Being a caring, thinking person (i.e.: you) who consumes news feels like experiencing whiplash every week. In the past seven days, our attention has been demanded for: three mass shootings in the US; an Israeli forces raid on the Jenin refugee camp, killing 10 Palestinians; bodycam footage of five Memphis cops beating a Black man to death; the annual Invasion Day (January 26) discourse; and International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Still tragically evolving in the background are so many other injustices, human tragedies and atrocities that we cared fiercely about when they were new(er): the war in Ukraine; protests for revolution in Iran; Myanmar still under deadly military rule; the remaining devastation and displacement from the Pakistan floods; ongoing crisis in Yemen, Sri Lanka, Lebanon, Tigray.

Each time I publish a new article on events like these, I feel like I'm asking you to split your attention into yet another, tinier, fraction of itself.

How are we supposed to care about all these things at once? Do you ever feel like it's too much?

I've been poking around for advice on what I'm supposed to do with these feelings and, frankly, the solutions offered just suck. Most often they are suggestions to: check out of the news, log off, redirect energy into things you enjoy, focus on only what you can control or what directly affects the people in your life. It's well-meaning stuff that follows the general vibe of 'put your own oxygen mask on first'. And by all means, whenever you feel like you need a break from bad news – take it.

But that sort of advice fails in two ways. 1: Encouraging people to only care about problems that directly affect them perpetuates so many problems in the world today. The wealthy and powerful already do this, ignoring our challenges unless there is enough overlap to be 'worth' their time. And 2: It misinterprets the feelings of overwhelm as reluctance. For most of us, the truth is that we have heaps of energy for different causes and want to be active in righting wrongs. We don't want to turn away from these problems, but we do want to be more effective within them. Self-care is important, but entirely separate – I don't want to check out, I want to help!

In the absence of better advice, here's mine. A two-step thing, for simplicity.

1. Learn theory and history. It's so easy to be convinced to switch off from the difficult stuff, but as this TikTok very aptly points out, that's exactly what the powers-that-be want us to do. They want us to focus on self-soothing instead of their actions. Each time a major global injustice emerges in the news, I've personally benefitted from having to do the historical research in order to better explain it to readers. Very few of these problems are truly new – they are the result of old systems with long histories, re-emerging in the present day. Understanding this is scary in a different way, but it reduces the whiplash-like feeling when you realise that you don't have to learn a whole new language whenever there's new news because these events are intertwined. Same goes for the solutions – understanding the theory behind revolutionary movements (something I want to read more about in 2023) will make them feel more readily accessible, progress more tangible, and we'll be able to kill many birds with one stone. Most media will just tell you: "X thing just happened." Better outlets will tell you: "X thing just happened and this is why." But an even deeper level of understanding is required for it to not always feel like a jump scare. Something along the lines of: "These are the reasons why humanity tends to X, Y and Z."

2. Pick one issue, and do recurring, real-world activism on it. Simply being better informed does not make material change, and a lot of the anxiety we have comes from feeling helpless. While it is possible (normal, even) to genuinely care about lots of different issues, taking real-world action requires focus. Picking one 'pet' topic and committing to doing something about it offline does wonders for the mind, because you'll be able to see the progress happening up close. Join an existing group to do this, because individual change is literally never as impactful as coordinated action and being in community with others is so, so important for mental health. When we jump around from cause to cause, only ever participating for one frenzied moment before moving on, that's when it feels like nothing changes – it does, you just aren't privy to anything that happened before or after you popped in.

Ok this was a long one, but thank you for reading along while I muddled through. There is most certainly more bad news to come, in Australia and beyond – hopefully this will help keep you & I afloat through it all.

– CrystalFounder & Chief of Everything at Zee FeedFollow me on Instagram or TikTok

Good stuff on Zee Feed rn:

I learned a lot from writing this piece, and it was confronting to process just how many incorrect ideas about the Holocaust I've simply accepted. We learn way too much about real history from fictionalised entertainment media tbh. CLICK HERE TO READ.

Content I loved this week 💭

All the stuff from around the web that made me think, smile, or have an ‘aha!’ moment. Here are this week's goodies:

Riding the Subway with Anna Delvey In four-inch Manolos — to meet her parole officer on The CutI was flip flopping in my opinion the whole way through... and I'm still not sure what to think of her. "Instead of making her way back to Germany, she has decided to fight to be able to live in New York... Where else could she go? This is a city of people famous because of their misdeeds, not despite them."

LIFE IS NOT BEAUTIFUL on playwright Hanif Kureishi's substack by playwright Hanif KureishiThis beautiful, from Hanif's perspective having suffered a fall in December and now hospitalised, unable to move his limbs. "Most of us at some time in our lives will suffer from a catastrophic health crisis which will make us feel isolated and afraid. But it is as if we want to believe that we live in a world of many healthy and well-functioning people. We do not. We have convinced ourselves that there is a standard of the well and effective human being."

Your therapist shouldn’t be on TikTok on The New Statesman"With incredible frequency, these therapists make the bold suggestion that your problems might be rooted – gasp! – in your childhood. Videos toe the line between counselling and inspirational speaking, doling out shallow and unhelpful self-help platitudes. Struggling with low self-esteem? Have you tried simply not listening to other people’s opinions?"

Anything your book club can do, mine can do better on Sydney Morning HeraldSuch a funny piece – read if you like books & need a good laugh!

If you found this email thought-provoking, will you share it with a friend? Sharing helps us grow 🌱 and makes you look really smart.