On one hand, how are we already halfway through October? On the other, how it not 2027 yet? Or 2028? Because the last ten months have been a constant bombardment of insanity for me, on both a micro and macro level. I could go into this in detail, and honestly, I did when I first started writing this post. But something made me go back and delete entire paragraphs of me … just griping. About my life, my circumstances, my opinions on the status of the world.
I’m still not entirely sure what it was that made me do this.
Maybe it’s an awareness of the extreme climate, in both a literal and metaphorical sense, we are in that would just make my words sound petty or self-centered. Maybe I just needed to get my complaints out in some way, even if no one read them. Maybe I recognized that I wasn’t saying anything new or nuanced enough that it mattered to put it out on the internet.
Regardless of what made my fingers press that backspace button, here I am: still frustrated and overwhelmed with the state of my world.
So what am I going to do about it?
Well, for starters, I’m going on a social media blackout for the month of November. My phone does this annoying thing where it tells me how many hours I spent a day on it, and I am too embarrassed to admit exactly what that number is. Most of it? On social media. I already don’t post a lot on any platform, and the engagement I get is limited at best; so it’s safe to say that I won’t lose anything by doing this. Instead of doomscrolling or just mindlessly flipping through ads, I’m going to be creating, consuming art, exploring, engaging with actual human beings in the wild … all the things I want to do but don’t because I’ve got my eyes focused on Instagram or whatever.
Second, I’m going to vote. And yes, I’m going to vote for people who are opposing Trump. If anyone is reading this and wondering where I stand, here you have it: fuck Trump, fuck ICE, fuck Netanyahu and Putin and Kim Jong Un, fuck generative AI, black lives matter, love is love, no one is illegal on stolen land, climate change is real, vaccines work, etc. Just so we’re clear.
Third, I’m going to read. Sure, I’ve got my #Horrorpalooza2026 book list (currently reading Tananarive Due’s The Reformatory) that is chock full of amazing horror literature, but for the rest of the year, and through 2027, I think, I’m going back to my rule of reading books that are written by people who are not cisgendered, straight, white, Christian men. Not that that particular subset of humanity doesn’t have good things to say; I’m just done hearing their thoughts on things. I will not elaborate.
Fourth, I’m going to take care of myself. The past several months have been rough on me, and I’ve had a very hard time managing even the basics. When I remember to shower, it’s almost an afterthought. Like oh … I haven’t bathed in … how long? Whoops. I don’t have a schedule for myself, and I’m suffering for it. I’ve never been super great at that sort of thing, which I think is why I like school as much as I do; it provides structure and outside impetuses that I don’t have to make for myself. So now, at almost 43, I’m going to learn how to be a functioning human adult person. Even if it takes making a physical corkboard of tasks and gold stars to reward myself.
Finally, I’m going on a shopping embargo. No more extraneous purchasing. I have enough shit. Hell, I may even go on a donation spree just to make the pile of belongings I do have even smaller. Both Kanopy and Hoopla are going to be major sources of entertainment for me, and should have been honestly. And when I do need something, I’m going to buy locally.
The last couple of months of 2026 are going to be a recharge. A reset. A return even maybe. I don’t have a crystal ball; I can’t predict what will happen at the midterms or how the rest of this decade is going to look. But I can help guide it in my own way. I’m no one important, but that doesn’t mean my actions are hollow or meaningless. I can lead by example, and that’s what I’m going to try and do.
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