Walking. I take a long walk around the neighborhood and let my mind drift and eventually I find calm. I see some of the same people again and again and even though we’ve never spoken a word before, there’s a nod of recognition and I’m glad to see them. I get the impression they’re glad to see me too, which is a weird but fun kind of human relationship.

I tell myself everyday is a gift and that working for either a better future for Myself or future generations.

Most days, drugs of some kind. I go for walks every Sunday with my camera though and take photos and spend the week editing them too. I also try to take short trips too. It’s pretty cheap if you sleep in your car and just explore the town looking for photos to take.

Things are looking really bad, but I try not to let it hold me back. I’ve already spent a good chunk of my life paralyzed by anxiety, so I’ve learned to push past it.

I like to immerse myself in fictional stories, imagine being my favourite characters.

I try to fill most of my free time with social activities. Big fan of in-person boardgames.

Maladaptive daydreaming and substance abuse

Alcohol and food : /

Whatever I can do to obliterate my mind and not think or think about something else. So… Also escapism, but on drugs.

Running 30 minute intervals is great for dealing with a variety of negative emotions. Plus you can lose weight, sleep better, have a more attractive face, manage stress better, have better orgasms, get more smiles from the opposite sex, all from f***ing RUNNING!

Long walks. Daily.
Writing & reading. A lot.
Sketching.
Spending time with my spouse.

But, for me at least, those are not coping mechanism (doesn’t matter what’s going on, nothing is definitive even when it’s all gloomy). They’re things I do because they make me feel (and think) better.

One thing I don’t do is reading about how doomed we are (or how our violence & cruelty will be the answer to already too much of their violence & cruelty), and be ‘we’ I mean all of us as individuals living in this time frame. Thx for your effort dear authors, but I have my own eyes and ears, and brain, and I don’t need anyone to point it out to me. I don’t need anyone to keep repeating me there is no hope either. Instead, I tend to focus on what good can come out of our situation, and how it could happen.

meditation

videogames where I have a greater degree of control than IRL

throwing myself into work

I ride my bicycle. The cyclical nature of the movement is meditative, and I have the freedom to ride as long as it takes to get my headspace cleared up.

Bad: eating

Good: walking

I read political theory and tell myself I will act on it. Sometimes I even do but that is rare and usually I burn out or let it eat at other important parts of my life. I pet my cat a lot and I smoke weed but sometimes smoking makes things worse. I also study ancient history because its disconnected enough from modernity that I don’t have to think about my future too much and the patterns aren’t as relevant

Mostly escapism.

I prefer stoicism, but it’s tough and I’m weak and lazy. So to the degree that I have to deal with the real world, I mostly rely on some combination of cynicism and fatalism.

But as much as possible, I escape.

The company of friends, which includes my dogs and cats. Other people, of any species, are comforting and provide something else to focus on.

I also do a lot of reading these days.