Life has been coming at us fast lately and sometimes it can feel like a lot. Today we are gonna talk about how to keep swimming when you feel like you’re drowning.

FEELING HOPELESS? LET’S CHAT.  

First and foremost let’s recognize that you’re allowed to feel like this sometimes, as long as that doesn’t mean all the time. 

1. There’s a lot of shit going on that can make you feel hopeless or apathetic. I mean, read or listen to the news on any given day… that’ll do it.
   • Sometimes you might end up feeling like this for no obvious reason. Conditions like depression and bipolar disorder can cause these feelings, for example. 
   • YOUR FEELINGS ARE VALID. I know we already touched on this, but just in case you needed a reminder. 
2. Hopelessness can make life seem heavy, gray, and dull. The worse you feel, the harder it often becomes to muster up interest in the things you usually enjoy doing.
   • It’s not always easy to separate general misery into more distinct experiences. You might simply decide you’re stressed or tired and leave it at that.
3. Per the pros, the key to regulating complex emotions lies in recognizing and labeling specific emotional states, according to a 2018 research review we’ve tagged in the show notes.
   • For sake of discussion, let’s talk about unhappiness. Digging beneath the surface of this general feeling can help you uncover the layers below — loneliness, annoyance, boredom.
     • The more detailed you can get, the easier it becomes to identify the most helpful way of working through those feelings.
4. Some emotions you might be feeling include:
   • fear
   • worry
   • helplessness
   • grief
   • distrust
   • bitterness
   • anger
   • gloom
   • uneasiness
5. Keeping a mood journal or expressing your feelings through art and music can help you get in better touch with your emotions.
   • Meditation can also help you practice acknowledging and accepting uncomfortable feelings instead of instinctively pushing them away.

REASONS TO STAY ALIVE

It sounds cheesy, especially when your brain is at its worst, but you have so much to live for. Seriously. 

1. Are you curious about who you could be?
   • No one knows the future, but life brings the constant opportunity to discover your true potential as a person, artist, parent, athlete, or activist.
2. What stones have you left unturned?
   • If you’re a curious person, wanting to know more about what’s “out there” may be a reason to keep going.
     • Who knows what you might discover and what might be uncovered in your lifetime?
3. The connections we forge with the people we care about most can be a powerful motivating factor.
   • Here’s a quick exercise: Can you think of a time when you “clicked” with another person?
     • It’s that feeling of simultaneously understanding and being understood. Life offers the chance to find and prioritize people like that.
4. Research shows that positive interactions with pets can boost levels of oxytocin and dopamine — brain chemicals that bring feelings of pleasure and connection.
   • But if you’ve ever loved an animal companion, you probably don’t need science to tell you why they help make life worthwhile.
5. Sometimes a little spite is called for.
   • If anyone has ever questioned your ability or flat-out told you, “You’ll never succeed at that,” it can be pretty satisfying to show them just how wrong they are. “Tell me I can’t, I’ll show you I can”
6. One thing is certain: You’re not alone.
   • Others are also searching for better reasons to keep going, and some of them might be similar to you.
     • Someday, you may get the chance to relate to and encourage someone who’s standing where you stood.

JOY AS AN ACT OF RESISTANCE

What does this phrase really mean? Is joy actually a form of resistance to oppression, or is this phrase just another thing we say when we find ourselves feeling good in a world that’s burning?

1. Joy is a force — from banning music to dancing, dictators have been slapping down expressions of joy for hundreds, if not thousands of years
2. There’s an article from Aesthetics of Joy that is tagged in the show notes where I pulled this: “What dictators know is that joy has a propulsive force, and that anything that gathers and channels that energy threatens to upend the rigid control of a population. Music, dance, art, eroticism: all of these fuel an emotional response that creates momentum, one that can be hard to control.”
   • Look at any large scale protest, you’ll see dancing and singing everywhere. That shit unites people, and it scares the hell out of people who crave control. 
3. They go on to say: “While communal joy represents an outright danger to a repressive regime, individual joy can also empower resistance. One of the ways it does this is by affirming our humanity.”
   • Struggles for justice are often also struggles for the acknowledgement of an oppressed group’s full humanity.
     • LGBTQIA+ individuals and people with ovaries are feeling that statement real fucking hard right now. We hear you, we see you, and we are with you. 
     • Joy is a sign of thriving. It is one of the things that makes us truly human. So depriving a group of people of joy, whether through an outright ban, or the denigration or shaming of their sources of pleasure, or through economic means, is a method of dehumanization. Reclaiming those sources of joy is a way to refuse to be dehumanized, to reassert our vitality.
4. So, simply put, joy can be considered resistance because it’s a form of energy for change. It counters and contrasts with the rigidity and control of oppressive structures in a non-violent way.

We know it sucks out there, friend. But the party never stops and neither do we. If you need help, please reach out to a pro, a friend, anyone. We want you here, so pls stick around. 

https://www.healthline.com/health/feeling-hopeless#name-your-feelings

https://psychcentral.com/health/reasons-to-stay-alive#22-reasons-to-live-life

https://aestheticsofjoy.com/joy-is-an-act-of-resistance-how-celebration-sustains-activism-2/