Covid and riots are partly to blame. Less social interaction.
Curse this world.
[Reply]

One more thing. I know I talked about smoking pot, but I know I can go overboard with my vices. A week ago, I decided I'll try going sober from everything for two weeks. To help me with this, I started making a note about how I feel each day on our giant family calendar. Its been 8 days, and by day 2, I feel as good as I have in years, like a fog has been lifted. I feel sharper, and my sense of humor has come back. Sometimes we lie to ourselves about these crutches. I didnt think it was a big deal having a drink or two nearly every night, or smoking pot 4 days a week. Keeping track of my progress has been cathartic in a way I didn't think was possible, and I am far from a list making person, so maybe you should start a checklist of sorts.
[Reply]

Working from home seems to be what has gotten to me, that mixed with because I was always the one around I just took care of the house stuff. Now with Covid and everyone around all the time I feel like I'm always busting my ass while everyone else can enjoy their time. I feel like it never ends, no matter what my list continues to grow and I'm never done.
[Reply]

Notice how you said “feel like” twice there. Those feelings are associated with uncomfortable, stressful, anxiety provoking thoughts. That’s a clue that perhaps a lot of this is from internal processes not external factors. That’s important because you challenge those ideas and feelings for how logical and based in reality they are. Are you actually doing more than normal? If so, do you have to do that? Is anyone demanding you to stretch yourself further than before? Does the list grow out of necessity or feeling obligated to do more things due to being home? Could go on and on but the point being that feelings can become overwhelming and combating the negative spiral requires regaining control of your thoughts and thus the emotions you experience.
[Reply]

I've read that white men are at higher risk of dealing with depression and suicide. I'm guessing there's some cultural issues there that don't lend to us finding help when needed.

But I hope you do. Recognizing that there is a problem is a step in the right direction. I'd say exhaust every effort in finding a solution. What's life without happiness, ya know?
[Reply]

I'm trying man, lots of good advice in here, aside from the fool that repped me to tell me that I'm depressed because I'm not a staunch conservative gave me a good laugh.
[Reply]

I know this is probably WAY overgeneralizing but I've noticed a lot of white families don't have that same super close-nit extended family system like other ethnicites have (again this is probably a sterotype). I don't have someone in my family that I can call up if I'm having problems, I really just have to figure out my emotions and problems on my own.
[Reply]

I will say this - politics are the worst for these feelings.

Look - politics when they're in your favor is a nasty business. You can be winning in politics and it's still a gross, grueling process of selling your soul. Anybody that thinks there's a moral high ground in politics has never operated in them for any period of time.

So when you put any appreciable amount of your identity in a discipline that's gross when it's going WELL, let alone when it isn't...man, you're gonna be unhappy.

Politics were never supposed to take on this kind of influence in our lives. I mean you go through some of the Presidents we forget about and you realize that a lot of these dudes were just really unimpressive public servants who got the gig by happenstance. Because it wasn't an aspirational career pursuit. Because politics were never supposed to be this important.

Conservative or liberal - I firmly believe you cannot be happy if politics takes up any sizeable segment of your life. It is a miserable discipline writ large and makes for miserable outcomes.

Regardless of your ideology - you can't let politics take on an outsized role in your life. It'll make you a dick and it'll make you think everyone else is a dick as well.
[Reply]

It's why I laughed, I don't care enough about them for them to even matter in my everyday life, sometimes I like to venture over to DC to poke the bear for a laugh.
[Reply]

DJLN is right.

My Dad is a Lock stock and barrel Fox News guy. FIL is a Dyed in the wool CBS guy (even though he’s more conservative than I am. IDK man. He’s just him). And if politics are in their mind they’re fucking miserable. Both of them.

Same goes for my wife who is pretty apolitical, if she reads shit on Facebook that winds her up she’s just fucking miserable.

It doesn’t help that Facebook knows that rage gets clicks and their algorithms put that shit in your feed. Less sophisticated, but cable news does the same shit.
[Reply]

How do you get away from politics when you work in that shit?
[Reply]

It's the whole theory of the "God shaped hole".

I don't adhere to any faith so that exact iteration doesn't scan with me, but the theory does. The idea is that if you identify yourself by your faith and theoretically faith is built on love and forgiveness, then your anchor is something built on love and forgiveness and your overall countenance will be built accordingly.

So if your 'anchor' is your politics, politics is built on connivance and backbiting and on its BEST days compromise (and even compromise means choosing between things you believe it). And this isn't new - it always has been. Go all the way back to Washington's second term and the National Gazette. Fucking Jefferson installed Freneau to snipe at Washington...while a member of Washington's cabinet.

I don't expect everyone's anchor to be their faith (though I will concede that the people I know who do tend to be very happy people as a whole), but man - it can't be something as pernicious as politics.

It's why I loved WilliamtheIrish's post so much. I don't know if he's a man of faith but whether he is or isn't is not relevant, if he has a 'god shaped hole' he's filled it with volunteer work - something inherently good. For others its exercise. Others family.

It just cannot !@#$ing be politics. It can't be sloth or envy or avarice or lust (sadly). There needs to be something there and it needs to be built on a positive framework.
[Reply]

That’s a hell of a post DJLN. If I’ve heard of “god shaped hole” I wasn’t paying attention. That makes a hell of a lot of sense. Thanks.
[Reply]

Have you thought of killing everyone? I mean, it sounds extreme, but when you look closer there are a lot of merits.
[Reply]

I’m about there.
[Reply]