71–80 of 158 posts
I find so much more time in the day for activities and I have to witness ridiculous American politics, Elon, Zuckerberg, and world events far less.
I just, gasp read the CBC and NPR once a day like I’m my dad or something.
It is important to remember that we have a bias towards painting the past with "rosy retrospection". Life can just be hard and we tend to forget that about past events. It's quite possible you were just as worried about other stuff then. That being said, yes, there certainly are some particularly hard things going on right now. However, I wouldn't use external factors as an excuse to not address the legitimate feelin…
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When we do the same thing we did yesterday, we will see that option more clearly tomorrow, and other options less clearly. Our agency narrows.
When our options have narrowed too much, it can be hard to get unstuck. Hard to get out of the rut. Wake up, go to work, consume content, go to bed. Every day. Sometimes we might dream of other options, but they don't seem attainable, they're just too distant.
I think the only way to expand your options is to actually do new things. The new thing becomes more salient, and the next day you might see more than one option. Build up more ways to be.
Some activities are worse than others about further narrowing your options, and some can help expand your options beyond just becoming more salient themselves.
Scrolling endless content never lets me get bored, never lets me think of something else to do, and doing something else is always a bit harder than continuing to scroll. There's a clear similarity to drug addiction, where options narrow until to just doing that drug all the time, and being wasted on the drug doesn't do anything to expand your options.
Going for a run expands my options. I get a bit bored on the run, and my mind can wander. I can reflect, and may choose to do something new tomorrow. Journaling expands my options. Practicing gratitude can expand my options. Meditating can expand my options. Talking to a therapist can expand my options. All that mental health stuff shares something in common here, it lets me break the cycle of narrowing options and narrowing agency, and instead widen my options a little.
Get off your phone. Get off the news. They're doing nothing for you. Jump in some cold water. Feel reality for what it is. Don't use any products that simulate dopamine (phone, tv, video games, junk food), they're killing you from the inside.
Phones and technology are some of the only escapes left.
This is bad advice, even worse than saying use the phone more because it's dismissive of the larger issues I am facing in life. The phone isn't the thing doing the killing, it's the governments of countries like Iran, Russia, and Ukraine. There's are good and bad guys in war, but both countries experience a loss in souls.
That's also not how dopamine works.
Get off your phone. Get off the news. They're doing nothing for you. Jump in some cold water. Feel reality for what it is. Don't use any products that simulate dopamine (phone, tv, video games, junk food), they're killing you from the inside.
Mine fell in the water months ago and changed my life. Now when I close the computer and walk out the door I'm completely unplugged for a few hours (FitBit for health though of course).
I definitely feel burned out. It's not just recession, war, etc., it's also the depressing state of the software industry, particularly the niche I work in. It's the feeling that there is a better job out there but it's somehow out of reach. Also, inflation makes my way above average salary actually mediocre when it comes to buying things. I hate saving massive amounts of cash to buy some small property.
In such cases, the most important thing is to realize the locality of the problem, & the potential to move to a new niche, or organization.
There is extreme variety in the world; when in a bad place, move (literally or metaphorically).
I think I see the problem here ....
(and I am not being flippant - I gave up 99% of social media almost a year ago: no twitter, no facebook, no instagram, no tiktok etc - and I hardly read the news at all except for stories of local importance - my life is better for it, give it a try - you don't have anything to lose.
Replace > All I want to do is look at my phone and consume more content. with - Lift weights - Run a marathon - Bike a century - Write a story - Paint a picture Change your relationship with the things you cannot control.
But there were two things that I loved as a kid and decided to pick them up at the peak of COVID pandemic, as I was experiencing burnout. I took racquet sports and calligraphy. It has materially enhanced my life quality and I can just say "why didn't I think to do this earlier?"