Jukaschar’s Reviews > Nordic Visions: The Best of Nordic Speculative Fiction > Status Update

I'm so sorry to hear that! I wish I could help you somehow... 😕

That's so kind of you. There are a lot of things that I can cope with relatively well when it comes to being neurodivergent fo example, but this is really something that is annoying again and again.

I WANT to read all those awesome, interesting books but when I do, my mental health declines just so much. I've practiced news abstinence and consuming only media that is non-violent and doesn't touch too much on issues that are problematic for me for around three months now and finally I'm in a better place than most of the year. I mean I can't 100% say there's a correlation, but it sure looks like it. It has also been similar in the past.

Even though this has been a big part of my life for as long as I can remember, I still feel desperate to participate in things that probably aren't good for me and guilty to opt out of so much information that seems so necessary for the world to know.
And even if it's through fictional accounts with fantasy and sci-fi, there's just so much I can't stomach. I mean, WbtM is really right up my alley on paper, but then I can't participate the way I would want to because there's just so much I can't read without hurting myself. Ugh, this sucks.

I'm sorry for being such a killjoy right now.

Skip it and dont look back. Maybe the next one is ok for you and if it isnt, hop hop again. It is frustrating, but being ok is more important.

I kind of imagine all the things I am missing by skipping most Romance, but it is way harder to predict where you can stumble into something violent. 🙈

That's what I'm going to do. I'm also going to let it sit for a while and come back a bit later after some recovering.

Yep, that sounds cool! Good vibes for the next reading!

Jukaschar wrote: "Even though this has been a big part of my life for as long as I can remember, I still feel desperate to participate in things that probably aren't good for me and guilty to opt out of so much information that seems so necessary for the world to know."

Don't feel guilty! I do this too, I can't really follow the news, I think I might be just too empathetic for that? Idk, either way it's bad for my mental health so I don't do that. Sometimes it makes me look like an idiot, because if nobody tells me, I often don't know, but yeah, that's fine, I can live with that. I try to engage in a ways where I can actually do something about what's happening, but it's not always possible and we can't beat ourselves over everything.

(Also, sorry for the delay, I got sick and the open tabs kind of multiplied and... I have trouble to keep track of everything 🙈😂)

I think there definitely is a connection between being empathetic and shielding oneself from things that can't be changed. It has become 'worse' for me over time, I'm not sure why. Maybe there's no answer, anyhow, thank you for chiming in!
I hope you're feeling better? And don't worry about answering later than you originally planned, we're still here, right?

❤️ for both