They can chew you up, but they gotta spit you out
What do you do when you can't do nothing, but there's nothing you can do? You do what you can." - Robert Freeman, The Boondocks
Well here we are. Worst case scenario. The only way out is through. And if we're gonna get through this we need to take a breath and collect our thoughts. Rather than wax on about the situation in an abstract way I thought I'd put together a list of things you can do to help get your footing again.
Check your passport. Does it need to be renewed? Do you have one? Some countries have a a "six-month rule" for passports, meaning you need to have had the passport for six months to be allowed entry. So don't sleep on this. This may seem a tad fatalistic but I included it on the list because everybody should have this sorted out regardless.
Check your IRC/Matrix credentials. Re-familiarize yourself with the commands. Think of it as a digital safe house. No experience with either? Never too late to learn. YouTube is your frenemy
Email is an antiquated system. Inefficient and insecure. I've made a concerted effort to move away from it for any form of personal interaction and I think you should too. It wouldn't hurt to take a closer look at your chat apps also. Right now signal is the chat app to beat.
I don't think we're going to get through this alone. Make time to visit your local 2600 meeting on the first Friday of every month. Maybe it's for you maybe it isn't. Conferences are also a great place to recharge. Or you can also always start your own meet-up with like minded people. Just make sure you're not entering a echo chamber.
Avoiding burnout is extremely important. This is a marathon not a race. (arc of justice and all that) We're all facing the conundrum of wanting to disconnect from the news but not wanting to turn our back on the current administration even for a second. Something that's working for me is RSS feeds. It feels different from doomscrolling and you can mix everything from entertainment news to Subreddits into your list.
A disaster preparedness plan is something that should be on the front burner. I don’t say this out of concern for the government collapsing but because I've lost faith that the government can step up and deal with any catastrophe that may befall us. You can put together a go bag and some supplies without going full doomsday prepper.
I know this seems like a drop in the bucket compared to what we seem to be up against. But keeping with the theme of wire related quotes "all the pieces matter". Best case scenario we get the boot of our neck in about two years when midterms roll around.
In the meantime....... Viva la résistance!