{"id":3673,"date":"2024-11-27T01:01:35","date_gmt":"2024-11-27T09:01:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/?p=3673"},"modified":"2024-11-06T18:05:50","modified_gmt":"2024-11-07T02:05:50","slug":"in-troubled-times-facing-the-problem-squarely","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/2024\/11\/27\/in-troubled-times-facing-the-problem-squarely\/","title":{"rendered":"In Troubled Times: Facing the Problem Squarely"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back in 2016, I posted a series of blogs entitled\u00a0In Troubled Times<\/em>. Today it seems fitting to remind myself that I survived then and will survive now. These thoughts are from\u00a0Monday, December 5, 2016.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A few days ago,\u00a0John Scalzi wrote in his blog,\u00a0Whatever<\/em>,<\/a>\u00a0\u201c\u2026the Trump administration and its enablers are going to make a mad gallop out of the gate to do a whole bunch of awful things, to overwhelm you with\u00a0sheer volume right at the outset.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pretty shocking statement, huh? That was my first reaction. My second was that Scalzi is very likely correct. All the signs are there\u2026all the signs that in my panic-stricken moments, I want to ignore so hard they go away.<\/p>\n

My next reaction was to surrender my mind to a gazillion chattering monkeys, each with her own idea of What Must Be Done Right Now. I can work myself into a downright tizzy in no time this way. Not only that, I can paralyze myself with too many alternatives and no way to prioritize them, jumbling actions I might take with those that are impossible or unsafe (crazy-making) for me.<\/p>\n

Any of this sound familiar?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all based on a false choice. I don\u2019t have to\u00a0either<\/em>\u00a0prepare now for the logically impending \u201cawful things\u201d\u00a0or<\/em>\u00a0play ostrich on the river in Egypt. But in order to see other, saner alternatives, I must first evict the Monkeys of Panic so I can regard the situation calmly.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re in for some hard times, and knowing that is a relief.<\/p>\n

At first, it seems counter-intuitive to say that acknowledging we are in for some dark times comes as a relief. The relief is because instead of nebulous fears running rampant, bursting into exaggeration and melodrama at every turn, vulnerable to any sort of fact-free hype, I\u2019ve stepped away from the emotional storm. I\u2019m facing the problem squarely, as my tai chi teacher used to say. We\u2019re in for some tough times, and likely there will be a whole slew of bad news in the early months of 2017.<\/p>\n

When I\u2019m no longer trying to deny or distort the way things are (for example, Trump\u2019s cabinet choices and what is known about them, or what he has said he will or won\u2019t do) I not only become calmer, but better able to see things I might do, alone or in solidarity with like-minded folks.<\/p>\n

This is based on a simple truth that in order to act effectively, I need to be sane. I can\u2019t be sane if I\u2019m bouncing off the walls at every headline on social media. I could, of course, disengage entirely from social media and refuse to read or listen to any sort of news. But I don\u2019t want to do that. I want to stay engaged, but in a mindful way. I want to know what I\u2019m up against. Once I stop fighting the reality of what that is, I free myself to use my energy and time in productive ways. I don\u2019t know exactly what form these tough times will take, but I don\u2019t need to prepare for every twist and turn. I can trust my ability to respond appropriately and creatively.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back in 2016, I posted a series of blogs entitled\u00a0In Troubled Times. Today it seems fitting to remind myself that I survived then and will survive now. These thoughts are from\u00a0Monday, December 5, 2016. A few days ago,\u00a0John Scalzi wrote in his blog,\u00a0Whatever,\u00a0\u201c\u2026the Trump administration and its enablers are going to make a mad gallop […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[953,88],"class_list":["post-3673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rants","tag-2024-presidential-election","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3673"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3674,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3673\/revisions\/3674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}