1/10 18”x24” hand finished, box mounted, resined, and ready to hang resined print

Ya know how you never go to the grocery store when you’re hungry? How when you do you always end up going over budget or buying way more junk food than you should? I think the same concept applies to decision making. We all intuitively know we shouldn’t make large decisions in the middle of extreme sorrow or anxiety (though refraining in practice is much harder). I think we should also avoid making large decisions at the height of extreme happiness as well.

When we are experiencing the extremes of emotion, it feels as though that state will last forever, but the hedonic treadmill always kicks in eventually. The biggest factor in reducing my anxiety and becoming more mentally healthy was learning to realize that the hard times would pass, even though, in the throes of it, it feels like life will be that way forever. Learning to trust that I could navigate life’s cycles of the good and the bad was pivotal.

Today that conviction is being tested. I know I’m not alone in feeling that the world is in chaos right now. It is important to remember that literally every generation has lived through “unprecedented times.” We are simply the first ones to be witnessing every bad thing happen instantaneously and simultaneously through tiny hand held super computers. It’s important to remember that a lot of the extreme rhetoric and division we see is at the very least promoted and at worst completely produced by bots both foreign and domestic. Remember that you are easier to control and sell things to when limbically hijacked. While it’s important to acknowledge the larger factors at play, we are also adults responsible for our own well being. You can choose put the phone down, log off or delete social media, go outside and touch some grass. I see more and more adults going back to flip phones for this reason. When things all feel like a little too much, remember that this too shall pass.