Dealing With Stress & Anxiety

About a week ago, Robert Reich wrote a couple of columns about stress and anxiety.  We’ve got so much more sources of stress, which causes anxiety, anger and then depression.  In the first piece, one of the points he made are the resulting feelings from all that stress isn’t necessarily a mental illness.  I agree with that.

Being afraid of exposure/getting covid isn’t related to my usual depression/anxiety.  I am immunosuppressed and so I do worry about getting really sick.

The march toward fascism and all those worries and fears aren’t related to my usual depression/anxiety.  We are in real danger of losing our democracy.  I don’t want to live in a country in which I’ve lost fundamental freedoms.  Naturally I’m upset about the possibility.

Prices keep rising.  We are on a fixed income.  Worry and stress about how we’ll manage long term isn’t related to my usual depression/anxiety.  How the frig are we to afford everything when prices are going beyond our range?  And I’m not talking luxuries.  I mean food, power to the house, gas for the car and other essentials.

I get what Reich was referring to and I agree.

So, what happens? The Department of Health and Human Services is now is recommending that doctors screen for anxiety in adults under the age of 64.  Why don’t they screen for us seniors 65 and over?  It turns out there’s very little adequate measures for us old folk.  I guess it’s assumed we’re all just contentedly sitting in our rockers on the front porch.  Riiiight.

The next day, Reich asked how we cope with all this stress we’re under.  For me, and for many, conventional therapy and anti-depressants/anxiety meds are okay but they don’t help all that much because of powerlessness.  Therapy and pills can’t change my vulnerability to illness, losing democracy, or the ability to support myself.  What does help is getting back a sense of power.

How?  In the past I was an activist that marched, walked picket lines and sat in to support health care for all and accommodating the needs of people with disabilities.  I can’t do all that now BUT I can work phone banks supporting candidates who support our Constitution, want to protect our fundamental rights, and to treat everyone fairly.  I support Andy Kim, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortex, and all the Dems running in swing or other states.  It gives me a real feeling of satisfaction; I’m not just sitting stewing and watching things happen.  I’m doing something.  The other thing that helps me deal with all the stress is writing in my private journal and in this blog.

There’s one more way I deal with all this stress and it’s all through Dan Rather’s piece this past Sunday: Please Take Care Of You.  The other best way for me to deal with stress is to relax with my family members where stressful news is verboten.  We catch up on what we’re doing and then watch a movie or series together.

Even more helpful than that is to go out and appreciate nature.  I find going to the ocean and walking on the beach or boardwalk to be very healing because the sounds of the waves are soothing and the salt spray is refreshing and pleasing.  The ocean isn’t all that close to us so my next choice is going to a park and walking one of the trails, communing with trees, birds, deer, and other walkers.  It’s in these places that I feel care and comfort from Nature.

That’s how I’m dealing with it.  How about you?

 

Why Are So Many People Dumb?

 

Lately I’ve only scanned headlines from Daily Sound & Fury because they give me agita.  Many of the articles are filled with capitalized paragraphs and that makes me feel like someone’s yelling at me.  The other reason I don’t read through articles anymore is because there’s a sense of hysteria to them.  It’s pretty clear they want their readers to get riled up.

Having said that, I was intrigued by one of their articles and followed the link to the website.  The article didn’t shout at me and didn’t do anything more but give more information about why so many people are dumb.  Check it out.  It’s pretty enlightening. Made Stupid.

Back from a worthwhile read?  I wonder what everyone thinks about the points made in the article?  I think about my exposure to TV/radio ads when I was a child (say from 1957 until adulthood) and compare it with that of my children who are millennials.  Luckily, during their toddler and preschool years, Rich and I worked opposite shifts so that one of us was always home caring for them.  They had play-outside time and play-inside time that involved toys and for short periods, TV or gaming.

When I was a kid, I was outdoors right after breakfast.  When the streetlights came on, I knew it was time to go home.  I did watch some TV like the Mickey Mouse club and I remember that it did influence me.  I needed to be a Mouseketeer and I sure needed those Mickey Mouse ears.  I must have been somewhere between 3 and 6.  My parents did get me a pair of ears and I wore them every time I watched the show.

I was lucky.  I wasn’t exposed to as many ads because I didn’t watch a lot of shows.  One big reason is that the TV was rarely on.  My parents were Deaf, and there was no such thing as closed captioning then.  They didn’t watch TV because it was too difficult to read speakers’ lips and was a frustrating experience.  However, we did watch Walt Disney, Ed Sullivan, and Combat whenever they were on TV.  My dad had a little residual hearing and enjoyed the performers on Ed Sullivan.  Combat was action packed and easy to follow.  Disney? Classic.  I don’t remember any of the commercials.

As I got older, the jingles and other nonsense went in one ear and out the other.  I’m like that now.  I prefer streaming TV with no commercials.  If I watch regular TV, I read through the commercials.  I didn’t get into the cosmetics, shampoo, cleaning supplies, clothes, cars and any of that other stuff that gets pushed.  The ads are dumb.  They promise the viewer or listener some wonderful things will happen if you don’t buy blah-blah.  It’s all hype.

I am proud that my kids aren’t dumb because of ads they’ve seen.  I am sure it’s because they had a parent with them to help them discern what was true and what was just a come-on.

The article points out that millennials and Gen Z kids probably didn’t have a parent at home with them.  Nowadays in a traditional family, both parents have to work to stay afloat with rapidly rising food and gas prices.  Single parents might have to work two jobs.  Who knows what kind of guidance they get from child care workers or babysitters?

