I've pulled back from politics and I don't feel guilty about it. Not yet.

[Tom Rinaldo]

I'm turning away from ugly truths much more often than not. Little if anything that I'm involved in lately has any larger meaning, beyond the people who i interact with daily.. After years of avoiding Netflix I'm now binging on "The Crown", after burning through "The Extraordinary Attorney Woo" and "The Queen's Gambit" in rapid succession.

I'm not trying to figure out where the Democratic Party "went wrong." I'm not following the contest for the next DNC Chair. I'm not preparing for any upcoming fights. If i was a drinker I would probably be drinking a little bit more than usual. If I had money to burn i would be looking into tropical islands for a getaway.

Reality is as depressing as I've ever experienced it. Worse things have happened to me and my loved ones than Donald Trump winning the presidency, but those events count as personal tragedies and hardships. This is more like everything I believe in being strangled and core ideals being slaughtered. I don't like the America I wake up in every day. I know much worse is coming, and I'm not lifting a finger to stop it. Not Yet anyway. Because I'm depleted.

There is a time to fight, and a time for licking your wounds. The latter is a part of the cycle, and needed for restoring strength. We are in this for a very long haul. I guess I'm still trying to catch my breath.. I know there is work ahead.

[FSogol]

1. Same here. Paraphrasing Voltaire, sometimes you need to ignore the world and tend your own garden.

[2naSalit]

2. Nor should you...

Feel guilty. It is a time for revitalizing oneself.

[Wild blueberry]

3. With you

Deep grieving. Restoring. Going into silence, like a winter snowfall.
Light will return. We'll be ready.
Take care, all wonderful DUers.

[surfered]

4. There is a need for R & R.

[rondawson]

5. Pulling Back

You took the words right out of my mouth. My sentiments exactly; but I know there are some big fights coming and that I cannot stay out of any of them.

[c-rational]

6. I hear you Tom. Regrouping myself - also just got a Netflix subscription. Preparing for the work ahead.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

7. When it's time to come back, remember that there are many, many ways to change things outside of politics.

[bronxiteforever]

8. Your words are right on the money for me.

Stay frosty and come back when you are ready.

[Marcuse]

9. Reference the African American experience for resistance, resilience and how to love a country that doesn't love you.

Listen to your favorite blues.

[scipan]

14. Thanks for that. I feel like I don't know my country anymore. Nt

[dlk]

10. We all do what we need to cope and get through the upcoming nightmare

Respite is a time honored tradition.

[0rganism]

11. I got a VR system to provide temporary anesthesia

As you say, actual reality is depressing so I'm taking a cue from MythBusters and substituting my own. With any luck VR will absorb some of the pain for at least 6 months at which point I might be ready to re-engage.

[pfitz59]

12. The constant barrage of bad news is tiring

I feel you. I still have some fight left in me. We'll see where this road leads.

[bucolic_frolic]

13. That orientation is of sound mind, and I feel some of that too

I can't do much either. Our leaders are in the game, that is their job. But I will say, from what Rep. Liz Cheney said today or yesterday, the opposition will not be silent. Trump is a known and predictable entity now, unlike 2017, he has the slimmest of majorities, he is trying to cut the government to the bone and people won't accept that, so he will encounter opposition. I think the media will continue to both sides everything, but that's not a bad thing if no elections are imminent and the other side is inherently responsible because they hold power.

[Kaleva]

15. I vote Blue no matter who so there's no thinking involved

I'm just one of many toiling to build the pyramid one block at a time. It really doesn't matter to me if the higher ups fuck things up or produce a wonder of the world as long as I do my task to the best of my abilities .