Sometimes I just get really fed up and overwhelmed by the constant stream of chaotic and increasingly ridiculous news from the world.
It feels like I end up no wiser for trying to take it all in... and it's exhausting because it feels like the majority is completely made up nonsense, fabricated purely to inflame, not to inform.
And so, I am really grateful I have no shortage of diversions to turn to.
Ironically, I am also really grateful to my parents for forcing me to discover ways to keep myself entertained as a kid. I often had to deal with extended periods of no outside stimulation or engagement with others because we were in some foreign country where I knew nobody at all.
In many ways, I think I became a writer as a result of being an avid reader. Every time I read a book, my head would fill up with ideas and variations on the story I was reading... and that had to "get out," so I would start writing.
Of course, "writing as a diversion" isn't really much use if I just end up writing an angry rant about the very nonsense I was trying to get away from. Or maybe that does work, because I at least I get to empty my head!
Today, I segued into collecting seeds from our garden instead... because that's part of what we do around here, so we don't have to buy many seeds for next year's garden. That's part of the joy of using heirloom seeds... the seeds will generate the same quality plants over and over, while hybrid plants will gradually "wander" back to their original wild state, which is often not very good.
I'm not entirely sure about the science there, but the traits used to create the impressive hybrid plants start to "segregate" and you can end up with something pretty unpredictable... like the "dwarf pumpkins" we managed to grow, a few years back. We thought they were heirloom, but it turned out they most definitely were not.
While harvesting calendula seeds, I had a lot of gratitude for how it felt like my brain was already "resetting" after just 30-40 minutes or so. It was a rather poignant reminder of how easily I get derailed by doomscrolling... even though I do my best to avoid random scrolling without a specific purpose.
At least my algorithm remains nice and chaotic because I tend to deliberately do a large number of contradictory searches; chasing opposing points of view, rather than letting myself get trapped in echo chambers.
Even with a technology break, I still feel a bit overwhelmed by the constant stream of extremist garbage we get fed all the time. I don't think the human brain is really equipped (yet) to process it all.
But I do feel a little bit less scrambled.
Thanks for stopping by and have a great remainder of your week!
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2026.09.15 01:43 PDT
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