Suggestions. What do DUers do to stop the crap that's going on from churning in your brain

[elocs]

when you are trying to get to sleep. It's like the ear-worm song you don't like but runs through your brain and when it finally finishes starts all over again. The worrying, "will I lose my SS?, will I get evicted if I can't pay my rent?, what to do?, what to do?"

I personally have found watching YouTube shorts helps. They're short and distracting--great ones about animals being saved or just cute, the same with kids and babies, inspiring shorts and soon I find I've forgotten about how crappy life is being. For awhile.

Then the worry returns: will I lose the place I've lived for 34 years? Most would see it as a dumpy old trailer but for me it's a memory palace, the place I watched my daughter grow up but can't see her now because she is in a mental institution suffering from schizoaffective disorder (that's schizophrenia and bipolar, a 2 for 1 affliction) and she is not allowed by her court appointed guardian to contact me and it's been 2 years now without seeing her. So I didn't need everything else on top of that. Or, if I become homeless could I live in my 21 year old van? What do I do with all the memory stuff I've accumulated for decades? I guess I didn't appreciate how simple my life was before even though I was poor, I had enough.

But I need some more tips and distractions because all of this Trump/Musk stuff has become overwhelming and I'm having a hard time finding hope. I've got to be honest here--I haven't been inspired by the actions of our Democratic leaders either.

[SheltieLover]

1. I read humorous cozy mysteries

Knocks me right out. Lol

[mr715]

3. I've tried the Stephen Fry reading of

the collected Sherlock Holmes. Something about Edwardian prose read by Stephen Fry knocks me out at night.

[SheltieLover]

8. Whatever works

Lol

[Blue_Roses]

43. Me too!

What are a few of your favorites?

[SheltieLover]

64. Apologies for the late reply. Here are some of my fav authors

David Rosenfelt, he & wife run a dog rescue in real life and I believe he is an attorney. - Andy Carpenter is a witty attorney who gets involved in dog-related cases.

Joe Gray, by Shirley Rousseau Murphy. Joe and the other "special" cats can talk to certain humans. They solve crimes.

The Cat Who series by Liiian Jackson Braun - great series.

The Melanie Travis series by Laurien Berenson. Melanie is all wrapped up in showing Standard Poodles and she is always tripping over a body. LOL

Garden Spells -- about the Waverly family, a quirky, but very nice family helping neighbors and solving crimes, by Sarah Addison Allen.

The Secret Book & Scone Society by Ellery Adams.

The Sisterhood books by Fern Michaels.

So so so many great ones out there.



What are your favs?

[mr715]

2. Feelings are okay

Be aware of them, process them, understand them but do not project them forward in time. Don't assume the feelings you have now are going to be the feelings you'll have tomorrow. Try to understand fear and anger and use them to motivate you, try to handle despair and anxiety and not let them rule you.

Read poetry and find beauty. People have suffered worse than we have now, and while I am exhausted and anxious in the grand scheme of things, I am lucky to have what I have, to do what I do.

Try not to let uncertainty morph into anxiety, because it'll paralyze you.

Laugh and love animals. Make friends with ducks.

Write a page a day in response to a random prompt.

Color.

Xanax.

[Diamond_Dog]

4. Sometimes I just tell myself "just get through this day. Go one day at a time."

It’s hard and I feel for you. I’m a worrier too. You’re not alone here.

[bigtree]

5. cannabis stops the thoughts from swirling

...I've been using it as a thought swirling deterrent since I was 14 years old (64 now), due to major anxiety problems.

[NewHendoLib]

6. Garden, read, music, hike - I tend not to be a worrier by nature, and don't scare easily

So I just settle in to world my wife and I have created for ourselves over 45 years

[FirstLight]

7. I've had success with two things lately...

First of all, strict rule no scrolling in bed. At least at night (yes there are times when I will crawl in bed to get warm and scroll in the middle of the day which is also a bad habit I'm trying to break). When I go to bed I go to bed. I set the heater, I turn on my music on my phone I plug it in and I turn off everything else.
I have a candle that I burn low in my bedroom also. Even if it's just a tea light. I read somewhere that our brains are actually wired from being around the fire at night as we evolved. Therefore the colors of the red and the orange wavelengths as well as the flickering light helps with melatonin production and triggers natural sleep.
And then, lastly is the music that I have on my phone. I listen to biurnal beats and other hz waves in meditation music... A lot of times I will look specifically for stress relief, pain relief, deep sleep.

Hope this helps!

[tavernier]

36. Interesting regarding fire.

I bought a small night table water feature, a light stream cascading from three lily flowers. The sound is soothing. Maybe a small candle next to it would be a nice light.to catch the flow of the water.

