I can't help but feel guilty anymore about just enjoying life

[vercetti2021]

Hear me out when I say this. Like with the way the courts are slowly throwing the country into some dystopian hell. I want to be happy and enjoy life while I can with my family, friends and my lovely girlfriend. We have a huge mountain vacation coming up and part of me feels so overwhelming with guilt that I shouldn't be happy and enjoy things. That I need to be worried and scared of what's to come.

I feel if I worry I'm just going to deny myself happiness and be miserable. But if I act like nothing's happening then I'm also living in personal denial of what's happening in our country.

Everyone knows I'm transgender. My rights and life are constantly at risk each day I leave the house. That the GQP are heavily involved ruining my personal life. So why should I try to remain optimistic? I try to be but I feel guilty if I feel like I'm not taking what is happening seriously. I go on vacation. I blow off the seriousness of the country.

I really don't know what to think or feel because of these issues.

[onecaliberal]

1. You deserve joy. Smell the roses and take the time to notice how fortunate you are in the moment.

[LakeArenal]

2. I may not be helpful... but choose to be happy for the briefs moments that pass.

Refuse to despair because that is the goal of republicans.

Even slaves and serfs found moments to share happiness, fleeting as they may have been.

[Ocelot II]

3. It seems like everything is just going all to Hell right now,

and while we have to do as much as we can to try to pull it out of the abyss, at the same time we have to preserve our own sanity and not fall into despair. It seems to me that the only way to do that is to do the things that still make life worth living. I think about all the artists, writers and musicians and others that continued to create through terrible times of war and other disasters, working not only to memorialize the experience but to keep themselves mentally alive and even find joy in their art. Or we can head out and enjoy nature (while we still have it), or just hang with friends and family. Doing this is not ignoring the crisis; it's saving yourself to deal with it.

[vercetti2021]

10. I have little left to spare

I feel anytime I might just lose it and want out. Having fun is very rare for me until my girlfriend and I met. So its just different being thrusted into it now

[Scrivener7]

4. You do all the things you can think of to do to fight for your rights, and beyond

that you grab this life and enjoy it. You only get the one.

If you let them make you feel this way, you give them a victory. ESPECIALLY you, because you are transgender.

YOU having a joyful life is one of the things you can do to thwart them. It's one of the contributions you can make.

Go do it!

[vercetti2021]

5. I'm trying

I mean I know the sun will come up and I will still have everybody I love but at the same time it's just how soon and how long until it's just over? I feel like you know trying to find those little moments of happiness is literally like taking in while you can because it's not going to happen anymore

[Scrivener7]

7. I hate to say this, but I fear that it will not be over in my lifetime. We will

always be telling this story, we will always be fighting. That's why you have to find the place for your own life in the midst of it.

[vercetti2021]

9. True

How long can one keep it going though?

[Scrivener7]

11. As long as it takes, and the joys of your life are what will

keep you sane in the process.

[Backseat Driver]

6. Most everyone walks around tortured by some challenge; don't torture yourself unnecessarily.

Enjoy your life and be grateful you have many opportunities to be supported in your challenges just to be you. Don't be afraid to recognize all the joy, friendship, and beauty you can claim because, just like all humans, there will also be seemingly mountainous challenges. You are enough and can be a blessing to others that need an non-judgmental ear or those that may need to see the light. If you are able, support others in whatever way you can see yourself capable: a vote, a dollar, an activity, a talent. - Work hard at being you but also play hard. Nolite Te Bastardes Carborundorum - Hope you feel better.

[vercetti2021]

8. Yeah

Trying all that, just stigma in my brain is preventing it

[usonian]

12. You have a right to happiness.

The founders (sometimes they were flounders) wanted to give you the right to only PURSUE happiness.

Go for it.

As far as the fight goes, we're a team. Pardon the sports analogy, but sports mirror real life, and most people "get it".

Not everyone blocks, or passes or sprints down the field. If someone is out of position, the safety covers for them.

Some of us are able to do more. I'm retired and it's my JOB to enjoy life. I try But I also have the ability to help in whatever way I can.

If I am "privileged" in any way, I look at that as a gift and a call to use it positively to help others.

REMEMBER, IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU, even when it feels so.
IDIOTS ARE PROJECTING THEIR OWN FEARS AND FAILURES, and they need a target, a scapegoat. There are others, as you know.
Every Accusation is a Confession
https://democraticunderground.com/100216777247

[vercetti2021]

15. I want my happiness

Just hard to try to enjoy it when one group wants to destroy it at all costs.

[usonian]

16. I never faced what you are facing, and am unlikely to offer good advice.

I hope that DU people can help in the best possible way for you.

Don't feel alone or isolated. People care.

[FirstLight]

13. It's ok... I feel kinda opposite in a way

Like, here's all this epic stuff coming down and I'm just trying to LIVE, man.

(not enjoying much as my mom died last month and I'm recovering from shoulder surgery and unemployed... but ya)

I just feel like I only have the energy to deal with my own stuff and survival... fuck ...sorry I cant help with the collapse of civilization.

[vercetti2021]

14. I'm so sorry

About your momma. And shoulder too. I understand just looking out for you and you only at this time. I get that.

[IngridsLittleAngel]

17. You shouldn't feel guilty about enjoying life

That's exactly what these thugs want you to do. Not enjoy life, be miserable, suffer... You have the right to enjoy life. Everyone has the right to enjoy life. There is nothing wrong with doing so.

If anything, I envy you. I've struggled to enjoy life for many years now with everything that's gone on. Life for me has become more of a day to day struggle and feeling absolutely overwhelmed by everything, as opposed to something enjoyable. I miss those days, and sometimes I wonder if I can get them back at all.

Some of the worst things a person can do: Lose their joy of life, or grow old (I don't mean age.. I mean feel old). Rewinding that feels impossible sometimes.

You have as much of a right to enjoy life as anyone. Whether it be time with your girlfriend, or that vacation in the mountains, or whatever. Don't feel guilty. Embrace it. And to be able to remain positive and find enjoyment with everything that's going on? I'm impressed with it myself.

We both know you are taking everything going on seriously. Taking it seriously does not mean it has to be your entire life. It's okay to say "I still have a life to live despite fighting back." It's okay to take a step back and enjoy things in life.

You have no reason at all to feel guilty.