worst – drug I have ever tried (and I've tried several) for ease of relapse. Maybe look into private DNS providers and internet content blockers if you haven't already to help you with avoiding the shit that's out there.
I'm guessing there will be many people in the comments who share your predicament and will have other ways of alleviating, here are some of mine. Good luck!