I read fiction. A lot of it. Goodreads Profile
3 fingers and a splash of Evan Williams White Label on the rocks every night before Colbert.
In 49 years, I had never purchased a party jug** of booze, and drank beer and highballs. Starting in November of 16, it was more efficient to a) screw the mixer, it made me burp-ey and b) buy in the grown-up jug.
*I believe the kids are calling this a “handle” now.
Or, if cannabis is the preference instead of wine, that!
It’s really helping with my detox off the Valium, and now that I can get it in tincture form, I don’t have to damage my lungs by smoking it any more. 
I watch Stephen Clobert’s and Seth Meyers’ intros, Trevor Noah, Samantha Bee and John Oliver!
Because if I didn’t laugh I would cry!
I feel very much the way you describe. I refuse to watch or read the news anymore on most days. I have a very tiny, purposefully limited number of close Facebook friends, all of whom I know in real life, and I trust them not to be dicks, so I’ll log on once or twice a day and check my feed. They care about the same things I do and we see eye-to-eye on most stuff because it’s exhausting enough having 45 as president; I don’t need to fight with uncaring jerks on my feed on top of that. If something is of major importance, I trust friends to post about it. On days when I’m not feeling suffocated by the overwhelming amount of bullshit from 45’s administration, I will venture onto a couple of news sites myself and return the favor so my friends aren’t always taking the brunt of the bad news. And every month or two, I sign off social media completely for a couple weeks. During that time I just take my turns in games, and check email, but don’t open my feed. I use that time as a mental vacation to recharge, then when I get back on FB I am strong enough to take the bad news hits for others in my circle. It sounds kind of ridiculous but it works for me. Also I’ve started meditating again, which does help. Hang in there. All we can do is help support each other and try to stay sane.
What do I do to stay sane? I hike. I look at silly crap like the “Bork Bork I am Doggo” page of FB. I practice gratitude for what is right and good in my life. I have called and emailed my senators and US Representative more in the last year than I have in my lifetime. I walk my dog and roleplay D&D and keep my focus on what I can do, on what the next indicated thing is. And I take technology breaks.
Swim, play in the ceramics studio and babysit.
Hey everybody,
New here and appreciating the supportive and understanding vibe that seems to be going on. I think that in itself is helping the general sanity quotient of the country (Trumplandia excepted, of course).
The ugliness and the meanness unleashed in the last 2 years seems to have created a kindness backlash in lots of people which might just heal us again. Good job taking care of each other, peeps!
Actually, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m well beyond sanity at this point. I find myself short-tempered, my blood pressure is up, I came close to having a fit tonight because a family member turned off the news while I was watching it, then proceeded to overcook dinner to the point it was inedible. I’m obsessive and find that I am not performing revenue producing tasks in favor of reading The Daily Beast and Politico or watching CNN and MSNBC. I work from home so self-discipline’s a must. It’s waning and I am having a hard time kicking it into gear. I had to request a prescription for sleeping pills and now I’m afraid to use it for fear that the air raid sirens will go off in the middle of the night and I’ll sleep right through the attack by N. Korea or Russia or any of a number of smaller threats. And every time the lamps flicker, I’m convinced the Russians are shutting down the power grid and while all the alarms are off, going to put some kind of toxic substance into our water systems. I have a permanent pain in my gut lately and I lose my temper with my dogs who are so sensitive to my stress, they’ve been peeing on the carpet, which only heightens my frustration and sense of powerlessness. I’ve always had a control issue; I need to feel in charge of my life. I don’t deal well with ambiguity. But now, I feel as if I have lost all control. There’s not a damned thing I can do to turn this around, to find a safe space, to restore my sanity. And there probably won’t be for another 2-6 years. And that’s a crippling thought. OK…that’s it for now. I’m in the throes of a major anxiety attack. By morning, I hope this will have passed. If not, I may just disappear off the grid for a while til I can pull it back together.
Amy, believe me, I understand where you’re coming from…and it’s getting worse for me as they have been taking me off the Valium I got myself addicted to last year. It’s bad enough to feel so powerless and plagued by both ignorant Americans and foreign incursion into our democratic system without having to feel my whole neuromuscular system all fizzy and my brain totally overactive. And what you go through with your dogs happens to my cats. Just know you have friends here, for what its worth.
Turn off all media
Place an aluminum foil tent on your head. Don’t go outside.
