Crafting at the end of the world

[kitewithfish]

1. Limiting my news intake to 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening is very very helpful.
2. That did not stop me from taking a walk outside and feeling pretty anxious anyone got within 6 feet of me.
3. I am making masks at home that I will donate to the local craft shop that organized themselves into a local center for this kind of thing - they are good people, and they will donate them on in bulk to whatever organizations are accepting fabric masks at this moment.
4. Sewing is simultaneous comforting and generally very odd at this moment. 
5. McVities digestive biscuits are a better version of Graham Crackers and I do really like them.
6. Some kind soul has put all the of the Granada Sherlock Holmes series from 1984 into youtube and it is a balm to my worried soul. 

I'd like to say, I don't begrudge anyone who is not particularly worried just now. I am personally prone to anxiety and I don't like the idea of the people around me being harmed - but I am aware that other people's reactions are going to be different than mine. With proper precautions and some reasonable thoughtfulness, I don't think there's any reason for you to be more anxious than is resolved by limiting your going out - there's no real reason to be more afraid that you have to be. 

Comments

[author_by_night]

I'm not freaking out now, but believe me, it was a concentrated effort and there's definitely anxiety trying to get in through the back door. Which I have locked tightly.

I actually feel bad because here I am on LiveWidth, yammering about fandom and random questions and all of this stuff while people on my flist are talking news stories and how distressed they are. I honestly feel like I'm laughing at people. But I'm not. This is how I keep calm. And it sounds like you're finding your way.

I'd advise not just limiting the news, but social media. I swear I started feeling better when I stopped spending too much time on it. I've even had to limit what I read here, which again, feel bad, but I have to do it for me. The problem with social media in general, not just this instance, is that you tend to get SO much of the same bad at once - especially thanks to algorithms. So I would spend time on Facebook, and get stressed from all of this crap. Then I would go to twitter, get stressed again. Then I would come here... I just can't do it. I don't think anyone really can. I like the positive stuff, I like talking about how we can help people and all of that, but when you see (possibly literally) 100 posts at once about how bad things are, it gets to you. Especially if you already have anxiety or other mental health struggles. (I don't know whether or not you do. I sure do.)

[kitewithfish]

Honestly, I am also leaning really hard into the community element of fandom and DW/LJ because I really value these people! And it's lovely to hear about people's lives, even when those lives are complex and made more difficult by this awful shared struggle that's been thrust upon this.

I have been limiting social media quite a lot, too, actually - I treat it like news except for the groups that are 1000% limiting themselves to cute animal pics. It's just as you described - a cycle of upsetness and anger. Even the things that *feel* like useful news, do I really need to know that the New England Patriots' owner had to volunteer his private plane to bring PPE and supplies from China to Boston in order to prevent the federal government from seizing materials that Massachusetts paid for already and then sending them to states that Trump likes better? Like, it's outrageous and shitty and awful and exactly what we expected from him - does knowing it really help me function better right now?

So, yeah, I need help to turn things off and go make some masks.