Tips from the Mediocre Unwashed

Things you can do while sitting

I told my doctor I was going to die from sitting disease.

As I mentioned in Is That All There Is?, I caught some kind of mental bug on Christmas that made me not give a crap about living anymore. I was unemployed, unmotivated, unhappy, and unwilling or unable to help myself. The holidays, despite my having a pretty functional family, felt like going through the motions. I didn’t need gifts. I just needed love, and I already had plenty of it.

I got myself a hat for Christmas. I never take it off. The back of my hair is a mat.

Now scratched by dog paws and not so beautiful, my red leather, zero-gravity, electric recliner still provides comfort, like a womb that won’t ever expel you. It’s a combination of self-care and self-harm.

For more than a month, I have not made anything. I haven’t had ideas. I’ve stopped cleaning, straightening, cooking, eating, bathing, and brushing my hair. I don’t even change my clothes on the regular. I sleep in long underwear and put yesterday’s clothes over them when I wake up. Some days, I forget to do the puzzles.

When I told my doctor I was going to die from sitting disease, that I only got up every few hours to smoke and walk my dog, he said I was to get a calendar and write on it “Made Dinner” and “Walked,” and I was to do those every day and check them off on my calendar. He said nothing about the smoking. He also encouraged me to find a therapist; my first appointment is Friday. (I chose the hot guy.)

I’m not consistent, but I’m trying. I walk for a little while. I make parts of dinner. And then I sit in my chair.

Spoiler Alert: One of today’s pangrams from the Spelling Bee.

Since I have nothing else to do except apply for jobs that get put on hold or disappear or have 700 qualified applicants, I have no excuse for not doing my civic duty, which often means calling congresspeople regularly to protest everything or thank someone for doing the right thing by this country. (If I didn’t live in blue Maryland, I would not be doling out many thank-yous.)

Sometimes I post ideas and publicize events on the socials. But take it for what it’s worth. I’m now a person who is exhausted by syllables.

Whether you’re exhausted or fired up, here are some actions you can take while sitting in your favorite chair (feel free to add your own in the comments).

---

Things to Do While Sitting:

1. Freeze your credit with Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. Now that Elon Musk has access to your social security number, protect yourself against fraud. You can unfreeze temporarily (or permanently) if you need to apply for credit.

2. Check your Social Security account. Download your most recent statement and print it out, just in case someone fiddles with the balances.

3. Diversify. My financial advisor says don’t put all your expensive eggs in one basket. Make sure you spread your money, what little you may have, among stocks and bonds, bank accounts, real estate, crypto, 401k plans, silver and gold, and a little cash. During inflation, cash will do the least good because it stays the same when prices go up.

4. File your income taxes. If you deliberately choose to defraud the government, this is a crime that can come with jail time. If you don’t pay, you’ll pay penalties on what you owe but won’t go to jail.

5. If you had your name legally changed, have it legally changed back. The SAVE (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) Act has reared its ugly head again. It is designed to keep non-U.S. citizens from voting, but it catches many people in its wide net—especially transgender people and women. It would require a birth certificate or passport for voter registration, and if you took your spouse’s name, you’ll be shit out of luck. (Glad I didn’t legally change my middle name to Fuquinay.) 03/26 Update: Trump made this an executive order yesterday, one that will be challenged over and over again.

6. Update your vaccines. Measles will be making a big comeback (now in five states—Texas, Alaska, New York, Rhode Island, and Georgia). In fact, if you got your MMR vaccines between 1963 and 1968, you should get a booster.

   

7. If you can afford to be choosy about where you shop, choose places that value DEI and whose values align with yours (see Goods Unite Us).

8. Get an encrypted email account. Proton has a good one.

9. Watch how your senators are voting.

10. Download 5 Calls, which makes it easy to call your congresspeople.

11. Sign up for Resistbot. They’ll let you know what actions are urgent.

12. Read On Tyranny, by Timothy Snyder. Yes, it will scare the fuck out of you. But let it spur you into action.

13. Read Chop Wood, Carry Water. Jessica Craven is [chef’s kiss].

14. Subscribe to Rebecca Solnit’s Meditations in an Emergency and follow her on Bluesky and Facebook.

15. Get Dave Pell’s NextDraft. He sums news up into humorous bites with links to full articles. (I’ve been reading since the first tRump pResidency.)

16. Read Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American and follow her on Bluesky and Facebook.

17. Find your Indivisible group and join. Attend the weekly meetings.

18. Sign up for Robert B. Hubbell’s Today’s Edition Newsletter.

19. Sign up for Vox’s The Logoff.

20. Subscribe to The Bulwark.

21. Follow Alt National Park Service on Facebook and buy their merch!

22. Read Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail on Facebook. (Good writing.)

updated February 22, 2025

---

And don’t forget the things that fuel your ability to fight.

Things You Have to Get Up For:

1. Get up out of the chair. I’ve been doing that lately in short bursts—concerts, art galleries, lunch with friends, coffee, networking. Good people are out there, and they outnumber the not-good ones.

2. Make something. Write songs, poems, posts. Create art.

3. Cover up swastikas and other fascist or racist graffiti. (Someone in my neighborhood painted over a Jersey barrier on which had been scrawled the name of our dictator before we could get to it.)

4. Make your hugs last for 30 seconds. It triggers oxytocin. Hug often. Hug your pets.

5. Practice self-care and self-love. (I’m trying. I swear.)

6. Ask for help. I went to the doctor because I needed help. I went for a walk with my husband today because I needed help. Call 988 if you need help staying alive.

Who’s a good boy? Ziggy’s a good boy. Yes he is. Yes you are.

---

I drove to 7-Eleven today to get cigarettes. (That’s not self-care, folks; it’s addiction.) While I was walking to my car, a very tall Black* man said hello to me. I looked him in the eye and said, “Hi, how ya doin’?” He said, “Great, how are you?” I said, “I’m not great.” He stopped opening the door and turned toward me and said, “I’m sorry. Things will get better. They will get better.”

I pulled out of the lot crying. I asked for help from a stranger, and I got it.

---

*No. His color doesn’t matter. I’m just pointing out we’re all in this together. Empathy is not in short supply.