Make Your Damn Bed

I've been sick for the last two days and so today, we're jumping back in time to an older episode that I never published (oops!) from Rebecca Solnit's book, Hope in the Dark.

"We are used to constant flux in the daily details of existence, yet the basic structure of the status quo always looks so unalterable. But it’s not. Profound change for the better does occur, even though it can be difficult to see because one of the most common effects of success is to be taken for granted. What looks perfectly ordinary after the fact would often have seemed like a miracle before it.” - Christ Bright

BUY THE BOOK: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/791-hope-in-the-dark

READ FROM THE BOOK: https://blogs.helsinki.fi/vallisaari/files/2018/06/Solnit_Hope_in_the_dark.pdf

THE AUTHOR: http://rebeccasolnit.net/

THE RESOURCES FROM GW University: https:// onlinepublichealth.gwu.edu/resources/sources-for-climate-news/

MORE RESOURCES: 350.org AND https://hiphopcaucus.org/action-center/

DONATE:www.pcrf.net

Get Involved:Operation Olive Branch: Spreadsheets + Links

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The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Read Julie's Medium Blog.

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The problem is, people aren't talking about the same things when they refer to socialism. Most people define socialism differently - but there is a definition (albeit broad) that we can and should all learn together, so we aren't reading to people who aren't even close to the same page.

SOURCES:

1. The 2022 research on American's views of socialism: https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2022/09/19/modest-declines-in-positive-views-of-socialism-and-capitalism-in-u-s/
2. Who's afraid of socialism? https://ips-dc.org/whos-afraid-of-socialism/
3. What is democratic socialism + critiques: https://socialstudieshelp.com/economics/what-is-democratic-socialism-key-features-and-criticisms/
4. Communism vs. Socialism https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/100214/what-difference-between-communism-and-socialism.asp
5. The DSA’s “What is Democratic Socialism?” https://www.dsausa.org/about-us/what-is-democratic-socialism/

Resources for Resisting a Coup: https://makeyourdamnbed.medium.com/practical-guides-to-resisting-a-coup-b44571b9ad66

SUPPORT Julie (and the show!): https://supporter.acast.com/make-your-damn-bed

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The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Read Julie's Medium Blog.

Support JULIE (and the show!)

Support + get some bonus stuff over on PATREON.

Get an occasional personal email from me: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.com

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Back to talk about Zohran tomorrow, but for now let's talk about our core belief filter that shapes how we see the world.

For our entire lives, every single one of us has been developing a filter through which we see and interpret the world. This filter dictates the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, about other people, and the world around us, but because we’ve carried this narrator with us our entire lives, it can be hard to tell which stories are actually fiction, and it can be even more difficult to remember that we can sometimes rewrite happier through line, for certain stories that aren’t as helpful anymore. 

LINK:https://www.verywellmind.com/how-to-challenge-your-negative-core-beliefs-7554706 

https://positivepsychology.com/core-beliefs-worksheets/ 

https://positive.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Table-of-Common-Core-Beliefs.pdf

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The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Read Julie's Medium Blog.

Support JULIE (and the show!)

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Get an occasional personal email from me: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.com

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Democratic socialism in the United States has been maligned since before I was born. After WWII, there was the Cold War (which was a series of proxy wars that ended with the dissolution of the USSR in 1991) and since then, there has been a deliberate effort to associate any form of socialism with dictatorships and communism and tyrannical government overreach. 

But in reality most people I speak to are truly democratic socialists n the policies they’d like to see. And I know that sounds like a bold claim, and I don’t want to pretend like it would solve everything for everyone, but right now - it makes perfect sense to me and anyone I’ve interacted with about this stuff, as the next step in the seismic systemic shifts that need to occur. 

SOURCES:

1. Who's afraid of socialism? https://ips-dc.org/whos-afraid-of-socialism/
2. What is democratic socialism + critiques: https://socialstudieshelp.com/economics/what-is-democratic-socialism-key-features-and-criticisms/
3. Communism vs. Socialism https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/100214/what-difference-between-communism-and-socialism.asp
4. The DSA’s “What is Democratic Socialism?” https://www.dsausa.org/about-us/what-is-democratic-socialism/

Resources for Resisting a Coup: https://makeyourdamnbed.medium.com/practical-guides-to-resisting-a-coup-b44571b9ad66

SUPPORT Julie (and the show!): https://supporter.acast.com/make-your-damn-bed

DONATE to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund: www.pcrf.net

GET AN OCCASIONAL PERSONAL EMAIL FROM ME: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.com

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OR BE A REAL GEM + TUNE IN ON PATREON: www.patreon.com/MYDBpodcast

OR WATCH ON YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/juliemerica 

The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Read Julie's Medium Blog.

