Exhausted By People Who Are Terrified of Change
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I’m Exhausted By People Who Are Terrified of Change
That heading isn’t actually correct. I mean, most people are terrified of change. Change can feel scary. It can be scary. And I’m not exhausted by most people. But I am exhausted by people expending so much negative energy being terrified of harmless changes.
On Twitter this morning, I saw people being terrified of harmless change twice. First, I saw this tweet:
Why would it matter if men are painting their nails? How does that possibly affect a random observer’s life? I remembered my mother talking about how girls weren’t allowed to wear pants to school when she was growing up, and I responded with this tweet:
The second tweet I saw was this one:
This made me angry. Yes, partially because it’s someone being terrified of harmless change, but also because it’s a public attack by someone with a huge Twitter account on a specific person, for absolutely no reason. The author of the tweet, Chaya Raichik, is a really crappy person. She runs a Twitter account called Libs of TikTok and sends her massive audience to harass people and organizations she sees as “woke”. Multiple schools (I’ve read about at least 11 schools) have had bomb threats after she posted them. She does so much real world harm.
Enjoy the quote tweet commentary, which is where I learned this Communications Director is the coolest person alive. Here is one of my favorite responses. Another memorable response was this one:
Look, if this kind of change makes you fearful, I’ve got some bad news: dress and grooming practices change constantly, in fact the fashion industry creates new looks for clothing, hair, and makeup literally every season.
It’s just such a waste of time and energy. The news industry just spent two weeks and dozens of articles on Senator Fetterman’s hoodies. It’s exhausting. People only have so much energy. When the political right forces weeks of coverage and debate about nonsense, it means less energy to spend on actual problem-solving.
/End of my mini rant
A Few Things
Here are a few things I’ve been wanting to share with you:
-From Pocket Observatory by Meg Conley — Altar Bound, a powerful series on the LDS Church and abuse.
-From Jezebel — A woman in New York is suing a hospital after she was denied a medication for cluster headaches due to her being "of childbearing age". Denying women needed medication because a woman could potentially one day become pregnant is unethical.
-From Bloomberg — The SEC is seeking to force Musk to testify about his shady stock trades ahead of his acquisition of Twitter.
-From GQ — How Instagram Ruined Personal Style.
-From Vice — Staten Island crowds torment asylum seekers in city shelter with strobing flashlights and loud speakers at night. With zero evidence, far-righters accuse those seeking refuge of being pedophiles, prostitutes, "invaders."
-From my Instagram — I painted the bathroom door at the Small House and the reaction has been so lovely! It’s just a door, but made a really great transformation. You can see the process in IG highlights.
-From the Washington Post (free link) — Democrats are not obliged to bail out Republicans when the MAGA monster they created comes for them.
-From Newlane University — I interviewed Ben Blair about what’s happening at Newlane University this fall, about who signs up for Newlane, and about what the sign-up process looks like — they’re very short interviews, I promise. : ) If you’re feeling the back-to-school-fall-vibes, consider it a sign that it’s a great time to work on earning your degree!
Book Birthday Giveaway!
October is the first birthday of Ejaculate Responsibly! To celebrate, my publisher is giving away 30 sets of the iconic merch — tote bags, postcards, pencils, and, of course, the I ❤️ Vasectomies trucker hat. Check out this instagram post to find out how to win.
Lately on Design Mom
Chile Verde Slow Cooked Pork Shoulder
Need a dinner idea? Here you go.
Make it! Simple, Beautiful Polymer Clay Earrings
A really fun and satisfying craft project — with three designs to choose from.
How to Polish Shoes
A beautifully photographed guide full of tips and tricks.
Dessert For Two: Sautéed Caramel Apples
We’ve already made this twice since fall arrived. So fast and easy and delicious. There are 4 of us, so we double it.
Find more posts at my blog, designmom.com — now celebrating 17 years of blog posts!
That’s all for now. I hope you have a gorgeous weekend. Feel free to comment on anything I mentioned above, or whatever’s on your mind.
kisses,
Gabrielle
Thank you for always speaking truth to power, Gabby. You have the remarkable ability to enrage me, motivate me to action, then comfort me with caramel apples-- all in the space of a few minutes.
You are absolutely right about men wearing nail polish. Of course, it actually isn't about the nail polish. It is about changes in the way people are self identifying, changes in what it means to be a man or woman, changes in what it means to be a person. The wearing pants in the 60's/70's is the perfect analogy.