I'd been feeling overwhelmed lately, because we live in overwhelming times, so I decided to add ICE, DHS and DOJ to me muted words list for 7 days, just to take a break.
(Three days would've been enough, but the options are 24 hours & 7 days, so 🤷🏻♀️)
Something I've learned over the years is that sometimes I need to tune out of things I cannot change. Maybe that's something I realised as I reached sobriety, I'm not sure.
Whilst I'm not religious, I think the words of the serenity prayer are still wise:
“give me Grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, Courage to change the things which should be changed, and the Wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.”
if you focus on things you can't change, you'll probably feel helpless.
But for the things you can?
Heck yeah, have the courage to change those things. Being able to separate out what is and isn't under your control is an important skill.
Stressing about something in a foreign land that you have literally no control over or influence on, isn't likely to give you a good outcome.
I have friends that see fighting fascism as being exposed continually to its harms and propaganda, and whilst it's useful to know what harms are happening, it can also be desensitising and overwhelming.
You can stand against something without being continuously bombarded with it.
You can do acts that enable or build a better world you want to see, you can do small acts of kindness, help your neighbours, and work in the background.
The frontlines only work if they've the right support networks behind them. Not everyone needs to be on the frontlines.
So yeah, it can be a good idea to carve out some time to protect your peace, especially if you can't change things, and to try to focus on the things you can change.
That doesn't mean ignorance is acceptable, hell no, just that you have permission to create space for you.
This was originally written as a thread on Bluesky, where removing those three words (ICE, DHS, DOJ) removed what feels like half my feeds.