(08-14-2020, 05:13 PM)Takedown Wrote: Some will say that it is good for people to acknowledge the issues in 2020. I say F that. To an extent, there is really only so much that we can do. I say focus on the good if you can find it. Because everything can be taken away from us in the blink of an eye.

With that being said, as a lot of people already know, our brains during dreams will mash up a lot of our fears, problems and fantasies in life (personal/world stuff) because this is what we do... Even when we are asleep, we stress and problem solve. That is a very scary dream. To me, and I could be wrong, it seems like a mixture of Murphy's Law and the year we live in (2020). "What else can go wrong?".

I've had some dreams this year that I would like to forget. I'm sure nightmares are at an all time high in the world right now. You really can't turn on the TV without something being shoved down your throat (political ads, protests, covid, etc.). It would be nice if we could at least come to Jungle Noise and talk football without someone bringing up politics or covid every damn time. Yeah yeah, I know. "wElL iF iT aFfEcTs tHe TeAm". I get that, but it's probably 90% of JN right now. If someone mentions politics, covid is brought up and vise versa. Then you have people jabbing at religion and getting away with it. I'm sick of it.

My anxiety is pretty high this year. Mainly because there is no escape from 2020. Happy thoughts man. Focus on the good. Maybe pick up a hobby or two in the garage, stay off social media as much as possible if you are having that much anxiety that it's causing dreams like that. You're not alone. Trust me.

(08-14-2020, 08:29 PM)jason Wrote: Yep... 2020 has been good in the way that it showed me how much I miss my normal day to day life that I always bitched about.

Truthfully the last 3 years have been rough for me. Divorce with a small kid involved, and the financial and emotional troubles that come with it were beating my ass... Things had started to come around on both fronts then THIS happened... So I guess in an odd way I was being primed for a year of non stop shittiness.

And you nailed the social media part... I unplugged 2 and a half years ago... I don't miss it a bit.

Things will turn around sooner or later... Hang in there fellas.

(08-15-2020, 12:28 PM)George Cantstandya Wrote: I can relate.  These last 6 months or so have been stressful.   When things with Covid started getting bad and supplies were running low at the stores I was very stressed out even though I keep plenty of emergency supplies.  At one point I started having some tooth pain.  Having tooth problems was not something I wanted to deal with given the timing. Once things calmed a bit the pain went away.   It turns out I think I was grinding my teeth in my sleep due to the stress.  

I definitely carry my stress into my sleep.  I have a bad habit of letting my thoughts go to worse case scenario no matter how unlikely that scenario really is.  At times that is a good thing because it helps me plan ahead for the worse case and think about what I would do.  At other times it gets a little out of control and causes unneeded extra stress.  For example during the supply shortage I had excessive thoughts about having to protect myself and my supplies if people short on food started looting to get what they need.  Then those fears entered my dreams and probably lead to the teeth grinding.

I've found that reading before bed helps a bit.  Instead of going to sleep with all these stressful thoughts on my mind, reading a book until I start feeling really sleepy helps keep me from falling asleep thinking about real life stuff.

I've also made a rule that I do my best to stick to (but don't always follow), no reading/watching news after 6 PM.  Also no Internet viewing after 8 PM.   That gives me a nice buffer before bed time to get all the depressing and stressful information out of my head.  As mentioned above I also ditched social media a few years ago as well.  Just too much garbage being posted as well as the privacy concerns that come with it.  

Anyway hang in there.  We will get through all this over time.  As others have stated if anyone here wants to chat a bit, just talk about what they are going though without judgment or political talk etc. feel free to PM me.  I can't promise I'll respond quickly but I will respond and do my best to listen and reply honestly and respectfully.  

(08-15-2020, 12:52 PM)jason Wrote: I was caught completely flat footed when supplies and even food were short. As a single dude, I'd generally only have food around the house when my daughter was around. I remember passing a packed fish fry on the way to the grocery store that Friday evening. I walked into Kroger, and my mouth dropped... There was nothing! No soup, pasta, ramen, meat, cheese, milk, toilet paper... All gone. I couldn't make sense of that after I'd just passed a completely full parking lot where people were drinking, gambling, and breathing on each other's food. So I remember that anxiety from the other perspective... I remember thinking about not being able to find any of these things for God knows how long, and what it might have to come too.

I remember walking out of the store mumbling and cursing under my breathe about Lord of the Flies time. Thankfully we all settled down... A lil anyway.

(08-15-2020, 02:28 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: I wasn't really worried to much, but it did lower my respect for the human race.  People were acting like it was a nuclear holocaust. We had enough TP at home because its just the wife and I. I was more pissed about meat prices. Wen't to Sav-A-Lot and they were charging $7.99 lb for 73% lean hamburger? I was ready to go Chuck Norris up in that place (not really, I'm a pretty laid back dude). I had an elderly lady ram my cart that day also because I let the lady in front of me run and grab something she forgot. I just turned and looked at her and gave a soft grin. Freakin people were being crazy.

If the stores would have run out of beer tho, I may have panicked, but they didn't, and all was harmony in the universe.
 

(08-15-2020, 03:18 PM)jason Wrote: I remember watching a lady trying to reach the last pack of toilet paper at a Walmart... I couldn't resist messing with her. When she was finally close to having it off the top rack I said "Little do you know that you were just getting that down for me.".... But no seriously; I was reliant on the Arab carryout around the corner for toilet paper for a week or two... He also had the hook-up on sanitizer... Some shit called Covid-X... That's gotta be some powerful stuff.

See the bright side is we can look back and laugh a lil, but I know the fatigue of it all is wearing... Add that to the political and social state of the country, and it can be exhausting at times.