Another attempt at reforming myself
Yesterday, Monday 27 APR 2026, marked the start of my latest attempt to embrace the positive items around me and ignore the negativity the world insists on throwing at me. I keep trying to accomplish, but I always fail at some point and resort to simply agreeing with what other people are saying. I sincerely want to be a more positive person starting today and in the future. I have to focus as I scroll through my social media (Substack) feeds, because I always get caught up in political topics. Because I am so far out of the political mainstream, my contributions amount to nothing.
Like most people, I sincerely believe that when I post something, I am right in my thinking, but that is the first sign of hubris. I stop and think that I actually don't contribute anything meaningful to the topic, and that so many people are more concerned with accumulating followers than with building a community.
After an intense COPD flare-up, the curtains fell, and the sun shone through. The way I felt when I was sick was dangerously close to how I felt every day. My key to escaping the depressing feeling was not to keep struggling; I had to rearrange how I saw life.
The top priority was to stop worrying about the political bullshit that inundated us every day. I’m no political pundit, although I did study political science and international relations in college. My mind isn’t quick enough anymore to lead the charge and expose all the corruption and injustice in the world.
My typical Substack session consisted of reading political stories, simply agreeing with and boosting them. I wasn’t even getting into the real story; often, the headline was more than enough to trigger me. I lived for the rare chance to make a snarky comment, which, in the end, accomplished nothing useful.
What really saved me was the real friends I made on Substack. I could open up and talk with, and I felt so much better. That was the lightning bolt that hit me right between the eyes. Why did I waste my time with people who showed no interest in me?
It took me years to figure out that I’m really a great person, with hang-ups like everyone else, but still, I don’t deserve to be ignored or treated like a statistic. I’m slowly separating myself from those people because I don’t want to be a part of their captive audience anymore.
My real online friends will notice a drop in my output here, at least initially. I believe that my own creative energy will reawaken once I break my bad habits.
To those friends, I cannot thank you enough.