Every time you avoid something uncomfortable, your brain reinforces the idea that avoidance works. It literally strengthens the pathways that make hesitation, procrastination, or excuses automatic. And every time you do the hard thing even imperfectly your brain is building a new pathway: this is something I can do.
We CANNOT even afford hobbies. We CANNOT afford to go out with friends. We CANNOT afford to exist anywhere outside our homes. They then call it a mental health crisis. It's not. It's an affordability crisis.
I have control over these little beautiful things. I choose to drown them in beer and nicotine and stress them out by reading 5 books a month all called You’re Fucked: Powerless and Alone in the 21st century. Once every few weeks I’ll be in a good mood. A kind of false respite