Daily Check-In

[mecurtin]

This is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Thursday, January 8, to midnight on Friday, January 9 (8pm Eastern Time).

Poll #34060 Daily check-in poll

This poll is closed.
Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 22

How are you doing?

I am OK
13 (61.9%)

I am not OK, but don't need help right now
7 (33.3%)

I could use some help
1 (4.8%)

How many other humans live with you?

I am living single
10 (45.5%)

One other person
8 (36.4%)

More than one other person
4 (18.2%)

Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.

Comments

[mecurtin]

Sorry about the delay getting this up, I was liveblogging a Rapid Response Indivisible call, and afterwards I ... forgot.

This is WAY too much Interesting Times, and I object.

[elayna]

I keep clicking that I’m okay because I’m fortunate in my personal life and where it’s at, but jfc I cannot believe where this country is, how incredibly horrible our president and his enablers are, and that he still has any support blows my freaking mind. He’s threatened Mexico now, jfc, he’s absolutely insane imo and how can anyone be so deluded to think this country is doing okay? That the world is doing okay with him in charge of our military? I want to scream.

[lauramcewan]

Yep. same.

[lauramcewan]

I usually say I'm not ok but don't need help, but now I do. Am I depressed? I don't know how to assess that. I'm certainly very upset over the state of this country and how those in charge just bow and scrape. I don't understand. I'm scared and I'm sad and I just don't wanna. I could look for a counselor but at the same time, that old stigma hits and do I REALLY need one or am I being DrAmAtIc? I don't know. I just know I don't feel well. I need to get more exercise and that does truly help, but getting out the door is hard.

[mecurtin]

First, you probably DO need professional help. "You're just being DrAmAtIc" is what people say when they really wish you weren't a complete human being with needs of your own.

Given this fucked-up country, you should probably start by talking to your primary care physician, saying "I think maybe I'm depressed, can you refer me to a specialist?" But it will probably take a while to find someone, it's going to depend a lot on what your primary finds. They should test your thyroid levels 1st, because although that's probably not it at least that's something they know how to fix.

In the meantime, I recommend connecting with one of your local Indivisible groups, there are LOTS in your area. I know from personal experience that activism will make you feel MUCH less helpless in the face of *gestures* everything.

Yes, "those in charge" have been bowing & scraping. But regular people have NOT. The pushback against the regime is truly small-d *democratic*, it's coming from We The People. Just in the last few days, possibly lost in the horrible news, we've had:

- Spotify stopped running ICE recruitment ads
- Avelo Airlines stopped doing ICE's extradition flights
Both of these were because *regular people* organized campaigns that made the reputational harm of working w/ICE not worth the money.

Also:
- 7 Republican Senators broke w/ Trump to help Dems pass a War Powers Act, to keep Trump from doing more in Venezuela
- 17 R House members joined Dems to extend ACA subsidies -- this is the only one where Dem Party leadership had any role, but they DO deserve some credit here

One thing that's easy to do that helps my sense of despair a LOT is attending Indivisible's weekly What's the Plan? Zoom meetings on Thursday afternoons. I've been liveblogging them for almost a year on Bluesky under #WhatsThePlan.

DM if you want to talk more!

[fred_mouse]

Working from my extremely small sample size (myself, my family, my friends): 'Am I depressed' is absolutely a thing you take to a counsellor if you can (after getting the appropriate medical tests that mecurtin notes). Because something has you Not Right. And you don't have to be depressed for that to be a problem. It is okay to take a small problem to a counsellor as a proactive measure before it gets large. Just like taking physical health issues to get checked early.

Last year I proactively went and saw a counsellor at the point that I could see that I was heading into a pattern of things happening around me that have historically been bad. And not only did they help me with working through what I needed for that, they also spotted a couple of other 'easy fix' things that now mean I can spot when I'm doing a particular self-sabotage thing. Taking care of yourself is sometimes the hardest thing, but also a thing that only you can do.

Also: your comment about your country? I'm sorry that that is happening, and I hope that everyone can hold on until things change.

Oh, and those people telling you you are DrAmAtIc are arseholes and not to be trusted.