Hi. Things are bleak, I know that. I know that we paid for Trump's last term with blood and it is likely the price will be blood again.

But listen to me. LISTEN.

You do not have to force yourself to witness horrors as an act of activism. It is not a form of activism. You can put your phone down, you can block that horrific video. We cannot win if you cannot fight and you will not be able to fight if you are hopeless.

Do not let them guilt you into this. People who are exhausted are easier to walk over. Take care of yourself, find community where you find joy.

You do not have to force yourself to witness horrors as an act of activism. It is not a form of activism.

^^^ remember this. do not exhaust yourself into hopelessness. take care of yourself and stay strong.

I know I've recced it before, but if you want a place to monitor the news while avoiding getting caught in the horrors, What The Fuck Just Happened Today is a really useful resource. They summarize political (& adjacent) news so you can remain aware of what's going on while still minimizing the emotional energy you expend on any one issue. (And they provide links and sourcing if you need to know more.)

I'm sure I'll have to say this again but

You. Cannot. Pour. From. An. Empty. Cup.

Staring at your phone in horror helps no one but the people who are invested in your inaction. And history is littered with stories of activists and freedom fighters who actively caused more problems than they solved because they got burnt out and fuelled themselves with despair and hatred for the perpetrators rather than compassion for those they were nominally fighting for.

Fighting *against* something only goes so far. Fighting *for* something is much more sustainable. But the only way you can do that is to a) actually give yourself something to fight for that keeps you going and b) resting and finding joy when you need to. Running yourself into the ground helps no one. Taking care of yourself and healing is not selfish.

I was given a really helpful version of this (for me) recently: your client doesn't need your sympathy, they need your skill. If you bury yourself in handwringing and outrage, you'll be too overstimulated and emotional to effectively deploy your skills. At the end of the day, the emotions don't get shit done: the skills do.

So take time for yourself. Let yourself rest. Learn to manage your emotions and give yourself some healing. And then pick up your tools and start deploying your skills to deal with the problem again.

Also: if you want to be effective, you can't do *everything*. Pick one or two things, preferably ones where you can see a positive outcome to work towards, and let others handle the rest. Trying to do everything will only divide your attention and time and make you less effective. You can't fix systemic misogyny (for example) on your own, but you can push back against it in the spaces you occupy, and you can work towards your local political system putting in policies to reduce its impact. You can join local groups working on the problems. This is a group project: don't try to do everything on your own.

Also also: it is *very* tempting to be snippy and shame people in the spaces you're in for being imperfect activists or making mistakes etc. Do not give into that temptation. Call people in with compassion. Shame and shunning should be reserved for those actively trying to cause harm/refusing to change harmful behaviours: those things are for when trying to keep working with the person is no longer an option. Remember: shame and shunning don't prompt people to change their behaviours or beliefs, they encourage people to double down. Everyone is learning and no one is perfect: err on the side of building community rather than fracturing it (without rugsweeping). Don't misdirect your anger at the people still trying to work to fix it.

Building and holding together community can only be done through care and compassion: anger doesn't cut it.

Hi. Things are bleak, I know that. I know that we paid for Trump's last term with blood and it is likely the price will be blood again.

But listen to me. LISTEN.

You do not have to force yourself to witness horrors as an act of activism. It is not a form of activism. You can put your phone down, you can block that horrific video. We cannot win if you cannot fight and you will not be able to fight if you are hopeless.

Do not let them guilt you into this. People who are exhausted are easier to walk over. Take care of yourself, find community where you find joy.

You do not have to force yourself to witness horrors as an act of activism. It is not a form of activism.

^^^ remember this. do not exhaust yourself into hopelessness. take care of yourself and stay strong.

I know I've recced it before, but if you want a place to monitor the news while avoiding getting caught in the horrors, What The Fuck Just Happened Today is a really useful resource. They summarize political (& adjacent) news so you can remain aware of what's going on while still minimizing the emotional energy you expend on any one issue. (And they provide links and sourcing if you need to know more.)

Project 2025 ain't gonna roll out all at once. So what we're gonna wanna do is make passing each individual part of it as difficult as possible, so there's less to undo once we finally get this country back on the rails.

Resist every step and do not get distracted by stupid bullshit. Distracting people with stupid bullshit is one of Trump's favorite political techniques. We saw it all over the place in the first term.