Support JULIE (and the show!)

Support + get some bonus stuff over on PATREON.

Get an occasional personal email from me: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.com

Tune in on INSTAGRAM AND YOUTUBE or TIKTOK

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I feel like a lot of people expect propaganda to be on the nose. War posters, Uncle Sam pointing directly at you to recruit you for the war or directly glorifying it. But I am starting to notice how propaganda is becoming more and more insidious and targeted and effective. 

In an episode a long time ago, I remember talking about the concept of Dialectical thinking, which refers to the ability to hold space for multiple, contradictory truths at once. The ability to use multiple truths and perspectives to arrive at a more comprehensive understanding of things. But it is work. It may feel more intuitive for some people, but as I have come to realize, holding space for nuance and complexity in understanding something, is not a task every person is capable of doing.

So, if we’re talking about propaganda, and we are at the baseline of understanding that everything is political, I think it’s important to call out that this means propaganda is in EVERYTHING we consume, whether it’s in support of an ideology or a religion or control, it’s it is rarely obvious and typically buried in things we love for other reasons. 

SOURCES:

1. Who's afraid of socialism? https://ips-dc.org/whos-afraid-of-socialism/
2. What is democratic socialism + critiques: https://socialstudieshelp.com/economics/what-is-democratic-socialism-key-features-and-criticisms/
3. Communism vs. Socialism https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/100214/what-difference-between-communism-and-socialism.asp
4. The DSA’s “What is Democratic Socialism?” https://www.dsausa.org/about-us/what-is-democratic-socialism/

Resources for Resisting a Coup: https://makeyourdamnbed.medium.com/practical-guides-to-resisting-a-coup-b44571b9ad66

SUPPORT Julie (and the show!): https://supporter.acast.com/make-your-damn-bed

DONATE to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund: www.pcrf.net

GET AN OCCASIONAL PERSONAL EMAIL FROM ME: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.com

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OR BE A REAL GEM + TUNE IN ON PATREON: www.patreon.com/MYDBpodcast

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The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Read Julie's Medium Blog.

Support JULIE (and the show!)

Support + get some bonus stuff over on PATREON.

Get an occasional personal email from me: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.com

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Today is a refresher course on the "awareness wheel" which leads us into tomorrow's episode.

feeling outta whack? off kilter? need a lil grounding?

check in with where your attention has been going with a lil awareness wheel: YOU are the center. Around you are categories to prioritize BALANCE within like: health, relationships, career, hobbies, goals, rest, etc.

resource: https://www.als.net/ice-bucket-challenge/

WATCH THIS EPISODE + OTHER CONTENT: www.youtube.com/juliemerica

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Read Julie's Medium Blog.

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The resistance is diverse and often spontaneous. Additional disruptive action can win real gains (and already has).Large masses of people are experiencing, and expressing, a sense of solidarity with the oppressed.  There are no guarantees. But there is every reason to maintain some optimism and keep our eyes open.

SOURCES:

1. Mel Bienenfeld's Article: https://tempestmag.org/2025/06/prospects-for-organized-mass-struggle/
2.  David Whitehouse’s We need to do this together 
3. the editorial In honor of Mayday 
4. John Lewis’ “good trouble”, an idea with mainstream support,

Resources for Resisting a Coup: https://makeyourdamnbed.medium.com/practical-guides-to-resisting-a-coup-b44571b9ad66

SUPPORT Julie (and the show!): https://supporter.acast.com/make-your-damn-bed

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OR BE A REAL GEM + TUNE IN ON PATREON: www.patreon.com/MYDBpodcast

OR WATCH ON YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/juliemerica 

The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Read Julie's Medium Blog.

Support JULIE (and the show!)

Support + get some bonus stuff over on PATREON.

Get an occasional personal email from me: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.com

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Preparation never includes: overthink everything from every angle all the time.

