Thoughts in no particular order.

I do not have any idea what is going to happen in the USA now, politically speaking. A lot is still terrifyingly uncertain.

If voting is still an option next election cycle, I’ll still do it. But my trust in how much difference it can make is going down.

If I have any hope for the future of politics in this country, it’s now mainly in the realm of how dictatorships have fallen in the past:

People are mortal. Tyrants die eventually. Sometimes the people who come into power afterwards are less horrible, and are willing to change things.

Sometimes.

If I have any hope for ordinary people being able to change things for the better in the near term… it’s on a personal, direct level.

I am going to devote myself as much as possible to helping others directly. It may take me a while to decide what is the best path for me to do this. But that’s where my focus will be.

My own physical and mental health is not good. In order to keep having enough strength to work and make money that I can use to help others, I’m going to have to focus a lot on self-care for a while.

This means I probably am going to have to set aside a lot of creative projects that I don’t feel actively, enthusiastically motivated to do. (And right now I don’t know what, if anything, I will feel motivated on. I don’t choose my motivations or even understand them, and right now I have no idea what they’re gonna do.)

If I’ve promised to do something related to a creative project (art, fiction, etc) for you, I’m sorry, but it is probably not going to happen any time soon.

I don’t know what is.

But my overall goal is survival, for me and as many others as possible.