What I Can't Control
A new plan for surviving in this topsy turvy time.
I can’t control any government appointments.
Shocker, I know.
No one in the new Presidential administration cares what my opinion is about dog-shooter Kristi Noem — so I’m not going to waste my time on anything but my Kristi voodoo doll (please send more pins.)
Ibid Peter Woman Abuser and Wormbrain Kennedy. (Although the latest bet is that Little Peter is out for SecDef and White Boots DeSantis is in … but whatever.)
And I can’t control if they build mass deportation prisons here in America, stop birthright citizenship, or start rounding up citizens wearing Crocs. (You were warned.)
More Shocking News
No one is waiting for my okay.
I live in what is probably the most progressive city in America, in the only state that got more blue in 2024. Both my senators are Democratic women — and my Congressional representative is ready to burn cars and riot on any given Tuesday as long as it’s after her Pilates class. I don’t even have to write emails or text any of them. Sometimes, we braid each other’s hair.
So I have a new resolution: controlling what I can control … and letting the rest go.
This is a survival tool. But it’s also a strategic choice.
Because if I’m losing it on every single issue/craziness, then I don’t have enough mental resources to fight any bigger battles.
So I’m going to do what I can to preserve my peace and maintain some sort of calm amidst what is likely to be four years of chaos. The Lisbeth strategy has only two simple two-steps:
Worry only about what you can control.
Do the right thing.
I might make it two weeks with this strategy or two years. Who knows? We’re going to find out.
But this is as good of a strategy as I have today. Tomorrow I might add chocolate and a new pair of noise-canceling headphones, who knows? Can’t hurt.
What’s your current strategy for getting through the next year, the next month, the rest of the day?
Bonus read: As I was finishing today’s newsletter, I read this provocative piece about Americans “checking out” over the past twenty years. Take a read and tell me what you think! (Get past the title. It starts way back in like 2001 so it’s not really about the election of 2024.)
Like Jeff Warren described concentration like a pin centered on a balloon-that precise. Lean into what we can control. We’ll last longer that way.
That bonus column read too-definitely right. Democrats have to left not center. I’ll still not understand not voting but I also am not a hand on heart pledge person cause they denigrated patriotism.
Kinda makes me wish we woulda got Bernie awhile ago🤷♀️
I already have outrage fatigue and the bastard isn’t even in office yet.