Drugs, mostly. (semi-sarcastic)

in seriousness, meditation has helped me a lot in life with depression and anxiety. I was once told, if you can control your breath then you can manage your emotions. I think that’s somewhat true, obviously you can’t force yourself into feeling whatever you want, but being able to center into a calm place has helped me to stop spiraling and begin climbing back up out of the emotional hole many times.

Likewise, exercise helps. I take long (ludicrously hot) walks sometimes, and I do yoga. It’s often enough to clear out the cobwebs and bad thoughts.

After that, the next thing is perspective. The world isnt a farce, a joke, a punishment, or any of that. The world just is. And it will go on being just as it is with or without any of us individuals affecting it.

I often turn to the Daodejing for advice on this kind of thing. Spiritual practice can be both a balm and a source of perspective. Chapter 29 is relevant here.

Some try to seize the world and change it

I don’t think this can be done.

The world is sacred and cannot be improved.

If you tamper with it you’ll ruin it.

If you treat it like an object, you’ll lose it.

There is a time to lead and a time to follow.

A time to move and a time to rest.

A time for vigor and a time for exhaustion

A time for safety and a time for danger.

The Ideal sees things as they are without trying to control them.

The Ideal dismisses extremes and extravagance.

Give up on that feeling. I want to save the world. I really do. But I’ve realized it’s impossible. However, I can improve my little corner of it. (spend energy on what you can control. Stoicism.) focus on the thing you can make better, one tiny thing at a time.