Radically accept that some things can’t be done. Some things can’t be changed. So: adapt or move on. My leaps into faith are getting weaker. My courage is eroding. My hope is long gone. My uncertainty I’ve been using in place of hope (I don’t know everything) is not cutting the mustard either. Apanthropy is the desire to be away from other people and to be left alone. ‘Tis a consummation, devoutly to be wished. And a high-priced luxury. Despite the high cost of living it’s amazing how popular it remains. Life finds a way? Maybe. Does it really have to be this hard? This is not the way to bring out the best in people. Fear and scarcity, control and terror don’t grow creativity and love and motivation. Mostly they kill it. People improve with external love and support. What they improve into can’t necessarily be predicted, made to order, controlled. What I could be, if I was enough and not too much, if my needs were met, no one can tell. But it can’t be about that. It has to be a leap into faith, that faith whose most basic article is, ‘this is not all there is.’ It will take wanting to see what grows, for better or worse, given the right encouragement. It won’t be easy for anyone. If it’s easy, there’s a chance it’s not, but whatever’s going wrong isn’t obvious yet. Easy solutions can bring on massive disasters, financial collapse, health crises, wealth inequality, polarised us versus them thinking, compulsions, addictions, infrastructure disasters, and violent revolts. But the path of most resistance is sometimes a Swamp of Sadness into which we sink, never to return.