Throwing the Stick
Here, a track: Mr. Scruff - Get A Move On repetitive, jazzy, strong bassline, sampled vocals, a nice groover to forget you're listening to.
we were never alive and we will not be born again, Blend_faceles
Last week I experienced a minor depressive episode, with greatest hits like Staying Up Until 6 AM Playing Video Games Is A Good Idea, How Could I Be So Arrogant As To Think I Could Accomplish Something, and I Have No Perspective On Reality And I Must Suffer. It's a pretty good mix--look out for the KIDZ BOP drop next week.
Over the past few months, my ability to gauge risk has been thoroughly screwed with and I find myself paralyzed by the future. A few weeks ago I was talking about the massive opportunity presented by reality; this week I'm overwhelmed by it.
The only solace has been to constantly remind myself of facts and numbers. You have months before you're out of money, lucky you. You can find a job if you really need to. You're safe so long as you stay home, even if you're bored.
I've also realized the importance of routines that were previously supplied by jobs and social obligations. (Did I mention this last week? Without markers, time blends.)
The Unbearable Lightness of Animal Crossing | WIRED
Many years before the rise of walking-paced exploration games, Animal Crossing captured the lovely melancholy of pointless perambulation.
So as a way of getting myself out of my own funk, I'm going to share with you (and remind myself) of my typical strategies for being "productive" when nothing makes sense.
- Recognize the sources of your suffering. Are you feeling like there's no hope? Have you been awake for 23 hours? Are you grieving something? Did something bother you earlier in the day that you didn't take the time to deal with and release? There may not be anything you can do about it now, but calling out why you're experiencing what you're experiencing makes it easier to not take it personally or as intrinsic to yourself.
- Let yourself suck. It's OK to be "bad" or to not do anything or to waste your time. In the grand scheme of things, the grand scheme of things doesn't care what you did today. Give yourself permission, because it'll be easier to do something else if you're not stuck in a self-loathing spiral.
- Realize that you don't want to start doing something because it takes emotional energy. Shifting from passive to active (or consuming to creating) requires a significant amount of energy, just like going from lying down to standing.
- Ground yourself and be present. Turn off a screen. I find that the struggle exists most when I'm staring at a screen which seems to drag me into an endless reshuffling of my own brain or notification-news-info-driven dopamine loop. In fact, the moment I go stare out the window or look at my bookshelf, I feel better.
- Do something small. Pick up a piece of trash. Wash a single dish. Do one push-up. It often becomes multiple, and then you're rolling.
- If it works for you, use nihilism, reincarnation, or your favorite flavor of abyssal spiritualism that helps you cope. Use your belief to turn down the intensity of the current experience.
- Inspire yourself. Consume content related to what you'd like to do. Remind yourself that it doesn't matter if other people are already doing what you want to do; you can do it better or different or at the very least enjoy yourself. Put yourself as close to the stuff you'd like to do without actually doing the stuff and frequently you'll find yourself suddenly doing the stuff.
- Make a list. This one's toward the bottom because it may be too intimidating in the beginning. Figure out the things you want to do. Make a plan that throws the stick.
Throws the stick? I forget where I read this anecdote, but someone once was a young boy on a family farm, where they grew something--tobacco, strawberries, pot, whatever--and their farm was huge. With only 4 of them, they stared out onto the massive plot of land and wondered how they could ever farm all of it. So they agreed to throw a stick, and just pick to that point. Then, when they reached the stick, they'd throw it again, and over and over until suddenly, they realized they were done. One foot in front of the other. Don't think too much about the work required to get to the destination. Just throw the stick.
Nick Wivekyolamal in Glitch Artists Collective
Above all, think holistically. Take time to be kind to yourself and give yourself joy. Not distraction, but joy.
Penguins Go on a Field Trip to the Art Museum for a Day
Penguins from Kansas City Zoo spent a day at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, where they admired masterpieces by Monet and Caravaggio.
Quarantine Podding
As the toll of lack of human interaction has weighed on us (me), I see more discussions popping up about creating "quarantine pods"--small groups of ideally fewer than 10 people who hang out exclusively with each other in person. So if infection happens, it's hopefully within an extremely small group.
I've been contemplating this with some friends of my own, and to help us decide how compatible we are and/or how to create a pod for everyone's safety, I did what I do: I created a spreadsheet. Linked and described here if you're tussling with similar issues.
Thinking about creating a quarantine pod? Use this spreadsheet to help you. | by Way Spurr-Chen | Medium
Quarantine pods are groups of 10 people or fewer with whom you spend in-person time with exclusively.
A Discord server!
Following feedback on ways to get Glitchet being more communal (because I've read y'all's emails and you're all crazy smart and interesting and we should chat together), I kicked up a simple little Discord server (which is like Slack but free and slightly obnoxious). Join via this link right here: https://discord.gg/fV5pzwW
There'll be a private channel for Patreon patrons, naturally 👑
Extra links
Doordash and Pizza Arbitrage
There is such a thing as a free lunch
US critics of stay-at-home orders tied to fossil fuel funding | Fossil fuels | The Guardian
ExxonMobil, Koch and Mercer family are past funders of critics of stay-at-home orders as fossil fuel industry struggles amid lockdowns
And this week's curated links from Damn Interesting Weekly:
