I have avoided many bad outcomes by anticipating they could happen. Suffering with anxiety is a very real side effect though

Every computer operations job worker pops into the thread to explain this is their job.

Some of us have been dealing with this for so many years that were desensitized to the anxiety part.

When COVID hit we quietly bought a case of masks and an industrial bag of flour as soon as we saw China pressure washing streets.

The hard part about doing this right It’s not setting yourself into a feedback loop. You need to know the news and the events and what’s coming up but at the same time you don’t need to see the same piece of information twice. Algorithms will fuck up your day. Bluesky will show you every last take on everything that happens in LA, you will get 15 different accounts of Gretta, this causes people with real anxiety to doomscroll and over consume. TikTok go brrrrr. Just dip in, and dip out. Just consume enough news to create an image in your mind of this is what’s going on in LA, this is what’s going on in Texas, this is what’s going on in Gaza, this is what the government is doing, this is what the military forces are doing, then GTFO and get back to work.

We are all rats and a maze with a billion little binary decisions to make. You inform and adjust those decisions based on what’s going on in the world and where it’s likely to go. And you don’t need that much information to get that done.

I feel like my paranoia is manifesting additional real problems at this point. “At least the orange asshole is not doing … yet” and then he does.

Yup 3 combat tours will do that to you got the speed run and get the natural version, then you are the chosen one.

Also I’m doing bad

Working in infosec rewards and reinforces this exact mode of thinking. So I’m not getting better, but at least I’m getting paid.

You just described being a system administrator.

I’m correct most of the time and that scares me.

Oh hi, that’s me

Bruh, Raekwon looks different than I remember.

This isn’t normal?

don’t forget the self abuse to try and stem it all

I see this so much in so many people that I feel like it’s blown up by the strong streak of magical thinking in American society. Like, I have to worry about it, because if I don’t, it’ll happen. It’s only the anxiety per se (not any actual action based on the foresight gained from it) that stops the bad thing from happening.

Yeah but it didn’t work, died anyway. (yes really)

I do not appreciate my brain being scanned and put on blast like this