P.S. on edit - my room is quite dry and it puts moisture in the air as well. I detest humidifiers and this is perfect.

[elocs]

42. I can't have YouTube shorts on if I'm trying to fall asleep because you need to scroll

after each one otherwise they repeat over and over and they are, well, "short".
I can't have a lit candle in the house because I have a cat.
Thanks for the suggestion, though.

[FuzzyRabbit]

9. I turn off the 'puter and TV and turn down the lights. Then I snuggle on the couch with my kitty cat.

I usually fall asleep within a few minutes.

[elocs]

41. I have a pretty calico cat that I found when she was a kitten who sleeps on my pillow.

But alas, she has never liked to be picked up or held and is very vocal in her displeasure, so no snuggling.
She will be my last cat because I can't go through the dying of another pet. It's too hard.
Which reminds me...I found on my walk last night a cat on the curb by the highway that evidently had been hit by a car and reminded me of my cat that died last summer. I moved it over the sidewalk and down the nearby riverbank and thought about going to bury it today (it reminded me of my cat that died last summer).
I have 2 of my cats buried in my front yard as well as 2 other cats I had found nearby on my walk that had been hit and I did want to leave them like a piece of garbage.

[FuzzyRabbit]

48. Thank you for taking care of the kitty cats.

My sister told me after her cat Peaches and dog Dude died that she hurt so much when a pet died she did not want any more. So a couple years later she took in a neighbors cat that had been abandoned. I think the love we share with our four legged friends is impossible to resist.

[elocs]

55. I have a neighbor now in her upper 60s who when her cat died she adopted a senior cat

which I thought was generous.
I once had a dental hygienist who told me her children went to the shelter for a dog and asked for one that nobody wanted and that had me in tears for that kind of heart and generosity and I congratulated their mother for raising them right.

[Tree Lady]

10. I use audio books to put me to sleep

and overpower my thoughts. I have books on ipad, turn off light on it and set timer, if not asleep yet reset timer and it goes off automatically.

I always tell myself I can read during the day so no problem if I fall asleep, I am retired so my schedule is my own.

Works really well unless super awake and then I take a benedryl. On a super bad night every few months I will take mild valium. But those are rare as I don't want to get hooked.

And definitely pick fictional books! I like murder mysteries and historical fiction. Right now though I am reading a series about surviving emp disaster. Somehow reading about people banding together to survive makes me feel better about what we are going through.

[Mme. Defarge]

13. Greetings from a "fellow" audio book fan!

When I find myself having to listen again to what I have just heard I know it’s time to stop listening and turn out the soft light next to my bed.

[Tree Lady]

18. Lol some nights I do that

but if I turn off book my mind starts buzzing. I don't usually think about political stuff just spins about things coming up.

[yellowdogintexas]

27. I am a night reader too. Even a book that I am really likeing can put me out most nights. Kindle is wonderful

. I like historical fiction; adventure ( especially the subgenre of archaeological adventure series); mysteries both "cozy" and more traditional. My favorite thing though is a good series.
I love hanging out with familiar characters. (I am OCD about reading in order

EMP disaster fiction is a real trend. They keep popping up in my BookBub and other free/discount book

[elocs]

40. I don't read like I once did but was once a voracious reader.

I can remember when I learned to read when I was maybe 7 I would go to the library to get a book and then return later that day for more, books with far more words that pictures.

I am almost OCD in re-watching tv series and movies with the same characters in order like the Jessie Stone movies with Tom Sellick of which I think there are 5 of them.

Pre-internet and as a kid when we had maybe 3 channels at night in b&w I used to watch and when a commercial came on I would only intend to close my eyes during the commercial and then wake up to the national anthem playing. Worse was when I was in college and had a small tv with a timer which I would set for 3 hours and wake up to a dark bedroom which was momentarily confusing because the last thing I remembered was watching TV. Doh!

[imaginary girl]

11. Eft tapping helps me

[stoned]

12. Diet, exercise, and breathing techniques

Gary Brecka talks about this a lot.

[elocs]

39. I don't "diet" per say, but I have a dietary lifestyle--I'm a carnivore--mostly.

I do exercise, mostly doing push-ups where at first I struggle to do 10 and worked my way up to 100--in a row. At 72 I'm probably stronger now than 20 or 30 years ago.
I walk each day, which I will do after breakfast--a 2.5 mile walk which I do again in the evening on a walkway near my house by a river where at this time of year there are many eagles fishing on the ice by open water or roosting in the trees. They're around all year but not in the numbers they are now.

