I want to try my hardest to be invested in reality and other people, instead of an apocalypse. ~ Ayo Edebiri
Happiness in the Shambling Apocalypse
A little bit of a different post tonight, a little heavier and darker than the normal fare. But right now we are going through a really incredible time. Here in the United States we are seeing a brutal job market, record deficit, issues around ICE detentions and killings, grocery prices are nuts and everyone just seems to be struggling with a level of tension that is so much higher than normal. Globally it isn’t much better, Europe is currently going through it’s fifth major heatwave of the summer, there’s been a war in Ukraine/Russia for years, Russia is probing Europe on a regular basis. In Japan there is a major liquidity crisis that threatens global currency markets including the US. The Middle East, never a bastion of peace and stability, is crazy with the destruction and genocide in Gaza, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the Iran/US war rages and has involved almost every country in the Middle East. On top of everything else, there is a super El Nino brewing in the Pacific, a big one normally causes droughts, floods and famines and this one is on steroids. Combine impending global crop impacts of a super El Nino with the reduced availability of fertilizer that comes through the Straight of Hormuz and horribly, a lot of people are going to starve and suffer later this year.
It’s a hard time, to steal a line from Rush, for people who think and feel. For a lot of us, this underlying stress has eliminated our emotional buffers and that just makes the normal ups and downs of life that much harder to deal with calmly. I know that for me, in addition to a really tough two years personally, this extra stress just burns on the nervous system. What makes all of this so difficult is that so many of these issues are massively complex and it feels like the individual is just helpless to change things or make things better.
So what do you do? There are some options. You can just give up, go full nihilist drink, eat ice scream, shop til you drop, just live for pleasure in the moment. The problem with that is that most of us have responsibilities, people who depend on us, bills to pay. It does seem that many people right now have opted for nihilist light, they haven’t gone hog wild, but they have opted for dessert every night, bought the steak, bought the new dress, the new car and hey, put it on the credit card. And while this might feel good in the moment, it’s not an effective long term strategy and honestly, when those bills start stacking up, the momentary happiness they’ve brought will burn off. I have fallen to this impulse a bit myself, when things have gotten hard, I’ll spend a week eating a lot of pizza, ice cream and chocolate and far too many Cokes.
While the nihilism route has it’s attraction, it just isn’t the answer. Another option is to stick your head in the sand, go full ostrich and just pretend none of the massive human existential crises that are happening are real, or will impact your or really matters. Denial is an option, though it’s best left as a river in Africa, and that’s a really old joke. If denial has ever really worked as a strategy for anyone, they should let me know, but to my experience it’s even less effective than nihilism.
Option three seems to be the best option, and I’m sorry, if you thought this was building to some life altering realization of epic proportions, I’m about to let you down. It’s all about two things, doing what you can, where you can, when you can and getting back to basics.
Do what you can. No, you can’t stop the Ukraine or Iran war, you can’t single-handedly reverse the effects of global climate change, or fix the national debt, or reduce grocery prices. But you can vote for politicians who push for peace and responsibility to other countries and responsible fiscal policies, you can make reasonable energy choices and conserve where you can, even as small as turning off the lights when you leave the room. You can grow a garden, plan your meals and make some less expensive choices in making your meals. All small but important things and if they all fail you can join the revolution, it will be televised.
Maintaining the basics that keep you happy are important and something I’ve talked about here many, many times. No matter how stressed you are, how insane life gets, how much that underlying anxiety is eating at you, stick to the basics. Get enough sleep, exercise, eat right, make choices that lead to more not less happiness. Spend time with the people that feed your happiness and less time with those people who steal your energy. Remember to find ways to spend time in nature, to find ways to touch the things that bring you joy and most of all, seek out moments of peace and do your best to express gratitude and be kind.
Finally, give yourself some grace, life is fucking hard, and right now it’s about as hard as it’s ever been for a lot of us. So yeah, if some afternoon, or some weekend, or hell even some week, things are really getting to you, then go ahead and get that dopamine burst and do something that makes you feel good. Eat that piece of chocolate cake, go sit by the beach, buy the dress or the book or go to that movie. Just don’t get lost in the nihilism too long. And hopefully, if enough of us decide we want things to be better, and we all just do a little bit every day, then maybe, just maybe my friends, we can all have happier days for a long, long time. ~ Rev Kane
The Ministry of Happiness 