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“Self-care in the age of collapse”
This piece, like many others by the very brilliant Jessica Wildfire before, captures so much of what I feel right now, battling in the place i happen to be caught in in the malstroem of the #polycrisis (Goldsmiths meltdown, together with everything else). It’s recognising, as JW says, that “there are no good options”, but having to find strategies somehow. 1/2 #ClimateDiary #AcademicVenting
#polycrisis #ClimateDiary #AcademicVenting #SelfCare
2/2 Where I am at: you have to be open and really look in yourself, what works for you. Right now, self-care for me is in a place I would never have expected: standing outside Eastbourne station (with a small group of hard cores), holding a sign “Stop Bombing Israel”. It really helps me right now, somehow (along with appreciating small good things etc).
Doing things, rather than just sitting on the internet reading about things being done, is (in my experience) an incredibly healing experience. I had not expected it to be as healing as it is.
That's not to be confused with trying to do everything all the time forever, which is not a healing experience, and which people will sometimes try to get you to do.
But yeah, I would encourage taking action in whatever way you feel comfortable. As well as making the world a better place it can make own own brains a better place.
@passenger yes. I was just thinking about this too: of course you get sustenance and immense rewards for connecting here - like as having this conversation here right now is good! - but it’s not the same, purely i think because it actually means doing something physically unpleasant: staring at your phone, holding it, typing on it.. it is offline activities that are so much more healing, you are right. Better try and stop here now! 
I don't see the two as being alternatives where we can only pick one. There are plenty of situations during everyday life where we can chat with the tiny people in our phone but not protest or take direct action.
(I would recommend not bringing your normal phone on a demo, though.)
Having said that, I am very bad at balancing offline and online, I tend to wildly seesaw between the two, but it's something I'm working on.
@passenger tell me about it - same here!
I agree; any positive actions one can take now, whether personal or social, big or small, are the antidote to stasis and frustration.
The present moment is the sum total of all past moments, you could say.
Therefore whatever we do now will have an effect far into the unknowable future.
I've been increasingly paralysed for years with distractability, and from a young age always wanted to be good at everything. No can do! Got to at least try to stay focused.
@passenger @pvonhellermannn I have a project which is writing an SSB client for Haiku OS and it's been the best thing to ever happen to my mental health!
That sounds really good and I hope the project goes very well!
@pvonhellermannn Thanks for sharing this article.