Is the angst killing you? Is the Thing you are worried about far worse than the actual Thing? Are you tired of feeling tension throughout your neck, shoulders, back, and even your feet? Are you killing yourself over the inevitable outcome of something you cannot control for? Are you getting physically ill with anxiety? Are you dying more quickly by the hour, because the news says this or that, and Polls may seem to indicate... Blah blah blah? “I don’t believe in apocalypse — until the apocalypse comes." "I think nothing is the end of the world until the end of the world.” -Barack Obama Yep. Me too. So is there a coping mechanism which you've found that seems to quash some of the most loathsome symptoms of the ("What in the actual fuck") world you live in? For me, it's often nature. Birds, Trees, Verdant Woodlands, and Rivers, and such. Although lovely sightings of Wild Turkeys, Red Fox, Hawks, Beaver, and even road-kill can take you briefly away from the abyss (for a moment) -- Alas, then it all comes flooding right back in. They are always in your rearview, or on your back, in the form of assholes like Musk and Rogan, and abstract Trial Judges. A good loud scream also helps a bit, or to pound on something. Smashing stuff is a good solid release, but that too is short-lived, and makes most of us look and feel sort of stupid in hindsight. So what can one do besides sedatives, and fictions? MUST BE THE SEASON OF THE WITCH Frankly I don't know, but when people talk about public speaking they relieve their stage-fright stress by imagining everyone naked. I'd love to say that that would work, but not here, and not today. This week even imagining your biggest enemies, being eviscerated, by a truck striking them at high-speed and then stretching their parts across a highway doesn't bring brief relief. But if it did actually happen, That day would become my favorite holiday, after Halloween. It is at this solid blank wall of your countenance that you've come to face several more demons. Here we fear not just the thing, but the thing then grows new longer arms, larger claws, and sharper teeth, and it may soon devour you. The new fear has become larger, more fierce, and far worse than the actual thing ever was. Well, almost, because the Orange Monster is fucking awful, and now so are many of your ex friends. As a kid, anyone watching Nightmare on Elm Street, brought home the real possibility that well after the film ended, a viewer would be visited by the (O.G. Scissor-hands), Freddie Kreuger. The new fear of the original "FEAR" becoming a portable specter, revisiting you at home. (in your dreams). The evil was bound to follow you everywhere, like a shameful guilt for having done a terrible thing. The tell-tale heart of a fictional portrayal would be bound to revisit your conscience as you slept, if you could actually sleep. "Don't Go To Sleep", became the tag-line. I don't know if it was even warranted, but back then, at a younger age I could see some people believing in the "Nightmare". The new nightmare is very real, but it cannot last forever, can it? In lieu of "Don't fall asleep", "I think I can..." becomes a mantra for those who may wish to push back against a huge wave of fear, of what's to come. But can you? James Madison in “Federalist No. 55” reminds us that the “degree of depravity in mankind … requires a certain degree of … distrust” Certainly there were people throughout history who'd felt far more real fear, and lived through far more real pain in challenging times -- But as mental anguish is indiscriminate, what's about to happen next, can haunt a human hardcore. In particular if one doesn't have a "Plan B". Adjusting on the fly, when your former and fake friends remind you daily of imminent fright, is not a strategy. Certainly not a strategy which stems the tide of dread you may feel this season. At my polling place, I luckily don't have to see my monster's face, his signs, nor symbols. But this hideous monster does follow everyone, everywhere, via foot soldiers. Do you have a solid "Plan B?" Well nor do I. This NOT having a Plan-B, is exactly why our fears are so tough to cope with, and to squelch out. It's like having a shit job, and no vacation planned. In most scenarios we have an exit -- A back door. We have a way through, which, even if daunting, like emigration, is a viable plan. Any plan, however difficult, brings some hope. So maybe the THING is that you cannot imagine doing this horror-show political hate-speak every day for the rest of your life. Perhaps you need a messiah. Or perhaps you need to just go dancing? Maybe you need to just move away. Maybe you are looking ahead toward some sunny beach, or a verdant pasture to wrap yourself in. Perhaps you need to have a plan that has nothing to do with news, or even leave the country. Perhaps you need sanctuary, and something to look forward to. The truth is that you have no control over these outcomes, Except for one... Death comes for everyone, and we cannot control for that. This notion could also free you. Your Monster may look like mine, All orange and creepy -- But mine is an elderly Man who will be dead soon, and I will live to see that happen.
The only exit is through the gift shop. When the whole world becomes untenable, then we can either sit around fretting, waiting for a messianic sea-change, run away, switch sides, or change perspective. The fact is that death and politics are out of our fucking control, and the control which you exert, is something you simply have no control over anyway. When you come to accept this perspective, then you will free yourself from giving a fuck about outcomes you cannot control. Because it's only your own ego which made you believe that you could control for elections, chaos, and death. You cannot. Halloween is a grand day to reflect upon mortality -- After all, the monsters may want you dead, but if you are like me, You want only one single Monster to be hit by a truck, and spread across the roadway; Preferably in the middle of Time's Square. In my bad dreams, I can generally kill the monsters. The beauty of this linear life, is that things change rapidly, and even monsters expire. Like most of your dreadful fears, your worst monster has a finite shelf-life. I plan to live long enough to see my monster die. If you simply do not give a fuck, then the Monsters will disappear, and scary movies are just not that scary anymore. ...Don't get me started on "free will".
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