The news is killing me

[ThingsGottaChange]

All I have is internet. So the news and it horrid tidbits are everywhere. I already have depression, anxiety, lungs are shot, had a stroke in March, watching sick kitty get worse every day. And I am constantly exposed to the horrors that the fuckwad in chief is doing to this country and people. This includes immigrants, too. I just can not stand it anymore. I find myself crying at least a dozen times a day. Old people robbed, children in cages, people suffering, just everything. Can't watch late night shows anymore because the monologues are all politics. I've always been overly sensitive to things. But, it's getting to be more than I can take anymore.

I can't help the "car wreck" peek to see what is happening. It's always so bad. I've never hated anyone before but, I truly hate the fake prez and all his moronic minions. I actually hope that one day soon I'll see a headline on CNN.com that there was an assassination. And I don't feel bad about it at all. The entire country is being ruined. And for what? An ego? Christ. I'm done/

[dameatball]

1. This country has had a good ride in many ways. Your shock at what has happened is completely normal

Be good to yourself as much as possible and remain hopeful. Be as active as you can, both personally and by supporting the cause or the candidates. Every little bit helps and every dog has his day. Best regards to Kitty.

[ThingsGottaChange]

9. Thank you for the kitty wishes

She's my main worry. I know many of us are wondering how we ended up in the Twilight Zone.

[still_one]

2. Take a break. Step outside, take a walk, listen or read a book, decompress

[ThingsGottaChange]

10. Outside

That's where I would like to be. Also have severe social anxiety. Can't do much walking without running out of breath. I basically hide. Something I learned to do at a very early age.

[still_one]

18. doesn't have to be much, and if you have mobility issues, then open a window, listen to music,

listen to the sounds of nature, or even the sounds of traffic

The point is focus on the positive things in life

[cwydro]

20. Put a chair outside. Put head phones or earbuds on.

Close your eyes, and people will leave you alone.

Stay off the news sites.

I see to be a CNN junkie; now I hardly ever watch. Can’t stand the sight of that bloated, bloviatimg buffoon.

[WhiteTara]

3. Many of us feel the same overwhelmed and hopelessness

you express. Watch kitty videos. Talk walks if you can, try and find some green trees and grass. Sitting in nature is so healing. Big hugs

[ThingsGottaChange]

11. Nature is my god.

All the issues I've had since childhood have come together in the perfect shitstorm to prevent me from having any motivation for anything. I live for SCEs Sunday LOL cats. As long as I don't think about my girl, I can watch them. I'm in a low income complex now and hating every minute of it. Nowhere to get away and be alone with nature. Or the hog farm stench. If only I had known before I moved here....

[irisblue]

4. Can you sit outside, in fresh air with a book/nrwspaper for an hour or so?

[ThingsGottaChange]

12. Would love to

No privacy where I live. I could sit out all day without any book or paper and just watch nature. If I wasn't afraid to...

[cyclonefence]

5. I second the "watch kitty videos" advice

I--and I suspect many people--have been feeling as you are feeling. It's more than a person can bear.

Do you have access to Netflix or Amazon videos? There are lots of very funny series (serieses) on both of them that have been helping me a lot. I watch them over and over, especially at night when I cannot sleep. I recommend "The Mighty Boosh" on Amazon and "Toast of London" on Netflix for starters. They're both British, and that seems to help, too, at least for me.

Getting outside is good, too, but it's so hot where I live--maybe where you live, too--that that's not an option for me.

Don't let anyone tell you to cheer up or otherwise devalue your feelings. That doesn't help at all; it makes things worse. Accept your depression--it's certainly a sane response to the world right now. But things will change, if you can hold out long enough.

What I've found about depression is that you really can't fight it head on. It will change, eventually, and usually for the better. If you can just give in to feeling helpless and watch something stupid or read a funny book (you can get the entire opus of Calvin and Hobbes at your library) and eat potato chips until you want to vomit.

It's not coincidence that Charlie Chaplin and those other classic comics of the silver screen came to prominence during the Great Depression. You can find a lot of them on Youtube Find something to make you laugh, even if it makes you feel stupid. What you're feeling is universal and timeless.

If you are alone, know that you're not really alone. There's at least one other person who's feeling as bad as you do. We need to survive this awful time, that's all. It will be better.

[ThingsGottaChange]

13. I do eat entire bags of chips!

Now that Lays has lightly salted ones. I've been a mess since I was about 4 or 5. Probably more like CPTSD than a chemical imbalanced depression. My motto is "Shut up and leave me alone". Of course, not the healthy approach but, I'm not exactly healthy by any means. Calvin and Hobbes usually makes me cry. For the old days? For how wonderful they are? I am alone. Which makes things worse but, it has to be that way. Don't drive anymore. Right now I have this terrible urge to throw the people upstairs out their window

[cyclonefence]

19. I can understand about Calvin and Hobbes making you sad

There's a sweetness about their relationship that's almost unbearable. Bad suggestion. How about P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves stories? More Brits. I don't know why Brits make me feel better--maybe their sense of humor is dry enough for me, yet they are the best at flat-out slapstick. Well, then, Laurel and Hardy--but there's a sadness there, too, a poignancy. I guess we should avoid Charlie Chaplin at all costs, although he worked so hard to make us cry that it almost negates the sadness.

Do you have good medical care? I have a chronic sinusitis--that sounds like nothing next to what you're suffering, I know, but it's pretty terrible because it's so chronic I never realize I'm infected until I practically can't get out of bed. My doctor understands, and I have a standing prescription for antibiotics and prednisone. What I'm leading up to is that if you can do it, it might be worthwhile to get a checkup, not for your depression necessarily, but to make sure you don't have some underlying illness there just under the surface that is exacerbating your depression, or CPTSD either.

Eating chips is a disgusting habit, but it's key to my depression treatment.

I think, though, that we're just going to have to grit our teeth and think of England, my friend. I hope you won't throw anyone out the window because however bad things are now, you know jail is worse.

In the meantime:

[irisblue]

6. Baby goat videos as well as cat & dog ones.

https://m.

[irisblue]

7. There are lots on youtube

https://m.

[ThingsGottaChange]

14. I DO love to see the baby goats bouncing around.

Thanks for the vids! Ya know, you get stuck in a rut of behavior. Course, all the stupid issues I have that prevent me from getting out, etc. don't help. But, you do get used to just being a blob in a chair. Easier maybe? It's just what it's all come to now. If I didn't live in my worst nightmare (apt. complex, with people!) I'd be gardening. Many things I would like to do if I was someone else.

[irisblue]

16. There were many nights I fell asleep watching kittens, puppies & baby goat videos.

Keep talking to us.

[steve2470]

8. I totally understand and empathize

I can only take so many minutes of bad news about our Dictator Wannabe and his idiot followers. Then, I go do stuff that's totally unrelated, like hang out in the Lounge or look at my Twitter feed which is about 99% scrubbed of any political content (retweets are what make the 1%). You've been given a lot of good advice in this thread.

Just vote in November, send money if you can (of course many of us cannot), and since you cannot physically protest, just consider that you've done your patriotic duty to save the country. The healthiest among us will do the rest.

Take care of yourself. Stay on that strict minimal news budget, my friend

[ThingsGottaChange]

15. So hard to get away from it, isn't it?

I have to remember to get hold of my county's Dem place to get an absentee ballot. Memory is shot, too. I know I've been given good advice here. That's why I finally posted my rant here. Best damn forum ever. Hope you are still doing well on your new meds!

[steve2470]

17. yes, I'm doing well, thanks!