There’s a line between aware and too aware, and learning everything there is to know can’t save you from reality when it happens. The best preparation is hands on, so actually call your local politicians and see if you can speak to them one on one. Or if thats too much, go talk to your neighbors, or if that’s too much, go check out a library book and read it. And build upon that, and eventually maybe you can consider running for office and actually making a fucking difference in real tangible ways, or at least, find out who is in your local elections with your interests in mind, so you can support the fuck out of them.

Remember most control is given freely, most power is given freely. Take that shit back, so that when you start to feel empowered, you can really do something with it. 

SOURCES:

1. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1017/S0022381609990879
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diversionary_foreign_policy 
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFiGzEvdNUs
4. https://www.tiktok.com/@jamellebouie/video/7518576478913711373?lang=en

Resources for Resisting a Coup: https://makeyourdamnbed.medium.com/practical-guides-to-resisting-a-coup-b44571b9ad66

SUPPORT Julie (and the show!): https://supporter.acast.com/make-your-damn-bed

DONATE to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund: www.pcrf.net

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OR BE A REAL GEM + TUNE IN ON PATREON: www.patreon.com/MYDBpodcast

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The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Read Julie's Medium Blog.

Support JULIE (and the show!)

Support + get some bonus stuff over on PATREON.

Get an occasional personal email from me: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.com

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Making this shit backfire in whatever way possible, is a great way to push back against further escalations.  Keep talking about the protests, keep talking about the legality, keep talking about how unnecessary and expensive and deadly and cruel and violent and painful this war will be for everyone. Because this, like all the other chaos the regime has been enacting, is a very common dictator strategy. It’s another form of scapegoating. Get everyone focused and talking about this new real threat and fear of another potential outside enemy so we stop talking about the old real threat of the enemy domestically. 

This whole thing is rooted in a classic dictator strategy. Get people talking about something else because the media can’t not talk about THIS! It’s wwIII, forget the tanking economy, the grocery prices, the climate crisis, the gun crisis, the political violence crisis, the protests, the formal legal inquiries into a stolen election, the AI crisis, the surveillance and privacy crisis, the attacks on women, trans people, immigrants, and people who look like immigrants. Don’t talk about the waste of $45 million on a parade that looked like a chore, and don’t even think about the 5 million people that protested it. 

SOURCES:

1. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1017/S0022381609990879

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diversionary_foreign_policy 

3, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFiGzEvdNUs

Resources for Resisting a Coup: https://makeyourdamnbed.medium.com/practical-guides-to-resisting-a-coup-b44571b9ad66

SUPPORT Julie (and the show!): https://supporter.acast.com/make-your-damn-bed

DONATE to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund: www.pcrf.net

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OR BE A REAL GEM + TUNE IN ON PATREON: www.patreon.com/MYDBpodcast

OR WATCH ON YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/juliemerica 

The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Read Julie's Medium Blog.

Support JULIE (and the show!)

Support + get some bonus stuff over on PATREON.

Get an occasional personal email from me: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.com

Tune in on INSTAGRAM AND YOUTUBE or TIKTOK

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/make-your-damn-bed.

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Tomorrow I'll be back with a NEW episode, but for now, enjoy this fan favorite from episode 300 and something. According to science, humans kind of suck at knowing what will genuinely make us happier in the long run. Society tells us what we really want is to find love and money and success, but in reality, we may already have all the things that we could ever want to be happy people, but were too busy trying to meet some arbitrary societal deadline to notice.

Resources for Resisting a Coup: https://makeyourdamnbed.medium.com/practical-guides-to-resisting-a-coup-b44571b9ad66

SUPPORT Julie (and the show!): https://supporter.acast.com/make-your-damn-bed

DONATE to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund: www.pcrf.net

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OR BE A REAL GEM + TUNE IN ON PATREON: www.patreon.com/MYDBpodcast

OR WATCH ON YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/juliemerica 

The opinions expressed by Julie Merica and Make Your Damn Bed Podcast are intended for entertainment purposes only. Make Your Damn Bed podcast is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Read Julie's Medium Blog.

Support JULIE (and the show!)

Support + get some bonus stuff over on PATREON.

Get an occasional personal email from me: www.makeyourdamnbedpodcast.com

Tune in on INSTAGRAM AND YOUTUBE or TIKTOK

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/make-your-damn-bed.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.