It’s bleak out there in a lot of places. How’s everybody coping?
I’ve realized I don’t ever talk about it much, because I don’t know anyone in my offline life that it’s safe to talk to. My health is precarious and my housing sometimes feels a little uncertain, so I’m very much just keeping my head down. But I don’t know! I feel Concerned! Ahh! Stress! Stressful time! I grew up in the 2000s and never thought I’d see anything like this get worse again. It’s surreal. Back then, I felt like i could freely express my rage. Right now, I can’t. It’s disorienting. How is everybody else doing? What’s it been like for you?
Health and housing are pretty important for survival, so it’s kinda understandable that you’re stressed out. Care to go into specifics? Why do you feel like you can’t express yourself?
I wrote this last night in a kind of vague mood and can see now I wasn’t at all clear haha. I meant that I’m stressed about the general rising fascism and anti-lgbtqia+ sentiment in the world right now, but because I’m staying with family, I feel I have to be somewhat quiet about my queerness. I have an illness that’s chronic and permanent, which in the U.S. means a lack of financial solubility , which also means perpetually “staying with some relative “ unless affordable housing spots magically appear - so, like a lot of queer people right now I’m just looking at the news like “uhhhhh….seems to be getting bad out there” but not able to talk about it with the people around me. My family is a mix of conflict averse center-right folks and genuinely mean people who are also republicans, which is why I said that I felt I couldn’t fully express my rage right now without potentially jeopardizing my housing or causing circumstances that might worsen my health. There’s a lot to love about life! But this particular political era is NOT my favorite.
That makes sense. You’re definitely not alone in feeling like it’s getting bad. Like, it’s insane to me that conservative boomers are getting old and having health complications and still don’t want universal healthcare. They’ll vote against their best interests every time.
I hope you find support and understanding within your community, even if it’s not within your immediate family.
Thank you. It’s a work in progress! (And yeah, it’s wild! The complain about paying for healthcare…but still insist that regulation and government help is bad. So weird!)