When scary things happen, look for the helpers
July 1, 2018 1:33 PM Subscribe
Feeling discouraged about the state of the world / politics. I need some words of encouragement - books, blogs, personal stories. Help me dust myself off and keep trying to make the world suck less.
As a kid and young adult I was lucky enough to live in a world that felt at least somewhat predictable. When I was still very young, I saw my country embrace democracy, the Eastern /Central European communist regimes fell before my eyes - it was amazing; and for a very long time afterwards things seemed to be getting better and better.
And now it all seems to be falling apart in several countries at once, including mine. I feel overwhelmed by the extent of injustice in the world and my own efforts feel so futile. I am a doc and I do think I am helping somewhat but it feels like nothing. Feeling sad most of the time.
I need words of encouragement - be it in the form of books, blogs, personal stories / words of wisdom. For $Reasons I strongly prefer non-religious sources (also, I know people quote Pema Chödrön a lot but her books actually make me feel worse).
As a kid and young adult I was lucky enough to live in a world that felt at least somewhat predictable. When I was still very young, I saw my country embrace democracy, the Eastern /Central European communist regimes fell before my eyes - it was amazing; and for a very long time afterwards things seemed to be getting better and better.
And now it all seems to be falling apart in several countries at once, including mine. I feel overwhelmed by the extent of injustice in the world and my own efforts feel so futile. I am a doc and I do think I am helping somewhat but it feels like nothing. Feeling sad most of the time.
I need words of encouragement - be it in the form of books, blogs, personal stories / words of wisdom. For $Reasons I strongly prefer non-religious sources (also, I know people quote Pema Chödrön a lot but her books actually make me feel worse).
I am a doc and I do think I am helping
You are. Do you know that? I mean, in your gut, when you identify the problem or make the right call at the right moment--do you feel that you are facilitating good outcomes for individual people? I hope you do, and I hope you can access this memory/feeling in moments when you're acutely sensitive to global uncertainty. You are a helper. Make sure your oxygen mask is firmly affixed, and breathe. (Preaching to choir, and you know best how to take gentle care of yourself. Just a nudge to make sure you're doing it.)
I found Krista Tippett's book, Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living, to be a comfort. (There's also an audio component; here's season one.) The connecting conversation with people from so many different backgrounds is wonderful; interviews are grouped around a theme in each section of the book. Religion is often discussed, but it is not a religious project. It's hopeful, and nuanced, and might serve as a reminder that the helpers are still here.
posted by MonkeyToes at 2:10 PM on July 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
You are. Do you know that? I mean, in your gut, when you identify the problem or make the right call at the right moment--do you feel that you are facilitating good outcomes for individual people? I hope you do, and I hope you can access this memory/feeling in moments when you're acutely sensitive to global uncertainty. You are a helper. Make sure your oxygen mask is firmly affixed, and breathe. (Preaching to choir, and you know best how to take gentle care of yourself. Just a nudge to make sure you're doing it.)
I found Krista Tippett's book, Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living, to be a comfort. (There's also an audio component; here's season one.) The connecting conversation with people from so many different backgrounds is wonderful; interviews are grouped around a theme in each section of the book. Religion is often discussed, but it is not a religious project. It's hopeful, and nuanced, and might serve as a reminder that the helpers are still here.
posted by MonkeyToes at 2:10 PM on July 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
Self-link: Good Morning from the Resistance is a once a day resilience and self help reminder. Join us!
posted by Sophie1 at 2:14 PM on July 1, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Sophie1 at 2:14 PM on July 1, 2018 [4 favorites]
If you haven't heard about the residents of Gander, Newfoundland, who welcomed some of the many passengers stranded in Canada right after 9/11, I would definitely check out the stories, starting with this one from The Washington Post. It's very touching to read about (in the midst of the horror that was 9/11). There's a musical about it, Come From Away, which is going to be made into a movie, I believe. The cast album is on Spotify, and here is a taste of it.
posted by trillian at 2:20 PM on July 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by trillian at 2:20 PM on July 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
Somebody somewhere is answering a similar question with a story about you. Seen WAY too many doctors and other healthcare professionals in the last few years and, as a group, i don't think you'll find a better group of humans. Thank you for everything you do.
posted by kate4914 at 2:24 PM on July 1, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by kate4914 at 2:24 PM on July 1, 2018 [5 favorites]
Our Towns, James and Deborah Fallows; an account of flying all over the US in their own little plane (he's a pilot) and visiting various small and large American cities, most of which are showing amazing resilience and recovery (where needed) and doing hopeful things. (Mostly written before the election, but published after and taking that into account too.)
