For those of us who have been staring at the state of things in the United States with a sense of dread, a feeling of hopelessness, and more than a little bit of suspicion as to why Ashton Kutcher has yet to jump out from behind the curtain and proclaim us all to have been “punk’d”. 2025 felt like a decade marched past us all by the time the glittering ball dropped in Times Square.
It’s overwhelming, mind numbing, and dizzying the number and variety of tragedies and outrages that we are being accosted by every day. Mass shootings at schools, a demented president that unilaterally conducts provocations of war, our rights are slowly being taken away, our benefits are disappearing, plus Apricot Adolf’s “secret police” behaving more like terrorists and shooting unarmed civilians – and they’re not just shooting…they’re shooting to kill. We have rapists and pedophiles running the country – we turn a blind eye. We put people in positions of power that they are unqualified for and too inexperienced to run properly – we shrug it off. The president making “permanent” changes to Congressionally approved and established departments – we ignore it.
Most of the changes being “made” will likely be rolled back and corrected once an actually sane person comes back into office. A large number of them will be able to be corrected within months at the latest. The “Department of War” is still the “Department of Defense”. The Kennedy Center signage will be undefiled. We’ll “restock” the Department of Education and the others being “closed” with employees who believe in the mission and aren’t subverting the process. I’m not as concerned by those changes. The changes I’m concerned about are the ones that are going to take years, possibly even decades to fix. The distrust that we have sowed amongst our allies. The way that our representatives have behaved, publicly, on the international stage. The messing with countries that we are allied with, talking about taking over their land. The aggressions and provocations made internationally.
So what can we do to protect our mental health?
An empty vessel cannot fill any cups, so it’s important that we periodically take some time to ourselves and disengage from the madness. It gives us the strength to continue the fight. Here are some of the tools that I use when I need to refill the vessel:
- Narrow down & focus my news “input”. I was turned on to the Ground News app/service by a friend a couple of months back, and it has made my life so much simpler in terms of researching and staying up on news topics. You’re able to customize your interests and topics, so you only see what you want to at that time. On burnout days, I take my topic lists and just read from “Entertainment” or “NFL”. The app also gives you important information such as: bias, factuality, bias comparisons, if the news item is a blind spot for a political group, as well as the ownership of the reporting group. You can use the app for free, but for full functionality there are a number of subscription levels. Currently, Ground News is offering 40% off it’s Vantage Plan – that makes it only $5/month! Check it out on your phone in the App Store or Google Play, or direct from their website
I’m not an “influencer” or a big enough presence to get any deals to share, nor do I get any kickbacks from people that subscribe. This is just something that I use and believe in.
- Read something “light”. Whenever staying on top of current events start gets me down, I’ll pick up a quick, easy read as a sort of palette cleanser. It might be a beach read, something from the “chick lit” or “romantasy” genres, or even a couple of good YA books. It still allows for reading, but gives your brain a break from the heavy lifting this past year has been throwing at us.
- Spend some time with a hobby. Whether you’re into gardening, music, crafting, or even napping, set aside a specific time daily to spend doing a hobby. My (non-reading) go-to hobbies are crocheting and either listening to music or watching tv: typically an older tv show, one of my “guilty pleasure” shows, or one of the new shows my husband doesn’t care for.
(Aside: Have you all been watching The Pitt? New season has started, and I’m so excited! It is SO great. As someone who has worked in hospital settings, it’s easily the most accurate picture I’ve seen of Emergency Rooms in a Hollywood treatment, but that’s exactly why my husband is out on it. He’s pretty squeamish on the medical things front, and the minute the floating facial fracture came in…he was out. haha)
I build time into my day to do these things, most every single day. The only days I don’t is if my family or I have an event that we need to attend. Barring that, every day I pencil my hobby time in after dinner when I’ve taken care of any evening chores needing to be done. When my husband has to work in the evening, I will crochet while my pup & I watch Secret Lives of Mormon Wives or ER. (We started rewatching the series awhile back, and we’re up to season 5.) When he’s home, I’ll crochet & listen to music or a podcast while he plays video games. Regardless, I’ve found it to be a great mental refresh while still doing something productive.
- Start a new hobby to expand your brain’s horizons. Start learning: a new language, an instrument, a skill. What’s something that you’ve always wanted to know about or be able to do, but you’ve just never gotten around to it? This year I have a couple of things I am hoping to teach myself that I have always wanted to do, but have only kind of looked into in the past. For myself, I want to: learn how to play the violin, learn how to “speak” in ASL, and teach my kiddos more baking/cooking skills.
When it comes down to it, everyone needs to be able to have something in their lives to relieve stress and put us in a positive state of mind. I know that the world is currently doing it’s best to grind us down, but we must not let it succeed! So just remember when it gets too overwhelming: take a step back, breathe, and spend even just 20-30 minutes doing something that brings you joy. Then you can face the world refreshed and ready.
We can do this. Together.
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