I never feel quite so alive as when I am looking at what my community needs and seeking to meet that need. It's felt like everyday I've put in at least a little bit of work since Hurricane Helene destroyed my neighborhood. We're still rebuilding from that disaster and building towards a resilient community that can survive the current ongoing disasters, but it's absolutely electrifying the things I've seen in that work:

• people prioritizing amongst themselves who should be seen by triage nurses first at the overworked hospital the night of the hurricane
• groups handing out narcan because in post-disaster scenarios corporations cut their OTC anagesics with fentanyl
• a young boy whose life was saved by some of that narcan after taking some laced tylenol
• the homeless community providing guidance on recognizing patterns of migration amongst law enforcement agencies to help the entire community be more resilient against ICE sweeps
• a group of neighbors standing in the street throwing balls at each other, not with any particular aim, and certainly with no ruleset, just happily enjoying their presence together
• a great many other things I won't go into that are just as grand, just as beautiful, and at the same time smaller and more personal, as any of my other bullet points

In another reply I emphasized the importance of collaborative efforts but I didn't know how to put into words what you've brought up. Anarchism is life-giving. We keep us safe, and you will never feel as safe as when you are working together to keep your neighbors safe, and seeing them work to keep you safe.

It's funny, too, because we have all of these state induced crises thanks to direct attacks on our communities, as well as the state induced crisis of Winter Storm Fern being a result of athropogenic climate change. And still I feel energized, alive, and full of vigor. Something has awoken in my community since I moved away for work in 2018 and then moved back for my wife's education in 2024. I don't know what will come of this current time, but I am filled with a great deal of hope that we can get positive outcomes by organizing ourselves to meet these crises, and by staying organized to keep on meeting the moment until eventually we've changed what's possible entirely.

Maybe I'm being overly optimistic about what we can do, but I think there have to be people out there who project positivity without it being a toxic form of positivity that denies the pain we're going through in order to shift what people think is possible. In many ways, I see that as my role in my community. I don't necessarily know when it happened, but I am seen as an elder now. People look to me for advice and guidance. I am asked for my input as someone who has experience speaking up and speaking out for the last 21 years of my life after my neighbor was crushed beneath a boulder. Many of my neighbors are new to this because they weren't even born yet when I became an activist.

Anyway.

This is all WAY too much in response to your little one sentence statement and why I was trying to keep it short in my other comment. But I recommend anyone who feels hopeless right now to go connect with other people. Get involved with mutual aid projects, bail funds, court watchers, and community defense groups. You'll find when you are in those spaces you'll feel less like you've gone completely crazy for a few minutes or hours at a time. It's the very best thing you can do for your mental health, and it will help your community immensely