Glum

Ever just feel glum? I do from time to time. I've a few things on my mind, mostly dramas to which I'm adjacent, or ephemeral things that are not specifically relevant to my life. I find myself not sleeping well, short-tempered, lacklustre and lazy. Frankly, I just can't be arsed. One thing that I do lean into is food. Anything not nailed down gets eaten. Shorts get tighter. Most of my life, I've suppressed this type of feeling, almost always with alcohol. For most "drown your sorrows" is a turn of phrase. For me, it was a specific instruction. These days, I don't drink alcohol, and have to deal with my feelings in other ways. Expressing, either in writing or verbally is the new drinking for me.

We all seem to be waking from a weird fever dream that began at the end of 2016 when a certain orange populist became President of the US and the UK voted to leave the EU. The US got into all sorts of weird stuff, while both the UK and EU contrived to make Brexit as awkward and difficult as possible. I can't write anything about current UK politics, as I'm writing on Friday evening, and publishing on Tuesday. We might have an entirely new cabinet by then. Or the cat will have taken over. Ultimately, Trussonomics and the associated chaos will not matter. I daresay the Conservative party will make an entertaining hash of it again, but regardless of who is in charge, we're all in for a rough ride. In fact, were I advising either political party, I would suggest that the next year or two might be a great time to be in opposition.

Inflation is rocketing, growth is slowing and everyone is in debt to everyone else (who does actually have all the money?). Not to be outdone, Putin has made error after error, imperilling his own survival by starting a war that nobody wanted, and now finds himself needing to continue that war, even though his army is broken and he's running out of ammunition. Russian troops will soon either be throwing rocks or tactical nukes.

Scary. Blimey. No wonder I'm feeling glum.

What am I going to do? I'm going to chill. I'll eat well over the weekend, do things I enjoy and laugh. On Monday, I'll start a spartan regime and stop "eating my emotions". Why this post? A couple of reasons.

1. It's nice to get it off my chest.
2. It's important that we all feel we can get whatever it is, off our chest. Adulting is hard. We all feel glum from time to time. I'm lucky. Dark clouds seldom linger over me. A day or two and I'll be back on form. If you're feeling glum, talk about it and if you don't start feeling better - reach out. Ask for help.

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