I was out with one of my long-term friends the other day for lunch (who is retired), and much of the stuff that he does to fill his time is to brood.
We’ll doomscroll the news and realise that the world is a terrible place, and then realise that there's nothing that you can do to fix it, and then brood some more. This is ultimately the pastime of people with too much unfettered time on their hands.
This is the cost of retirement.
It's true that I also spend a lot of time doomscrolling the news.
I've taken that upon myself to figure out what happens in the world, at least from the sources that I have chosen to receive the information, and I tried to frame that against what's happening in my work and what's happening in my life, but I am pretty clear that there is nothing I can do about it.
I won't change American foreign policy or economic policy.
I won't change the circumstances in the Middle East.
I won't change the conflicts in Africa.
I won't single-handedly solve problems related to the climate crisis, or poverty or all of those other things.
I do have the opportunity to live what I believe to be a good life, though, and if I do that, then when I wake up in the morning and when I rest my head at night, I can be satisfied with what I've done.
I can also, through objective eyes, see that in all the crises that we have, there are opportunities.
So not withstanding the fact that we might be completely obliterated in the nuclear annihilation at any minute soon (I feel that's quite unlikely) and also not withstanding the fact that we might enter into the next Great Depression any minute now, there will always be opportunities for those who look at it, for those who can be objective, and for those who are prepared to work.
Brooding is one thing, but brooding on the opportunity is entirely something else; taking the space and the time that you have to figure out how to navigate things in the environment that you find yourself in and how to find a pathway forwards that allows you to live to your values and to your ultimate goals, and to protect the people that you love and the people that you care about that's the game, isn't it? It's always, always been the game.
The news has always been terribly dark; it's just that we see more of it and have the opportunity to shout about it more than we ever have before.
Blog Post Number - 4249
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