There’s been no shortage of coverage over the recent elections held here in the United States with the re-election of Donald Trump. At some point, I’m positive I will get into my own politics because it’s inevitable. But for my first post here on my new blog, I thought I would address the many people out there who are hurting or scared or worried about the future. Which I can totally understand how you feel. All of this is indicative of a bigger societal issue that I will no doubt get into as the days of this blog continue. But what I wanted to do here was to talk about ways to help you manage those thoughts and concerns by telling you what I do when I feel like I need to disconnect from the world.
Now I don’t promise all of these will work for you, but I can certainly vouch for them because they work for me. One of them is exactly this blog right here. Writing has always been very therapeutic for me, and has been since I was a little boy. (Granted, it wasn’t very good then. If you wish to argue nothing has changed, that’s why I don’t have a comments section!) Sometimes giving voice to those concerns and those fears is very helpful. It doesn’t mean you have to show it to anyone, it can just be you and your thoughts. Maybe you can keep a journal. I’d recommend the Apple’s Journal app if you use iPhone. I also highly recommend one called Clearful, which is in the Mac App Store. It’s fantastic, and I value th subscription I bought for it. Look into those and see what you think.
Another thing I’ve recently become a fan of doing? Puzzles. I don’t necessarily mean puzzle games like you might download. I mean actual puzzles. You know, the ones with pieces. And I like to get puzzles from a site called Jiggy. You might have seen them on Shark Tank some time ago, and they have fantastic puzzles that come in these neat glass canisters and they sell frames to fit them too. I can lose a LOT of time sitting down and just beginning or continuing whatever I started. They have many to pick from, but I’ll show you my favorite one so far.
In that same vein, there’s Lego sets. I know, I know. “Mark, you play with Legos?! How old are you again?!” Trust me when I tell you geeks like me never really grow up, we just get taller. They are a great deal of fun to put together, and it’s yet something else you can use to distract you from what’s going on. I’m currently about to begin building the McAllister House from Home Alone. It’s easily the biggest set I’ve ever put together, but I do love that movie.
https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/lego-ideas-home-alone-21330
These are just a couple of the ways I have found to help me detach myself from the world around me whenever the need arises. We all have those days, and it’s nothing for you to feel ashamed of, just in case you are. If you give either of them a try or even have suggestions of your own, I encourage you to share them with me on Mastodon. Just for the record, I’m not getting a commission for these links at all. I’d still like to hear your experience though if you give them a try.
Oh yeah, welcome to my blog. Now you know what Mark said.
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