Trump will say something like "You know the Hispanics actually punch kittens, it's what they do."

And the news will be like "TRUMP SAID HISPANIC PEOPLE PUNCH KITTENS" for three weeks.

And while they're doing that the Republicans in Congress have quietly deleted healthcare.

Do not get distracted by stupid bullshit. Trump is a dancing monkey whose greatest asset is the ability to yank the spotlight off of everyone else. Keep your eyes on Congress.

please i love you i'm begging you bring back suspension of disbelief bring back trusting the audience like. i cannot handle any more dialogue that sounds like a legal document. "hello, i am here to talk to you about the incident from a few minutes ago, because i feel you might be unwell, and i am invested in your personal wellbeing." "thank you, i am unwell because the incident was hurtful to me due to my childhood, which was bad." I CANT!!!!

do you know how many people are mad that authors use "growled" as a word for "said"? it's just poetics! they do not literally mean "growled," it's just a common replacement for "said with force but in a low tone." it's normal! do you hear me!! help me i love you please let me out of here!!!

Tags by @feedthefandomfest

hey if you're trans in the us i love you. hey if you're queer in the us i love you. hey if you're a person of color in the us i love you. hey if you're a woman in the us i love you. hey if you're disabled in the us i love you. i love you i love you i love you

Project 2025 ain't gonna roll out all at once. So what we're gonna wanna do is make passing each individual part of it as difficult as possible, so there's less to undo once we finally get this country back on the rails.

Resist every step and do not get distracted by stupid bullshit. Distracting people with stupid bullshit is one of Trump's favorite political techniques. We saw it all over the place in the first term.

Trump will say something like "You know the Hispanics actually punch kittens, it's what they do."

And the news will be like "TRUMP SAID HISPANIC PEOPLE PUNCH KITTENS" for three weeks.

And while they're doing that the Republicans in Congress have quietly deleted healthcare.

Do not get distracted by stupid bullshit. Trump is a dancing monkey whose greatest asset is the ability to yank the spotlight off of everyone else. Keep your eyes on Congress.

writing advice for characters with a missing eye: dear God does losing an eyes function fuck up your neck. Ever since mine crapped out I've been slowly and unconsciously shifting towards holding my head at an angle to put the good eye closer to the center. and human necks. are not meant to accommodate that sorta thing.

other things I'm bitching about but which could still be useful as writing advice for 1 eyed characters:

2. they're going to favor their sighted side, obviously, but it doesn't always manifest in the way you think. when I walk down a hall I walk much closer to the wall on my sighted side than on my blind side. which is the opposite of how it might seem logical to do that bc it means the world at large is on your bad side, but the reason is I can't fucking See the wall if it's right next to me in the blind side and I end up knocking into it.

3. door frames and poles are my enemy. If your character is smart this will not be a problem but for me it is. I am King of walking into shit I could absolutely see but couldn't tell how far away from me it was. on this note, their blind side hand is getting bashed into every jutting out thing in a 5 mile radius.

4. having 0 depth perception is less of a big deal than you'd think it is. Especially with driving. I've become a Much safer and more wary driver because I can't tell how far the other cars are from me. however I fucking suck at parking now. because I can't tell how far the lines are from me either.

5. you know how people who lose limbs get phantom pains? that happens with eyes too but like. phantom sights. for me it's like. a lot of bugs. like every so often my brain will just put something suddenly skittering beside me there. hate that.

6. it is completely possible to "get stuck" somewhere because your ability to tell how wide a space is is just Gone. shopping isles especially where bumping something or Someone is matter of embarrassment or potentially breaking something. it can be legitimately paralyzing and also irritate everyone around you because they can tell there is Plenty of space for you to get your cart through even if you can't.

7. if the eye is still in their skull it can still be the normal kind of painful. Glares off of shiny surfaces causing weird sharp pains you can't figure out the cause of are genuinely one of gods greatest tests of my patience.

