The last front fence on our street came down about two or three years ago – I can't quite remember. Before that, a decent proportion of the front fences between properties were already getting ripped down. It made more sense to easily move between the yards & garden beds that neighbours were sharing, and most owners enjoyed the fact that it was one less thing that can break or fall over.
This year, I'll be using the vegetable beds in our front yard to focus on tomatoes and cucumbers. Leanne a few houses down is doing zucchini, and Gareth across the road is focusing on a range of herbs in his front yard. He already has a great rosemary bush that we all take from; he says he's going to plant another one. Noone will be able to get away from cooking minestrone, I guess!
It is far too easy to fall into despair, cynicism, hopelessness, apathy, isolation, solitude, mindlessness, and a variety of other negative feelings, given today's world. Many people can relate to this: it's a mood that reduces your agency and aspiration in the world around you, leaves you feeling lethargic, fatigued, and barely able to get through the day.
The modern world – at least how it appears in developed countries – shows a polished veneer of civilised society full of mod cons and general abundance, but in the back of our minds we're thinking about social inequality, long-term damage to the Earth's environment, late-stage capitalism, and the ease of political division & the erosion of the sense of community that comes with it.
And so the malaise sets in. If you're lucky, you'll know when to turn off the news, look after your mental health and try to get through another day without falling apart. The alternative is to let it consume you to the point of resorting to unhealthy behaviours (doom scrolling, comfort eating, drinking), all of which make it harder for you to get back into a good mental or physical space to look after yourself.
Hi! I'm Chris, just some guy from Naarm/Melbourne, Australia.
This little part of the Internet is for various thoughts, interests, updates and stories – and a handy way to break away from the various walled gardens we spend so much time on.
I've selected the write.as platform as it is extremely simple in its design & features, however it may come across as being less user-friendly. It's designed to lean on hashtags, so I recommend using the hashtags at the end of every post to find similar articles.
Contact me at Mastodon. I'd love to hear from you!