Hanging in there

Things are kind of a lot, aren't they?

I certainly have my moments of wanting to scream. I also wonder about the best use of my time, which would probably not be screaming. A week ago I wrote about things one could do, which made me want to start a project, but what and how?

One of the things I think about is just having the blog go full election headquarters and try and help that way, but would it really do that much? I don't have a huge audience, and I suspect most readers already agree with the points I could make.

There are a lot of questions.

I am pretty sure of the following things, for now:

• I will keep writing about my reading on Fridays and posting about travel on Saturdays.
• I will keep posting daily songs and wishing people happy birthdays (unless they are set up so I can't write on their wall). 

It would be easy for some of those things to seem trivial; does it even really matter? However, my reading choices, and appreciating travel and music and people... it is important to still have joy and laughter and appreciation. I will keep up with that.

For other social media use, I am using it less.

In the past when I would log on at the beginning of the day, I would leave Twitter and Facebook open. There is a lot more aggravation on there now. I will log on in the morning, and that is how I will continue to post birthday wishes and songs and blog posts, but then I will exit. Most likely I will get on about three times a day, check for updates, and log back off.

Because people are important, in addition to scanning what other people are up to when I am on, I am also going to go through my friends, looking up a few names per day to see how they are doing. 

Being on less, I may not see what you post, but I should eventually be caught up with everyone. If sometimes that leads to exchanging messages and getting together, great. If sometimes I see someone says something appalling and I communicate about that, it won't be the first time. Will there be some soft deletions? Maybe. Sometimes people show a really nasty side. 

I mention that because it can be really easy to keep scrolling through the doom and get overcome with anger or despair. It may be better for your mental health to limit your exposure. However, then you can lose connection that matters or miss information that would help. That is not just me.

Think about what good and bad you are getting, and be intentional about that. Remember, Facebook and Twitter both have mute options (a 30 day mute on Facebook), and settings where you can keep other people from posting or replying, and blocks. If someone you love is stressing you out, that can be hard, but even if you end up deciding to deal with the stress, you will feel better for having consciously made that decision.

To make sure I can keep up with everyone, I made a spreadsheet, and I have spent time writing in my journal about what my goals are, and how to keep up. The majority of my decisions and goals do seem to involve journal writing and spreadsheets, so that is the path that makes sense for me. There is something that will work for you.

I will probably try posting more interesting articles too, in the hopes that it does something helpful for others on there. 

(I will say, Twitter keeps getting worse, where I may give in and start calling it "X" just to draw a distinction. Facebook changes are more subtle, but they are there.)

For other real world interactions, I have not started a project, but I did help for a couple of hours at Portland Pride this weekend.

I used to really enjoy volunteering at things. At some point after I was caring for my mother full-time, it felt like I couldn't anymore. It didn't feel like I had the physical or the mental energy. Even though that responsibility has eased, my old levels of energy haven't come back. 

However, a friend said I could help with her booth, at the level I wanted to for the amount of time that I wanted. That lack of pressure really helped. 

So, I was able to do two hours, without feeling guilt. None of the other volunteer shifts I did were ever that short. I may get back to some of the others eventually, but this was a soft re-entry made possible by someone kind.

We can help each other.

I am aware that in my blogging update, I did not mention two of the days.

For Sundays, there is still a lot to be said about dominator culture. I believe I am going to keep saying it for a while.

I only know about Tuesday posts for the next few weeks.

When I quit my job, I mentioned how there were all these things that I wanted to check into but I had never had time. I am going to take a few posts to report on that.

Related posts:

https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2013/05/volunteering-as-crutch-for-socially.html

https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-next-thing.html