[stoned]

63. I love literally everything about your post

and if every American lived a similar lifestyle, the world would be a far better place.

Bravo and hats off to you.

[H2O Man]

14. Recommended.

I can't answer that, because I never worry about the future. That's not because I am somehow "safe" from what is going on in this country, or that I don't have concerns. But I do have family and friends who worry.

This is interesting to me ...... your OP and the thread. I'm going to think about it tonight, and see if I can come up with a meaningful response.

[usonian]

15. Music helps

I actually have to distract myself from it because it's in my head continuously.

[struggle4progress]

16. .

[synni]

17. I make sure I don't miss a dose of Paxil

And I pray that someone will save our country before it's too late.

[Quiet Em]

19. You've got to step away from the non stop chaos, hostility and cruelty and focus on things you enjoy.

My escape is music and playing my guitar. I've played more hours on my gutiar than ever since the con returned.

Find what's right for you. This whole Con/MAGA movement is about making people feel down and it's not healthy and you need to tune them out and focus on yourself and your own well-being without their noise. So watch lots of YouTubes if that's what you enjoy. Take good care of yourself.

[elocs]

35. I like the YouTube shorts because they are short & immediately get to the point

unlike regular YouTube videos that often seem to take forever to get to the point.
The bad thing about the shorts when I'm trying to fall asleep is that you need to scroll after each one, otherwise it repeats.

[elocs]

61. What I can't escape is my home which for me is a memory palace that I may lose.

Last edited Sun Mar 9, 2025, 02:42 AM - Edit history (1)

I can sit in my living room and see my daughter when she was just a year old at her first Christmas, sitting in the recliner in my living room as a teen, holding her cat that she got when she was 2 and died here 14 years as did her next cat just last summer. The whole place is alive with memories both good and bad spanning 34 years and my home is in jeopardy because I trusted that this country would keep safe my SS which I paid in to with every paycheck I made in 40 years. It turns out my Social Security was not secure and the trust fund it is in is not to be trusted.
I get what moments of escape, but there's not much for me to enjoy anymore.

[Quiet Em]

62. I'm so very sorry for all that you are going through.

[DET]

20. Try to Stay Optimistic

I just keep telling myself that ‘This, too, shall pass.’ One benefit of getting older is that you’ve probably ’been there, done that’ several times over. I’m fortunate to be in a place where I don’t have to worry about immediate financial devastation, but I’ve been there before.

Trump is probably the biggest threat to our country that we’ve ever faced, but he and Musk are so outrageous and incompetent that I feel confident that they are destined to fail. The turning point will probably come when the MAGAts are personally affected financially and they rebel, perhaps violently. Or the military is given an order that as patriots they can’t obey. I truly believe that this will happen in the not far distant future. It keeps me going.

[elocs]

34. Unfortunately, I'm not an optimist. As the old saying goes, I tend to expect the worst

and if something better happens I will be pleasantly surprised.

[hunter]

21. I quit watching television news and opinion more than twenty years ago...

... and all advertising supported television more than ten years ago.

My wife and I don't have cable, satellite, or broadcast television. Currently we only watch DVDs and no-advertising Netflix. We read all our news.

DU is my only social media and I use the "auto-trash by keyword" function here extensively. "Trump" is one of my auto-trash words. I also ignore certain people here, especially those who seem to be promoting all these feelings of hopelessness.

Sometimes it seems the sole purpose of television and social media is to induce anxiety.

I've got some experience surviving mental health issues. My own mind went a little sideways in adolescence and young adulthood and I experienced some periods of homelessness and dangerous living situations. Eventually I managed to build a social safety net for myself of friends and family, and I was able to claw most of my mind back. (Meds are helpful.) Fear of homelessness is no longer a deep worry of mine. Been there, done that, and I'm no longer the sort of person who flees a place, burning all bridges behind me. I'm not the kid, as my siblings recall it, who punched our dad in the face and vanished into the night.

[elocs]

33. I probably have hundred of DVDs that I've recorded, even ones of old home movies.

I'll need to look into getting a portable DVD player while I still can, they're pretty cheap.
The problem with auto-trashing words like you-know-who and his partner in crime is that so many posters here use mocking variations of their names, thinking it is clever. Ironically doing the same kind of things with names that he does himself.

Sometimes it helps just to lay down.

[Swede]

22. Watch sports and read. Catch a movie.

A break from reality really helps.

[Kaleva]

23. I spend my time preparing for catastrophic climate change

If you think things are bad now, just remember it's going to get a heck of a lot worse.

I don't lose sleep over it. I may not make it but I'll go down knowing I gave it my best shot.

