Make Your Damn Bed

Originally posted on day 1375Stage 1 – HoneymoonInitial commitment and excitement to engage in tasks. For example, when you first start your journey in a new activism group.Stage 2 – Onset of stressCommon symptoms of stress start being felt, such as fatigue, lower productivity and sleep disturbances.Stage 3 – Chronic StressLack of motivation + more intense symptoms felt on a very frequent basis. At this stage, bad habits such as smoking, drinking etc may beginStage 4 – BurnoutDifficulty even to cope with the minimum of daily tasks. Everything seems dull and ugly, and the person starts feeling either numb or else always overwhelmed.Stage 5 – Habitual burnoutSymptoms of burnout become incorporated into normal life and person experiences chronic fatigue, depression and apathy.The Resource: https://commonslibrary.org/activist-burnout-guide-with-videos/Donate to Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund::www.pcrf.netDonate to Mutual Aid Funds: https://www.folxhealth.com/library/mutual-aid-fundsGET AN OCCASIONAL PERSONAL EMAIL FROM ME: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.comTUNE IN ON INSTAGRAM FOR COOL CONTENT: www.instagram.com/mydbpodcastOR BE A REAL GEM + TUNE IN ON PATREON: www.patreon.com/MYDBpodcastOR WATCH ON YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/juliemerica The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

How to stop scrolling. Start from where you are. Recognize what is a systemic issue. Practice "deciding" with intention when scrolling. Practice staying focused and catching yourself when you get distracted on your phone.Decouple your association of "dopamine" with "scrolling. Practice the standard addiction coping strategies: Make the desired habits more accessible + attractive. Make the habit you'd like to change less attractive + accessible. Practice mindful breathing work while you scroll. Practice ENGAGING with what you consume, instead of mindlessly consuming. Remember problem isn't the dopamine, it's typically the source... so make the sources you'd rather engage with more accessible + attractive for yourself. You don't have to climb out of the hole today - but you can celebrate the fact that you finally stopped digging. Watch the Newel of Knowledge video "SUPPORT JULIE (and the show!)DONATE to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund AND THE Sudan Relief FundGET AN OCCASIONAL PERSONAL EMAIL FROM ME: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.comTUNE IN ON INSTAGRAM AND YOUTUBESUBSCRIBE FOR BONUS CONTENT ON PATREON.The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. I

Why would you want to disconnect from your joy, when trying to restore your sense of joy?You can't go on a T-break for pleasure. Instead, focus on the modifying the way you get your pleasure, instead of eliminating the pleasure itself. Dopamine is just one neurotransmitter responsible for our sense of pleasure + joy. We can't and shouldn't want to detox our dopamine levels. Dopamine is essential to motivating us to do everything from moving our bodies, to sleeping properly. This is why people with dopamine issues, depression, ADHD, etc. often struggle with physical and executive functioning. The problem isn't the dopamine, it's typically the source. Read The Cleveland clinic's Dopamine Detox Article. Read NPR's article on Dopamine Detoxing. Read The Cleveland Clinic's description of Anhedonia.Read the Anhedonia Coping Tips from UCI Health. SUPPORT JULIE (and the show!)DONATE to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund AND THE Sudan Relief FundGET AN OCCASIONAL PERSONAL EMAIL FROM ME: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.comTUNE IN ON INSTAGRAM AND YOUTUBESUBSCRIBE FOR BONUS CONTENT ON PATREON.The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. I

I've been working on my relationship with my phone, on and off, for years. Sometimes, I use it as a tool. Sometimes, it feels like it's using me as a tool. Genuine + deeply rooted ad fatigue, traumatic events sprung upon me, most content is some form of engagement/rage/anxiety/fear bait, brain rot + ai slop, trolls + bot accounts. Misinformation + disinformation campaigns financed by literal government entities. It's disheartening to feel like I am the tool being used, and I think I am finally ready to confront this toxic relationship. Read The Cleveland Clinic's description of Anhedonia.Read the Anhedonia Coping Tips from UCI Health. SUPPORT JULIE (and the show!)DONATE to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund AND THE Sudan Relief FundGET AN OCCASIONAL PERSONAL EMAIL FROM ME: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.comTUNE IN ON INSTAGRAM AND YOUTUBESUBSCRIBE FOR BONUS CONTENT ON PATREON.The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. I

People associate the feeling of feeling the most alive when they’re laughing and playing and goofing off. People feel the most connected with their purpose and life and future and desire to make the world a better place, when they are connected to joy + their ability to have fun once in a while. But for some reason, as we get older - we make less and less time for play. We find it frivolous and silly and a waste of time... but that means some us have lost our joie de vivre because we forgot how to play. Read The Cleveland Clinic's description of Anhedonia. Read the Anhedonia Coping Tips from UCI Health. SUPPORT JULIE (and the show!)DONATE to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund AND THE Sudan Relief FundGET AN OCCASIONAL PERSONAL EMAIL FROM ME: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.comTUNE IN ON INSTAGRAM AND YOUTUBESUBSCRIBE FOR BONUS CONTENT ON PATREON.The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. I

I overthink things that don't require second thought. I suck the fun out of joyful activities by worrying about doing it "correctly" or "perfectly" or performing "well enough to not embarrass myself" yet... even when there is no audience, I find myself performing. The expectations take away the true joy that comes from "creating" and "play" and "love" and "fun" and I'm trying to pay attention to this tendency so I can sit with the discomfort of not knowing if I will do a good job or not, but committing anyway. Watch the Junk Journaling video that I referenced here. Play the video game: Life is Strange. SUPPORT JULIE (and the show!)DONATE to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund AND THE Sudan Relief FundGET AN OCCASIONAL PERSONAL EMAIL FROM ME: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.comTUNE IN ON INSTAGRAM AND YOUTUBESUBSCRIBE FOR BONUS CONTENT ON PATREON.The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. I

We love answers. We love conclusions. We tend to steer clear of open ended problems and tasks, because of this. But there are so many things that leave us with open ended problems that we will never be able to solve. Learning to tolerate that discomfort is an important skill to practice. The "right" answers don't exist. Let go of your "need" to know. Embrace the wholeness of the human experience; which means, we must learn to embrace the discomfort of wondering. Listen to the "I Hate Mysteries" episode of This American Life. SUPPORT JULIE (and the show!)DONATE to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund AND THE Sudan Relief FundGET AN OCCASIONAL PERSONAL EMAIL FROM ME: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.comTUNE IN ON INSTAGRAM AND YOUTUBESUBSCRIBE FOR BONUS CONTENT ON PATREON.The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. I

have been trying to stop thinking of every single decision I make as some deep moral test. Every time I stay in the shower a little too long, or support a shitty company, or buy a product wrapped in single use plastic, isn’t a condemnation of all of my character. I am not going to hell. I am not broken. I am not a piece of shit. I am a human being, set up to fail, but doing my best any-damn-way. It’s not your job to save the world, but don’t let yourself forget how fulfilling and important it can be to inconvenience yourself, on behalf of love, when the time is right. I try to only focus on doing the next, right thing. Which, naturally, will be based on the context, the situation, the energy, the capacity of everyone involved, etc. The key is balance and discretion, which I will call: alignment. SUPPORT JULIE (and the show!)DONATE to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund AND THE Sudan Relief FundGET AN OCCASIONAL PERSONAL EMAIL FROM ME: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.comTUNE IN ON INSTAGRAM AND YOUTUBESUBSCRIBE FOR BONUS CONTENT ON PATREON.The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. I