Tricking Your Brain
A European political thriller, modern epics, a very silly-looking dog and augmented reality coloring.
Hello there,
Welcome to the first edition of The Coping Mechanism, a new Substack newsletter I came up with during a recent bout of anxiety-induced insomnia. (What an incredibly 2020esque statement!) The idea is to share things I’ve found to be helpful for combating stress and anxiety, since I had a head start before the pandemic.
For those who don’t know me, I’m Rachel. I’m a 30s-something journalist based in New York, and for three years I ran a project on hate crimes, followed by a project on the U.S. election this year. And in the past five years, I’ve moved three times, gone to grad school, been laid off and faced job insecurity, among other things. So I’ve done a lot of work to figure out how to make self-care work for me.
I should say at this point that what we’re currently experiencing is collective trauma that will have serious long-term effects, and in an alternative universe we’d all get free therapy. No amount of fun stuff or self-care can replace mental health treatment, and everyone should consider seeing a professional.
In the meantime, one of the keys I’ve found is to trick and distract your brain. So I’ll be sharing some of the things I’ve been watching, reading, following and doing that effectively trick my brain.
Watch
The show that got me through the fall was Borgen, a Danish political thriller on Netflix. I’ve tried to watch as many shows in other languages as possible, because it forces me to read subtitles instead of getting distracted by my phone (or at least, less distracted). Danish definitely does the trick, because it’s very hard to understand, with some occasional exceptions (hej! /hi/ god morgen /good morn/). The show follows politicians and journalists, and while it’s entertaining, the drama is so utterly banal in comparison to anything happening in the U.S. in 2020 that it’s strangely soothing. I ~love~ Sidse Babett Knudsen, who plays the lead, and if you find yourself trying to figure out where you’ve seen some of the actors, it’s because a few of them were on Game of Thrones. I found most of the parts about journalism annoying but the parts about politics were compelling enough to overlook them. Bonus points: my husband really enjoyed the show, too.
Read
As a journalist and professional doomscroller, it’s very hard for me to turn off the news. But I try not to read the news or Twitter at least an hour before bed, and to read a book before going to sleep. I’ve been trying to read as many physical books as I can, since reading on a device before bed isn’t the greatest for turning your brain off. (Thankfully, the library near me has reopened, but I’m afraid it’s going to close again, so I’ve been amassing a small pile of books.)
During the pandemic, I’ve been reading almost entirely fiction, and almost always historical fiction, fantasy, or something from a different place or time period. Though I read them awhile back, I wish I had waited to savor them during the pandemic: Madeline Miller’s Circe and The Song of Achilles, which are modern narrative retellings of Greek epics. They are exquisitely written and just a wonderful escape, and if you haven’t read them yet, I’m jealous of you.
If you already have read them, another similar modern retelling of an epic (the Mahabharata) is The Palace of the Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. It’s immersive and fascinating, and even though I read it in March, I still think about it sometimes.
Follow
If I’m going to spend time mindlessly scrolling on Instagram, I want to fill my brain with cuteness. So I follow an embarrassing number of animal accounts.
This week’s follow recommendation: Ernie. He’s a Brussels Griffon living in Canada and he’s just a magnificent creature.
Do
As cliché as it sounds, I’ve found various coloring-related activities to be calming: an actual coloring book and colored pencils, and apps like Happy Color and Recolor. Recently I’ve been experimenting with Loona, a combo coloring/sleep relaxation app. It’s augmented reality and the scenes are incredibly beautiful, and each individual element makes really delightful sounds and movements as you tap them. The narration is mostly nonsense, but it’s pleasant nonsense to help make you sleepy. It’s a paid app, and I haven’t decided yet if it’s worth it, but I’ve been enjoying it. It’s also helpful to avoid doomscrolling before bed.
Any suggestions for things you’d recommend watching/reading/following/doing?
Until next week,
Rachel
I loved Borgen too! And Emily in Paris was a good one as well, although it’s filled with stereotypes. I haven’t found anything other than watching TV to help me cope, so I thought your texts were a great idea! Keep’em coming!
I carve out 15 minutes a day to mediate. Insight timer is a good free app. Recommend mindfulness mediations- don't do relaxation ones. It pressures you to do the mediation right. Just observe and be mindful. Have some good ones to recommend.