There's something hilarious about how so much subsequent media has positioned Vampires and Werewolves as, like, binary opposite entities, and then you read Dracula (1897) and realize that wolves are that guy's preferred solution to every problem. You'd say something to Dracula about "ah yes, werewolves, vampires' great eternal enemies," and he'd just be like "you mean my subcontractors?"

hey let's start spreading the reminder now that you cannot safely self-manage an abortion with herbal medicine or essential oils. natural abortifacients function by poisoning you; you wait for your body to realize you're dying and reject the pregnancy in order to conserve resources, and hope that happens before the rest of your organs shut down.

i think there will be an upsurge soon of unscrupulous and/or malicious actors preying on desperate pregnant people; do not help them kill people. don't spread recipes for herbal medicines or ingestible essential oil mixtures that purport to cause a pregnancy termination.

reblog this post if you don't like Donald Trump and will never like him

M.E. Makes me feel like I am locked out of my own mind and my body is filled with lead - too heavy to carry. M.E. can make it impossible to distract yourself from pain. Can’t listen to music, it can cause a crash when I am already in one. Can’t watch movies. Can’t have conversations with friends. Can’t do anything that involves brain power. And my brain power is completely and totally depleted. It’s not just a fog clouding our mind - it’s complete & total loss of cognitive and executive function.

My whole system needs a recharge.

im seeing a lot of "queer people dont kill yourselves" posts and yes, i agree but also poc folks dont kill yourselves. you're needed in this space just as much as the white folks are. we will get through this hand in hand together

If you’re both then this goes double for you too.

You are NOT going to kill yourself! You're going to outlive that 80 year old cheeto and be first in line to turn his grave into a gender neutral toilet. You're going to make it through the next four years. Do you hear me?

hey where’s that post about how it’s important to be aware before recommending/calling suicide hotlines that They Will Call The Cops On You. i have it saved somewhere but i can’t find it & i want to reblog it today For No Particular Reason

note that Trans Lifeline doesn’t call the police on actively suicidal people so if you’re trans that can be a good resource! and if you’re Catholic, priests aren’t allowed to break the seal of the confessional for any reason, and things said in confession are exempt from all mandated reporting in most U.S. states (and in the ones where they aren’t exempt, they’re mandated reporters of child abuse but not of suicidality AFAICT—still, worth checking your state laws in more detail first, I don’t know the details for every state). you can also go to confession as a non-Catholic but idk how they’d handle that, I never went before converting

if you’re not trans or Catholic you might be out of luck—most mainstream suicide hotlines (including the Trevor project) allow calling the cops on you if you’re actively suicidal (although the line for when they do this varies from organization to organization and volunteer to volunteer— it’s overall fairly unlikely ime but it’s a risk). followers feel free to add Suicidality Resources That Won’t Call The Cops No Matter What if you have any

also i’m aware this is very America-centric (<- American who mostly knows American resources and laws, writing this bc of the flood of posts aimed at Americans in crisis due to the American election) but if anyone has details on how non-American suicide hotlines work or the level of risk of cop involvement or forced institutionalization for various crisis options in other countries feel free to add that as well

and I haven’t looked into it much but one of my uk followers says samaritans might be good for the UK!

[ID: An infographic titled "Warm lines that don't call the police:

Call Blackline: 800-604-5841 Centres BI&POC, LGBTQ+ Black Femme Lens

Trans Lifeline: 877-565-8860 (US), 877-330-6366 (Canada) Run by and for trans people

Wildflower Alliance Peer Support Line: 888-407-4515 Trained peer supporters

StrongHearts Native Helpline: 844-762-8483 Centreing Native Americans & Alaska Natives

Thrive Lifeline: 313-662-8209 Trans-led and operated

LGBT National Help Centre: 888-843-4564

More resources: InclusiveTherapists.com/crisis" /end ID]

If it makes any of you feel better, Donald Trump will have an uphill battle to change the constitution. He will need:

-2/3 of Senators (60)

-2/3 of the House of Representatives (290)

-3/4 of the states (38)

In 2026, 33 senate seats will be up for grabs, and we’ll be able to vote for people who are against Trump and his ideals.

Breathe and remain hopeful because it’s not over. We can still fight and make Trump’s last four years hell.

This is so important. Also pay attention to local elections. Now more than ever it's important to have staunch anti Trump democrats at every level of government - from school boards to senate seats. Apathy and not voting helped Trump win. Now is the time to wake up and get serious and hold on to the freedoms we have left. We have got to fight for every inch of territory. Do not give up. Do not give him any more power than he already has.

Please, spread this for those who might need it right now

Take care of yourself and each other. Please stay safe ♡