Self-check personal mental health time.

[Cyrano]

I read DU far more often than I post. And I also read virtually everything else I have the time to read.

Today, I found my mind, my patience, my understanding and my sanity on overload.

Uppermost in my mind is the Japanese people. They are suffering through a disaster beyond comprehension. And there is so very little that most of us can do to change it.

And then, there are our federal and state “political rulers of the universe” who seem to have run totally amok. Many of them seem to have lost any remnants of humanity that they may have possessed. They are destroying people’s lives every minute of every day, and they really don’t seem to give a flying fuck about it.

I often get up very early to do chores and then get online and read what’s going on in the world. This morning, while reading about … whatever … I just lost it. Staring at the screen, I decided that I couldn’t read anything more. I’ve called in to work and told them I wouldn’t be there today. (A stupid move given that I, like many of us, don’t really know how much longer work will be available to us.)

But every once in a while, you’ve just got to take a break. You’ve just got to accept the fact that we inhabit an imperfect world, in which far too many people go out of their way to make worse.

So I’m taking a day off. I’m taking a break. And the damn thing is that tomorrow, when I rejoin the “real world,” things will still suck just as much.

I know that my current mental state is meaningless in the bigger scheme of things. And I know that posting it here is a really disgusting exercise in self pity regarding my virtually total helplessness to improve just about anything on this planet. Nonetheless …

Sigh. Over and out.

[ananda]

1. I so relate.

nt

[tjwash]

2. Taking a mental-health-day off is always for you.

nt

[Cyrano]

3. Yes. And all of us need to do it.

[The Straight Story]

4. I've already went insane - between personal hell and rest of the world.

Now, I am just along for the ride :)

[Cyrano]

5. Aren't we all just "along for the ride" -- considering what we can do to change what is.

[phrigndumass]

6. No guilt, just allow yourself to feel your emotions for the day.

Too often we have to set our own emotions aside to do what is "required" of us. Today you are "required" to take care of you, and that includes allowing yourself time to grieve and feel sympathy for the Japanese, and allowing yourself time to feel completely pissed at the fuckwads whose political agendas go against the well-being of the people.

You have my permission! (Although you don't need it, just take it)

:hug:

[Cyrano]

7. Thanks for the emotional support, phrigndumass. I really need it at this moment.

[Raschel]

8. I'm just impressed that you do chores before you get online.

[Cyrano]

10. Well, we all have our fetishes.

[LiberalEsto]

9. Wouldn't it be nice if the GOP took a mental health break?

I think 10 years would probably do the trick.

[Cyrano]

11. Terrific idea. However, 100 years may be more appropriate.

Perhaps, by that time, the human species will have "grown up."

[LiberalEsto]

12. You're right.

I misunderestimated.

[Raschel]

13. I don't think they need a mental health break. They do need a mental workout.

[stuntcat]

14. I used to listen to news 24/7 but a few months ago I stopped..

now I still watch Newshour and sometimes Jon Stewart but mostly I just listen to music. I got a few hours of tv news lately to see footage of Japan.

I quit the news because I was so mad and afraid, people just horrified me, but I'm not any better for it, the little news I get and most of the hideous bald monkeys in my suburb make me know I'm right to be sad and scared. I'm gladder every day that my years are half over.