Putting this thread together for anyone like me who has been experiencing an unusually higher sense of anxiety caused by the pandemic but also supercharged and heavily linked to the current toxic state of Twitter.

So in the last 10 days, I’ve noticed that my anxiety has been a lot higher than usual. The reason I know it’s linked to Twitter is 1) constant rumination over things I’ve seen on here 2) questioning if I’m a bad person for staying quiet 3) feeling anxious when I open the app

Some might say this is just Twitter but I’ve noticed a difference & this is linked to the current lockdown and the fact that you can’t MOVE for arguments and misunderstandings on the site because everything is now online - daily communication, our social lives etc

Things that normally wouldn’t be a big deal all of a sudden are because there is less distraction and also people as a whole are angry. But also because the volume of tweets has gone up and we’re now seeing things that should remain as private thoughts, on here.

This thread isn’t debating about what is right or wrong - we all have causes we care about but about preserving your sanity because if you burn out, you’re not going to be of use to anyone. So first

I’ll use an example of mental health activism. When I talk about tough things that have happened to me, I only do it when I’m at a place where I have the mental reserve and capacity. If I am mentally firefighting then I cannot. Or the consequences are catastrophic.

So the first thing is to check in on your reserves. Do you have them? Are you able to withstand some of the brutality on here? Is this the right place etc for you at the moment? These are important questions.

The second. When you have an alcoholic loved one, and you are in recovery from dealing with them, the word they sometimes use to describe you is a para-alcoholic. This means you aren’t an alcoholic but you take on the characteristics from the chaos to the paranoia.

I have noticed that by following and reading about people’s arguments on here, people’s negative tweets, they are having a secondary effect on me and my mental health. So I’m inheriting their anger, that triggers anxiety and then worry.

So I’ve set a boundary. Currently I don’t have the reserves, and I have worked SO hard on my serenity and peace. And when I have the energy I can help out but that moment is not now. So I’m limiting what I read on here. I’m shutting down the app if it triggers anything.

And the world won’t end, and you’re not a bad person if you don’t get back to someone immediately, because these are challenging times, fires are everywhere, and right now I just want to sit in a bucket of water and not catch alight.