Mental Health Plan for Wildfires-Pandemic-Trumpocalypse

Here in Oakland, more people live on the streets than ever, many of them mentally ill. California is on fire. Our president is a narcissist criminal huckster leveraging his office for profit and destroying the best of our institutions and the environment before he goes down in flames himself. Covid-19 is on track to kill at least a million people worldwide, 20% of those deaths in the U.S.

The world is a dumpster fire.

And yet I feel pretty good.

Over the past few years I’ve developed my mental health plan into a smoothly functioning, robust, anti-fragile system that buoys my mood and protects me from the worst symptoms of depression and anxiety. Of course I’m still vulnerable to the stress of unexpected and negative events, but I’ve learned a lot from weathering a few chronic health conditions, illness and death in the family, job insecurity, parenting difficulties, and all the bullshit mentioned in the first paragraph.

Here’s my current plan, for what it’s worth. Maybe it will help you develop your own system to address your crushing anxiety, dread, and depression.

• Walking. Currently 5-10 miles a day spread over 2-4 walks, often while playing Pokemon GO. I consider walking “free time” since it extends life.
• Other exercise: sprints, calisthenics, weights — whatever seems the most fun and the least hard. Daily.
• Sleep. Dim lights and reduce blue light at night to increase melatonin production. Try for 7+ hours. Supplements to support sleep (magnesium, hydrolyzed collagen for glycine).
• Supplements to control stress hormones/cortisol and boost GABA system: vitamin D 2000IU, fish oil 3g, vitamin C 1000mg, niacin 100mg, magnesium 200mg (as glycinate, malate, or taurate)
• Productivity sweet spot/low quotas. Daily progress toward goals but don’t push hard unless I’m feeling it. Avoiding burnout and keeping it fun, both for paid work and creative projects that may or may not become profitable.
• Family communication. Go easy on loved ones. Express needs without making demands. Be loving and supportive.
• Friends. Keep in touch. Phone and social distanced gathering as possible. A good conversation can feel like such a weight lifted.
• Other supplements to boost mood as needed. For me this includes benfotiamine 100mg (a form of vitamin B1), coenzyme Q10 30mg, and pycnogenol 100mg. Subtle anxiety reduction/mood-boost.
• Caffeine. Coffee in the AM, matcha in the afternoon, dark chocolate for dessert. I’m a fast caffeine metabolizer so this doesn’t disrupt sleep. Yes I’m addicted, but I’m comfortable with this since coffee and tea drinking extends life and enhances mood and cognitive function.
• Alcohol. For me about 1 drink a day is good, red wine or whiskey. Less is fine but it’s harder to wind down. More can crash mood and energy the next day and increases health risks. If I’m drinking too much I’ll take a break to reset.
• Meditation. I’m not incredibly disciplined about meditation but I do meditate for a few minutes at a time up to several times a day to re-center and reduce mental clutter.

To summarize: exercise, sleep, social support, better-living-through-chemistry. I acknowledge I take more supplements than most people would be comfortable with; you might get the same results with clean diet, running 10k daily, and/or 10mg fluoxetine. You’ll get no judgment from me, whatever works!

A big shift for me has been prioritizing mental health over earning, productivity, success, etc. I’m happier, and probably ultimately more productive in the long run. Depression and burnout are productivity killers.

What’s your mental health plan? How are you coping with the multiple global crises of viral pandemic, global warming, environmental destruction, and catastrophically poor governance (with the exception of New Zealand)?