Take deep breaths for 2-3 mins several times per day
Drink plenty of water
After 5 days write down how you are feeling. Study the results
Repeat if improving
It won’t take THAT long to oust the nitwit…if I thought for a moment it would, I’d be a basket-case.
That really takes a lot of self-discipline to work from home, especially during these trying times; I enjoy your posts but also understand you need to force yourself to retreat a little and find some positive distractions for balance. Hang in there, we’re a team! 
Volunteer. Do something to help the community. I logged 370 volunteer hours last year plus probably another 50 on political activities. I have to feel like I’m doing something positive.
I would love to. Right now, I’m caring for my 90 year old Dad and can’t get out too often unless I can find somebody to watch him. I find that even spending too much time on the phone can agitate him. I have several part time jobs and all of them are virtual. The beauty of being online is I can be in the same room on my laptop and he doesn’t feel isolated. Part of the reason I write such lengthy posts is because some days I go without interacting with any other people and I usually have so much to say. Since there’s nobody to say it to, I write. He is a bit cognitively compromised but his bigger issue is he can’t hear much of anything. Most days, he’s content to watch CNN for hours - with the closed captions turned on and the volume turned off. I have to fight with him to get it turned up where I can hear it, since I can’t read the captions and read online at the same time. I’m going to try to find somebody to watch him on the 24th so I can participate in the March, but that’s not looking real good right now. At this rate, he may be coming along. I don’t think we’re actually having a March here so much as a rally which is good. His mobility is limited. Sorry if this is TMI. But today is one of those days where even my dogs don’t want to listen to me, Given the weird weather, they’re both sleeping.
I volunteer at the SPCA socializing cats to help them be better companions when adopted. What kind of political volunteering do you do? I really want to be of use to the cause…the resistance (Matt doesn’t like that word, but I can’t think of anything more apt to call it, sorry!) but I want to know what I can do other than writing and phoning congress critters, which I already do. I am not extroverted so wouldn’t really be good at petitioning. I do have some art and computer graphics experience that I would love to use to help liberal/progressive political groups or individuals. Do you have any suggestions? Basically, I am better with cats than people, but I am also aware of the level of crisis we face if we bury our heads in the sand or waste time because of our own little mental issues.
Melisa. Thanks for your comments and congratulations on dropping the meds. I’m a Canadian broadcaster and often speak on depression and anxiety. Been there so high five. I follow this presidency very closely. I reported on the Watergate hearings.
I too was excited about the Obama presidency, and made sure my daughters in their twenties watched as historically the first African American was elected. It gave me goosebumps. Good times. Great times.
Now, I just watch with much interest and yell at the TV. I don’t favor GOP or the Dems. I’d just like to see anybody other than Trump. Anybody would be better at this point. Be patient and watch the mid terms. I stay sane by dreaming of the day when our neighbors in the USA will have a President they can be proud of.
Bill, if things don’t change soon, your neighbors may be living a lot closer to you than they are now. I am very interested in how people from other countries perceive what’s going on in the U.S. right now. Canada is pretty close to all of the action and it’s pretty easy to access news outlets and meet people to talk with. But we don’t see or hear from the everyday people in other countries, only their government officials. I’d love to just to be able to sit down with a group of international folks and just listen for a while.
That is very good advice Amy. Mesila you can do your own taper. No need to suffer. If you have enough Valium do a taper. I’m a little surprised they didn’t start you on a good antidepressant. It’s a bomb on anxiety.
Antidepressants have either no effect on me, or very bad ones. One of them, Bupropion, gave me violent thoughts, which were totally uncharacteristic for me as a hippie pacifist, and I dropped that one instantly. Valium is the only anti-anxiety drug that works for me, but it’s becoming eliminated from use despite the fact that certain antidepressants (paxil for example) are just as addictive for people who have been on them a long time. I avoid SSRIs because they are antipsychedelic completely and dull me straight to the center of my soul. Valium however has some antipsychedelic effects also, which is one reason I am getting off of it. But I know I will miss it a lot.
Amy0204 - Your situation makes it much harder. I’m very lucky that my work pushes us to volunteer and finds us opportunities. If it’s possible to spend time on a computer without your father becoming agitated, I have ideas:
Whew! I’m out of ideas for now, but I hope that helps. I just know I feel better when I believe I’m making a difference. Love to all!