[GoodRaisin]

24. I've been using white noise to escape from my tinnitus

and that helps put the thoughts of the day out of my mind too. Music hypes me up.

[elocs]

31. I've had tinnitus for decades, just a steady tone like a high-wire whine.

I had a doctor once ask me how I deal with it and I told them that I just ignore it. It's only when I think of it, like right now, that I even notice it.

[GoodRaisin]

45. Ignoring it is pretty much all I can do.

Mine gets much louder late at night though, so the white noise when I go to bed does seem to help.

[Meowmee]

25. So sorry about your daughter and everything 🤗

The stress is really hard to manage with everything going on. I hope you will be able to see her at some point.

Some things I do are listen to music, watch cat and dog/ nature videos etc. cuddle with my cats, work, read about stuff that interests me, play candy crush etc. I was doing scrabble for a while but I got sick of it...walks, cleaning, shopping, gardening when able. I hardly ever watch the news now. My diabetes care takes up a lot of my time, I have to pay attention to that before nearly everything else as it can end up in an emergency quickly If I don't, so it distracts me. I need to be more active, dancing, singing etc. any activity you can do will help. Even if I dance and sing a little it produces endorphins as will smiling and laughing. This past week I was not feeling well, so I was not as active, but the weather is warming up now so that will help too.

I also have been binge watching old tv shows I have never seen which is a good distraction and reading a bit. There are so many things that need to be done and what is going on tends to suck all the energy out of me.

My cats need me so I have to do all of this, 2 of them are cuddled up with me right now, such lovies they are. Animals are great because they focus on the moment and enjoying their life with you. I also have to not get too stressed for them, such as yelling at the tv etc. because I noticed it has a bad effect on them. My floofy cat senses when I'm more stressed and comes to plop himself on me, or his paw etc. He and they all order me around too when they want something.

Of course with the level of what is going on now it is impossible to completely avoid all of the stress.

[elocs]

30. Thank you about my daughter, it's even come to the point

where I've done an obituary search for her.
And cats, I had 2 cats, one of them hers because she has been bounced around from one mental healthcare facility to another. He was a cow-cat, the black & white ones marked like a Holstein cow and he had a black mustache and chin beard. All the people in the neighborhood liked him because the mailboxes are in front of my house and I would have him tied on a long line where he would come and check out those getting their mail and then flop over with a "you may pet me now" attitude. Very personable. He suddenly got sick last August and died within a month and she doesn't know. I made a grave marker with a big picture where he is posing and looking at the camera like a portrait. It makes me cry just in the telling of this and remembering of his life.

It was not a good 2024 for me personally and I thought this year would be better and so far it hasn't been. I've come to realize that I really have lived a pretty charmed life until recently.
But as I mentioned, my old house is like a memory palace to me. There are so many far worse off than me.

There are lots of good suggestions here, many that I do use such as listen to audio books when I'm going to sleep because my eyes are closed and I usually nod off. I also "watch" on my tablet old TV shows and series that I seen so often that I don't need to have my eyes open (I've done Downton Abbey twice recently).

[Meowmee]

50. Aww so sorry about that

That is terrible to have to worry about your daughter like that. And your cat dying. One of my black & white kitties from outside who came inside passed last year from cancer. My big ginger kitty also due to negligence just about this time last year and I largely blame myself for not getting him right away to a better doc, also they did not diagnose and treat it properly. I understand completely about the memories. I hope you can stay there and things will get better. Big hugs to you 🤗

[OAITW r.2.0]

26. Here is what I don't do.

Don't need the media to tell me what I already know.
Don't need to panic - I live in a relatively rural place in Maine....and everyone is wondering, WTF?
I'm doing lots of movies, Celtics, and great music.

[yellowdogintexas]

28. In addition to reading at night I also enjoy animal videos. Check out Merv the Cat it's hilarious

She started out on TikTok but when we thought it was going away her videos were also moved to Instagram.
So I do a lot of scrolling of funny stuff, and animal stuff. My favorites are elephant rescue preserves in Africa, especially the H.E.R.D. Project. I just want to go into the TV and hug all of these amazing creatures. they are so loving and supportive of each other.
There are lots of other elephant videos but these are my favorites.

I have been a political junkie since I was 12 and JFK was running for president. My mom and grandfather were too so it is in my blood. I can't completely wean myself but I tend to watch You Tube. I don't have cable but I can catch Rachel, Nicole and Lawrence highlights on You Tube. Interviews are good too. these tend to get deeper into the subject than the regular news programs .

I like newsy things that explain with some depth.