My kids escaped this but some Gen Z kids are growing up in states that regulate what a teacher can and can’t teach.  The curriculums are dumbed down and, as a result, these kids being protected from “offense” don’t learn all the topics they need to know.  Books are banned from libraries and schools.  Many of those books are excellent reads and are banned because ultra-right-wing politicians and parents don’t like certain words or concepts in these books.  If kids are lucky and interested enough, they may find some of these titles at their local library.

Schools fail many students because of restrictions and a lack of funding.  The Rethuglicans never seem to want to adequately fund education.  I learned civics in 8^th grade.  Students today don’t get much civics; it doesn’t seem important.  The article said that half of our citizens can’t name the three branches of government.  How can you make a good decision as a voter if you don’t know how the branches of government work?

Other dumbness that people pick up:

Vaccines prevent disease.  Some vaccines eradicated a disease.  They’re required to attend school.  Yet many adults refuse the vaccine against covid.  Why?  Vaccines are effective.  But it seems these dumb ones believe the misinformation they hear and see.

I’ve been surveying voters in three different states.  More than half support TFG.  I want to ask WHY?  I can’t.  I have to be impartial and just read the questions verbatim.    They are supportive of all the good things the Democratic candidate has done but they would still go with the Repub candidate. Why?  I think it’s because they swallow TFG’s Kool-Aid and become numb to facts.  They’d vote for this clown even though the things he & the Rethuglicans want to do would hurt them.  Duh?

I’ve come to the conclusion that too much media exposure is bad.  I think it kills thinking brain cells of little ones who begin watching TV at such young ages.  They are manipulated to need “this & that” and believe what they see is real.  Growing up, the strong influence of commercials can surely change the thinking process of people exposed to them for long periods of time—like sitting in front of the TV for hours.

The article lists way to reduce the stupidity level of kids in school now.  It’s a nice list but it means that people need to care and get involved.  Do they?  How many adults aren’t swayed by all the BS on the air and on the Net?  I wonder.

Next time I want to focus on anxiety: life happenings, politics, aging, and etc.

Religious Switching Patterns

 

I have a lot of topics on my mind but this article by the Pew Research Center caught my eye and I read it.  From everything I know about the Pew Research Center, they are pretty reliable.  I could be wrong.  The article focused on how religious affiliation might look by 2070, noting that Christians won’t be the majority anymore.  I’m not surprised but I’m sure the white supremacists and white right wing “Christian” nationalist and evangelists are freaking out.

I was really interested in their findings about who switched religious beliefs and when they did.

As for me, I started out going with my family to the Islip Presbyterian Church.  My extended family lived all around my parents, brother and me.  Half the family went to that church, and there was a cozy, “family” feel to it. 

We moved to Baltimore when I was 10.  No more church filled with family members and friends.  My parents attempted to get my brother and me into Sunday school at a local Presbyterian church while they went visiting friends but that didn’t last long.  My brother and I felt awkward, out of place, and we just didn’t feel welcome.  We told my parents we didn’t want to go there anymore, and that was the end of Sunday School.

I’m not sure where to place myself.  I sort of grew up with a Christian faith but it ended before I was 11.  We just didn’t go to any church, didn’t watch any evangels on TV nor read the Bible.  I had vague memories of what I’d learned in Sunday School but that was it.  I believed in God but He was remote and distant.  I didn’t think much about religion.

When I was 16, I joined Weight Watchers and discovered a group met at the Christ Church for the Deaf.  My parents, who were profoundly Deaf from birth, were aware of it all along but chose not to go because they didn’t want to give up drinking and gambling at the Deaf club.  Even though I hadn’t learned to sign fluently yet, I felt a connection to this church and congregants.  The minister was inspiring, he himself the adult child of Deaf parents.

My parents were bemused but didn’t try to stop me from going to that church.  They offered classes on American Sign Language to hearing people who wanted to communicate.  It was there I became fluent and worked my way up through the interpreter classes.  I sometimes interpreted church services both in Maryland and then in New York.

Church felt good through my first marriage and the births of my three children.  Rich and I moved from New York back to Maryland and attended the local Presbyterian Church.  Our kids went to Sunday School as I did when I was little.  I enjoyed volunteering on outreach committees.  Two controversial issues began to sour me on congregations, boiling down to Not In My Backyard (NIMBY-ism) and prejudice.  We are to love each other and lend a helping hand or provide support, yet people objected to a shelter in the church for homeless families and to welcome openly gay members.  Several of our deacons felt compelled to hide in “the closet”.

In my early 40s, I stopped going to church.

I tried to go again with my second husband but I couldn’t reconcile myself to that church’s dogma and could see there was a lot of the usual back-stabbing and hypocrisy here too.  I haven’t been to a church service since and it’s been almost 10 years.

What about my kids?  They are in their 30s now, and I am not sure what they believe.  All three seem to be non-affiliated.  Will they seek out a connection to a particular religion, a church?  I don’t know.  I have shared what I believe with them and they change the subject.  I don’t pursue it or push it.

This is what I believe: yes, I think there is God.  There must be a higher intelligence to have created this universe and beyond.  I have faith in Jesus and feel the Holy Spirit.  But do I need to go to church?  The Bible says I should but I don’t.  I don’t like the drama, the back-stabbing, and the complaining.  I can commune with God out in nature or here in my room or anywhere, really.  I can pray and I am heard.  When my spirit leaves my body, it leaves a lifeless shell but my spirit is energy and it goes on.

There are no Presbyterian churches close by in my town.  Over the years, I have been to Methodist, Lutheran, Episcopalian and Baptist churches.  None were a comfortable fit and so if I’m asked which religion I’m affiliated with, I say Presbyterian by rote.

I wonder where I’d fit in the Pew Research results.

Next up: why are there so many stupid people?