I was at Bindercon this past weekend and heard over and over again that we, creative-type smart people, do not know what to do now. We are experiencing a “group depression,” as it was termed in one session. We are spending a lot of time being exasperated at some person, some act, some post, some comment.

I think it’s worthwhile to talk to yourself and people you work with about how you will combat this. My pledge below is a suggestion, you are welcome to use it, but the collective morale of people is important. Morale isn’t always dictated by how well a company is doing, but how we are all feeling about our lives and our work. In news, it seems we are all overworked because there is constantly politics news at 5 p.m. Friday or how we all have to live and die by what tweeted what all of a sudden. When is the last time you took stock of how everyone was feeling, not just what they were doing?

I will be part of stories that make people give a fuck
My rationale behind this: I have told many stories. I have hoped those stories have changed minds, made people go “oh hey!”

But that is not fulfilling me anymore because I feel the utter hopelessness of what I have worked on. Like who cares about people dying every day in Yemen when major politicians are being investigated by the FBI? We have problems here so why should anyone care about some other country they have never been to and will likely never go to?

Because it’s important. Because I think its important people know about the world around them both near and far to help process what is happening in their immediate surroundings. Context. I want everyone to know the context in their lives.

And so I want to help tell stories that make people give a fuck, not just care or say “oh wow.”

I won’t run for office and journalism has a weird role in society. I cannot protest nor do I really want to. This is what I know I can do. And luckily, this is a charge I’ve heard from the people I work with. So, together, we’re going to make people give a fuck about something.

Now that we’re several months into 2017, and so much about our lives and our world have been upended, what will you do, in work and in life, to get out of the group depression? How can you empower others to think the same?

***

Here was my list of self-care items to do when I’m feeling off or down.

1. Walking around Target
2. Reading in our backyard hammock
3. Writing in my journal
4. Videos of cats/sloths/animals
5. Two minute cuddle session with our pets
6. Organizing a cabinet (this is one of the things I turn to when I’m anxious)

And here is Machiko Yasuda’s:
1. Walking around neighborhood, office
2. My room with nothing in it. It has nothing to read at all. Forces me to turn off.
3. Really long baths. In the morning and the evening. I noticed my hearing has gotten better from doing this. I can hear the Green Parrots of LA flying around the neighborhood, and from what direction.
4. Walking around the neighborhood to look for cats. Forces me to be off my phone so I can hear and see cats.
5. Reading old journals and magazines. And lately, looking up blogs I liked in the late 90s/early 2000s on archive.org.
6. Organizing my: stickers, book shelf… but I still avoid organizing my closet, hah.

Hit reply and share yours for next week!

Great things I’ve read lately
Being a middle manager is even tougher when you’re wrangling above and below. Here’s how to deal with an indecisive boss (HBR). “Embracing a minimalist lifestyle is an act of trust. For a refugee, that trust has not yet been earned.” (For the Children of Refugees, Marie Kondo’s ‘The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up’ Reveals the Privilege of Clutter). This is the world’s hottest grandpa, and his workout sounds vaguely like the weird whirly things my Dad does, too (GQ). An ode to Something Awful, the first real internet weirdo community (Motherboard).

Jobs jobs jobs 
UX lead and other jobs at Axios. Multiplatform Editor at CNN (ping me if you apply for this!). News Editor at Time. Associate Director of Audience Engagement at The Daily Beast.