[fierywoman]

29. Graham Norton -- Landscape and Portrait Artist of the Year-- Ian Roberts, Nick Wilton, Gabriella Buckingham

on Art -- animal rescues (especially dogs) -- etc

[DFW]

32. I spend some of my time thinking up Youtube shorts to make

For example:

[JCMach1]

37. It's really hard to deal when it's existential for you and your family

If things go seriously off even a little more we lose our home,.our healthcare and at the moment we are just hanging on with crappy jobs and I am already likely legally disabled, but cannot afford to be so continue working.

I am just writing and trying to figure out how to manage an overstressed budget.

[Vinca]

38. I seem to only get a decent night's sleep about every three days. At night I do crossword puzzles

until I can't keep my eyes open. I get to sleep but then wake up every couple of hours and it's not uncommon to be awake from 4 a.m. on. Eventually, my body forces itself to sleep and on the third day I make it to 6 or 6:30. I feel like I've aged 20 years since January.

[Sky Jewels]

44. Number one: Kitty snuggling and purr therapy.

Cats are just the very best beings on the planet.

Also: listening to non-political podcasts, especially Conan O'Brien's.

Also: Remembering that I'm just an insignificant carbon-based lifeform in an incomprehensibly old and vast universe---a blip that will be gone in the blink of an eye, in relative terms.

In the day: long walks listening to music or (non serious) podcasts, fiction, physical work outside (gardening, etc.).

Not as healthy: wine

[Aristus]

46. Alcohol.

[ZRB]

47. I'm a millennial so I focus on working my 3-4 jobs so I can keep my shitty apartment.

The price of living near a blue city...

[B.See]

54. Near a "blue" city? Why?

What in particular makes living near a "blue" city so odious?

[ZRB]

56. The cost.

Maybe I didn't make that clear. Blue cities are expensive because people want to live in or near them. Beats the alternative, however.

[B.See]

58. I see. So

you meant a major city (since most of them tend to be more liberal than conservative).

[Iggo]

49. I don't listen to the news. I don't watch it. I only read it.

Cuts down on the noise. Nearly all of it, in fact.

[Clouds Passing]

51. I put on a meditation video with headphones. Works like a magical charm.

[pfitz59]

52. I work in the Community Garden

Growing food for the local food bank. Planted a whole bunch of lettuce this morning.

[SheltieLover]

53. Try the free Yale Science of Well Being course

https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being

Enjoy!

[2 Meow Momma]

57. I listen to sleep audiobooks, a YouTube channel, or Get Sleepy, stories to sleep by

(another YouTube channel). Get Sleepy is also on Spotify.

Those are about the only things that can interrupt the freight train of worrying or angry thoughts at night.

[alarimer]

59. Nothing I do actually works

I have resigned myself to poor sleep for the duration of whatever this is.

My anxiety (always high) is now through the roof. I've developed apparent chronic indigestion (which didn't start until after the election).

I have no idea how to switch my brain off at night or when I am supposed to be doing some work.

[wendyb-NC]

60. These are scary times, for certain

I have dreaded tsf 2, since election night. I try not to dwell on the fact that, this felons hunger for vengeance, cruelty, the deliberate destruction of the nation's bureaucratic infrastructure, thumbing his nose at the rule of law.
I, like many people over 66+ who have only one source of income, Social Security Retirement. If it gets mucked up by doge trusk. I may be out on the street. That's a troublesome thought at best.

I have 2 cats, who are my loves. Their daily interactions with me, each other, or the environment and things within it, have always been a distraction, and a cause for humor, even when it should be consternation. The boy cat Civet, is fond of waking me up at 4 or 5 AM, because his littermate sister, need breakfast, and more dry food, in their bowl. He usually clears my bed side table of lamps, my water, eye glasses, whatever is there. They are good company, and seek me out to be with me where I am and what I'm doing.

I enjoy reading, leisure reading, like cozy mysteries, regular mysteries, biographies, other non-fiction, science, philosophy.

I also, dabble in acrylic painting, just simple impressionistic at this point. I find that color, and light seem to go hand in hand, as a means of uplifting my spirit.

I'm sorry that you are seperated from your daughter. I lost one son, 10 years ago, the love I have for him has't changed, Ithink of him every day.
I have 3 living sons, they are adults, I love them of course and these surreal times cause me to worry about their futures. It's like life in itself is hard at times and to pile on this unnecessary stuff, orchestrated by 2 priveledged, men, who feel a need to change the status quo, is hard to sit with. We must resist, and do it peacefully, yet strategically to end the coup.

Take care, don't let the bastards drag you down. Peace to you.