Ask HN: How are you all staying sane? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How are you all staying sane?

#81

Post by pointlessone » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 1:29 PM UTC

> How are you all staying sane?

Making some bold assumptions, eh?

But more seriously, you can do very little about most of the things listed. Do that little and leave the rest behind.

Tune out of news. Find sources of news that are relevant to you immediately. Like your local community, city council news, your employer, that sort of things. You can’t do anything about war in Iran or wherever, it’s not actionable, stop worrying about it, stop following the news.

Be more offline. Go for walks. Read paper books. Listen to music, preferrably not streamed. Meet real people. Like, talk to a stranger at a coffee shop shop or in a park.

Re: Ask HN: How are you all staying sane?

#82

Post by RickJWagner » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 1:36 PM UTC

First, study history. Our generation is downright lucky. This is the best time to be alive, truly.

Then avoid the news and politics. Live your own life, and enjoy analog hobbies.

Re: Ask HN: How are you all staying sane?

#83

Post by eucyclos » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 1:44 PM UTC

pendenthistory wrote: post #13

My biggest problem right now is thanks to Claude I'm making much faster progress on my passion project and I'm working in a maniac state almost, but then I remind myself that it's probably meaningless because if things progress as they have, anyone can just copy what I've built, and if we get to AGI all bets are off anyway. Balancing these two moods is tough. Lots of sleepless nights lately. Thankfully I have a large…

I'm in a pretty similar position. I've been wanting to make something to align incentives between advertisers and the people who see ads for years. Finally sat down with Claude last month and now I have a working prototype. It feels surreal, I'm not a 10x programmer by any means. If I can do it, so can a lot of other people. It does feel like I don't have much time to capitalize on the first mover advantage.

But on the other hand... The things we really believe in we'd still cheer if someone else executed the idea better than us. Sure, we might make less money, but the idea gets to live.

And the odds of someone executing better didn't really go up, ai is just average across the board. So at worst, the odds of someone executing our ideas as well as us went up. Could be worse.

Re: Ask HN: How are you all staying sane?

#84

Post by ChrisMarshallNY » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 2:15 PM UTC

muzani wrote: post #48

A lot of people predicted all this. Check out Ray Dalio's analysis. Empires rise because of resourcefulness, education, good work ethic and humanity, effective resource allocation (low corruption), high productivity. There's a snowball effect here. These countries become stable. Stability turns them into financial centers. Then they get rich. There is no work ethic - cultural values reward consumption and not working…

> Empires rise because of resourcefulness, education, good work ethic and humanity, effective resource allocation (low corruption), high productivity.

If you check the history books, it looks more like ruthlessness and amorality are more reliable predictors.

Re: Ask HN: How are you all staying sane?

#85

Post by TYPE_FASTER » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 2:16 PM UTC

I go outside in the woods frequently. It is quiet there. I find peace, within myself, and with the earth where we live. Trees fall from the weight of the snow, but the landscape has been there for millennia and it reminds me that this, too, will pass.

Re: Ask HN: How are you all staying sane?

#86

Post by ManlyBread » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 2:16 PM UTC

SirFatty wrote: post #79

ManlyBread wrote: post #7

>AI I'm apathetic. It's there, it's a tool. >international conflicts I am fortunate enough to not live in the countries mentioned. I am close to Ukraine so this one is sort-of important to me in terms that I don't want Russia to win, but at the same time there's no point in following the news closely. If something big happens I will most definitively hear about it whether I'd like it or not. >The US / Europe Nothing…

>AI I'm apathetic. It's there, it's a tool. You won't feel that way in the near future.

Is it the same future where I sent crypto from my no-code app to buy a NFT to use in my Metaverse apartment that I interact with through VR?

Re: Ask HN: How are you all staying sane?

#87

Post by ManlyBread » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 2:29 PM UTC

RASBR89 wrote: post #77

ManlyBread wrote: post #7

>AI I'm apathetic. It's there, it's a tool. >international conflicts I am fortunate enough to not live in the countries mentioned. I am close to Ukraine so this one is sort-of important to me in terms that I don't want Russia to win, but at the same time there's no point in following the news closely. If something big happens I will most definitively hear about it whether I'd like it or not. >The US / Europe Nothing…

Going back to some old machines with this hardware and they feel rapid compared to now. Instant UI response

That's because you're more likely than not using the best (or close to the best) hardware that generation had to offer. Try using a mid-end or a low-end machine and doing more than one thing at a time, it gets ugly real quick.

Re: Ask HN: How are you all staying sane?

#88

Post by pickleglitch » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 2:49 PM UTC

A lot of the replies here are saying to just not worry about any of this stuff because most of it doesn't really affect you and you can't do anything about it anyway. As someone who battles chronic anxiety every day, I don't think those answers are helpful.

Yes, the world is always full of uncertainty, and yes, you being less online will probably help, but that doesn't mean we should all just ignore the horrors unfolding around us.

While it may feel like there's nothing you can do, there's a phrase I've found helpful: action absorbs anxiety.

You don't have to fix the world. But you can try to improve your tiny corner of it. Whether it's creating a small stockpile of emergency supplies, or writing letters to elected officials, DOING something can help a lot more than you might think.

For me, I have made a hobby out of self-hosting as many services as I can so I can at least feel like I'm a little less dependent on big tech. I study history to try and better understand the present. I write a blog to give expression to my anxieties, and that helps too, even if very few people ever read it.

And yes, limiting your social media time is a good idea. I recently set a "no social media after 8pm" rule for myself. I'll read a book, watch a movie, or play a video game instead. It helps.

Re: Ask HN: How are you all staying sane?

#89

Post by mrala » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 2:56 PM UTC

pickleglitch wrote: post #88

A lot of the replies here are saying to just not worry about any of this stuff because most of it doesn't really affect you and you can't do anything about it anyway. As someone who battles chronic anxiety every day, I don't think those answers are helpful. Yes, the world is always full of uncertainty, and yes, you being less online will probably help, but that doesn't mean we should all just ignore the horrors unfol…

Have a link to your blog?

Re: Ask HN: How are you all staying sane?

#90

Post by eudamoniac » Mon, Mar 02, 2026, 3:07 PM UTC

Just ignore it and go outside, unironically. I finish work, shut the laptop, and go work in the garden or lift weights. Venezuela is not affecting my foxgloves nor my deadlifts.