The Fourth Turning we’re living through is wild.
Everything is un/barely affordable. Inflation is “transitory” (lol). Geopolitical tensions are at generational highs.
The world feels like it's about to burst at the seams.
And more than ever before we are living in an era with no dominant truth, no shared narrative, no common reality. As the so-called New World Order rearranges itself into multipolarity, everyone gets their own personalized propaganda stream and timeline too.
Social trust is at lows as well.
It’s not hard to slip into doom and impening dread. Pinning you to your couch... scrolling, watching clown world 🤡 overlords. Doom and dread. Doom and dread.
I’ve got my own ways of coping (some healthier than others), but I’m curious:
How do you stay sane, grounded, or even mildly optimistic while fiat reality decays in real time?
Bitcoiners especially: what keeps you cheerful while the system eats itself? I pride myself on being overtly optimistic but it's trying in these times.
Have any strategies, habits, or gallows humor?
Meditating, yoga & calisthenics, spending time in nature (and especially sunshine), journalling, good food, good people (if you can find them), good music, turning phones and computers off, etc.
But perhaps most importantly, learning. Precisely because of the craziness and the uncertainty and the Fourth Turning, it is an unbelievably potent time to educate oneself.
I used to have hope. I used to have a lot of hope in my own generation, in bitcoiners, etc. I've given that up. I've exchanged hope for faith and for surrender to the Tao. A short meditation on that: #1201227
What this represents is not defeat, but rather letting go of relying on things outside of oneself to "work out" for inner peace and fulfillment, and turning only inward. My well-being is my responsibility. My posture, the way I carry and articulate myself, the example I set for others - that's my profession, my art, my calling, and that is what I must focus on, with the firm belief that the Universe (or God, if you want to use that word) is providing everything I could ever need on that mission and more.
When times get rough, I also tend to come back again and again to the exemplar of resilience, David Goggins:
I'll check out the TAO!! Yes... Something larger than "us"
I get a good night's sleep.
Ugh. So hard for me. Such a predisposition to being a night owl
I work out regularly, I meditate, have good social relationship with people and I prioritize getting seven to nine hours of quality sleep and I eat within 10% of my maintenance calories so I can maintain a lien athletic physique.
And diet. Ugh. Can be hard to be disciplined in a fiat world of convenience.
I need to prioritize these. Good motivation.
Yeah gym and being physical is key. I let the gym slip and I'm paying for it now.