And yeah, thanks for your work as a doctor! That matters.
posted by huimangm at 2:26 PM on July 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
And yeah, thanks for your work as a doctor! That matters.
posted by huimangm at 2:26 PM on July 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
Buckminster Fuller
posted by goalyeehah at 3:41 PM on July 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by goalyeehah at 3:41 PM on July 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Self-link: recently I had a blog post about why I feel it's important to include fun and family and beauty as part of your self-care, and that you need to do that kind of self-care to give yourself a breather so that you can get back up and fight. It was a conclusion I came to after binge-listening to the song "Lovers In A Dangerous Time" about 5 times in a row.
I have the video to the Barenaked Ladies version of the song on that link; the song itself is my second suggestion, since the lyrics are phenomenal and the story behind it is moving. (Linking you there to a page about the original composer, Bruce Cockburn; I actually like the BNL cover better.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:43 PM on July 1, 2018 [3 favorites]
I have the video to the Barenaked Ladies version of the song on that link; the song itself is my second suggestion, since the lyrics are phenomenal and the story behind it is moving. (Linking you there to a page about the original composer, Bruce Cockburn; I actually like the BNL cover better.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:43 PM on July 1, 2018 [3 favorites]
The RBG documentary currently in theaters.
Seconding Hope in the Dark.
posted by orangejenny at 3:45 PM on July 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
Seconding Hope in the Dark.
posted by orangejenny at 3:45 PM on July 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Richard Kluger, Simple Justice: The Story of Brown v. Board of Education
Anthony Lewis, Gideon's Trumpet (about the case that guaranteed the right to counsel to indigent defendants)
posted by praemunire at 5:30 PM on July 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
Anthony Lewis, Gideon's Trumpet (about the case that guaranteed the right to counsel to indigent defendants)
posted by praemunire at 5:30 PM on July 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
Follow Rebecca Solnit on Facebook too, maybe, but only if it's okay to see eloquent, realistic perspectives on the bad stuff mixed with the messages about hope and resilience. I find it a good balance.
posted by centrifugal at 6:16 PM on July 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by centrifugal at 6:16 PM on July 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
Self-link: Poems for the Resistance poem-a-day project.
Or just-- poems. Mary Oliver / Adrienne Rich / Lucille Clifton / Martin Espada / Li-Young Lee as top-most optimism-bestowers.
posted by athirstforsalt at 7:59 PM on July 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
Or just-- poems. Mary Oliver / Adrienne Rich / Lucille Clifton / Martin Espada / Li-Young Lee as top-most optimism-bestowers.
posted by athirstforsalt at 7:59 PM on July 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thank you everyone. I am working my way through the links.
Lovers in a Dangerous Time made me cry.
Leaving for a protest right now.
posted by M. at 11:30 AM on July 2, 2018 [3 favorites]
Lovers in a Dangerous Time made me cry.
Leaving for a protest right now.
posted by M. at 11:30 AM on July 2, 2018 [3 favorites]
Thanks, M. We're all trying to kick at the darkness in our way and at our pace. (hugs)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:21 PM on July 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:21 PM on July 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
I read this right after the election in 2016 and it helped a lot. Her writing is beautiful.
Hope in the Dark was written to counter the despair of radicals at a moment when they were focused on their losses and had turned their back to the victories behind them and the unimaginable changes soon to come. In it, she makes a radical case for hope as a commitment to act in a world whose future remains uncertain and unknowable.
posted by maggiemaggie at 1:40 PM on July 1, 2018 [4 favorites]