Permanent High Alert

Metzel is one that I think is needed. We are living at the intersections of so many causes for anxiety, for worry, for stress, and I don't think that we are talking about these issues like mass shootings happening multiple times a week and you know, temperatures being recorded in places that are well above or below normal, that we are really talking about the fact that people, our lives have been upended since twenty nineteen, and what that really

means as a collective right, not just on an individual basis, and that we're looking and searching for things to bring us stability and make us feel quote unquote normal, whatever

the fuck that looks like. And so today it's conversation with Jonathan kind of moves in the same way that my conversation last week with Jennifer Tobb did, which is, you know, how are we all really doing and what are the methods in ways that we can deal with the very real reality that there's a lot of incredibly wild shit that continues to happen, and it feels some days that you're trying to walk through a Category five hurricane right and head to work right like that's normal,

and just be able to continue to go about your regular day to day as if there is in catastrophe literally lurking around every corner, at every gas station, at every dance studio, at every school, place of worship, what have you. And so we get into a really good conversation also about a documentary that I watched called Take Your Pills XANAX on Netflix that is about this trend in numbing and how it has risen over the past several years by astronomical numbers. So coming up next, dear friends,

my conversation with our good, good doctor, doctor Jonathan Metzel. Folks, you know that whenever we have the opportunity to talk with our in house doctor, doctor Jonathan Metzel, I am always thrilled because we have so many issues that are facing the country, Jonathan. And you know, as everyone was alerted over the weekend, New York Times ding ding over

everyone's phone. Even though I try not to watch the news and take a little bit of a break, mass shooting takes place, killing now eleven people in California before we can even get the names down of the people that have died in that tragic mass shooting, another mass shooting happens in California, killing seven people. And in the midst of all of that, I'm trying to really understand how we are all managing and coping with the times

that we are living in. And so I found myself scrolling, you know, through Netflix, looking at documentaries because that's what I do on Netflix, and I came across one called Take Your Pills zanex and you know, it's a whole documentary about the rise of zanex. Use the you know, it talks about COVID, it talks about anxiety with Generation C,

it talks about all of these things. And so I just like, are we missing the conversation, which is the correlation, Jonathan, between what we are being forced to consider as normal in our society, in our day to day and then the availability of prescription drugs that are essentially meant to numb and that is what people need in order to get through. Like, are we missing We're having all of these separate conversations and I'm asking, are we missing the integration?

It's it's it's just think of the moment we're living in. We're living in a state of such constant stress, and it was always the case, but the pandemic has really brought this, I think, into the light in a way that I think we just have never coped with before.

You know, I teach this big class COVID and society, hundreds of students in the class, and the first exercise we always do is I asked them go back to your pre pandemic self, whoever that was, and tell yourself, then something you know now that you didn't You didn't know that. Wow. Like percent of the students will say life as much, you know, life and change or end

for you or somebody you know, or for society. So just before, like I just think people, I think people really feel like the students often say, we just took so many things for granted before, and not that it's just COVID, but you know, think of all the things we've had happened since COVID, George Floyd and war and all these other things, and it just feels like there's just stories and what we do, what we do as

a species to protect ourselves. A lot of times in the face of this, which is we habituate, we normalize, That's kind of what we've done. And so just the amount of stress. I just feel like we were living in a way that just wasn't aware of mortality in a way that I think the pandemic really brought it into focus. And some people responded to that by storming the capital. Some people responded to that by wanting to

hang Fauci or blame China. Some people responded that more many more people responded to that by just internalizing this kind of sense of existential dread. And so I just think that we're living in a moment where like life can change at any moment, and the pandemic it's not just oh, it's just because of COVID by itself, it's also,

you know, it just feels like things are happening. And I see this even with these mass shootings that you know, everybody's like it didn't get the media attention it deserved, and it didn't get the media attention it deserved, but then there was another mass shooting like the next day.

But also it's just that we're living with this kind of sense that something can happen in any moment, and I think that that is really really profoundly taking its tool on people and the mental health world for all that it's been trying to do, just cannot conceivably conceivably keep up with that, you know, talk to me about the fact that we are all collectively experiencing the fact that anything can happen at any moment, can change at

any moment. Because you know, many people would say, well, that's life, right, like you can get hit by a car, you can you know, somebody can have a heart attack and drop dead. What is it that is unique to the experience that we are having now that has us all at this place of what I am saying is high alert, right, Like this high alert which is causing this high anxiety that never abates. And so how is that different? And I think that your question is a

really good one. So if you could dig in between twenty nineteen, right and and and just and and I'll move us not to twenty twenty, but twenty nineteen to twenty twenty three where we are, how is it, you know, and how is it different than our understanding of mortality and how that has shifted. It's not just consciously paying attention to like life and death. It's kind of like a global sense. And I would just ask people watching this,

like do that exercise yourself. And it's not just about oh I feel like I could die at any moment. It's also think of all the other attitudes that have changed as a result of just the knowledge that there could be a global pandemic or that we're seeing. I mean, we've we've had so many mass shootings. It's January. We're averaging like the highest number of mass shootings ever in recorded history. Um right now, like one point six mass

shootings a day in this country. That all the you know, Russia invading Ukraine up ended the kind of social contract that we've had in place for many people's lives since World War Two about national borders et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So it was just a moment, and it's also a moment where a lot of bad guys seem to be winning. You know, a lot of people who are fascists who would have been marginalized in in not just in the US kind of voices, but you know

orbon and Nitan, Yahoo and on down. So we're just seeing the rise of kind of a It just feels

like a dark force. You know, in general, that is kind of a moment where kind of the safety nets of having neighbors and communities just doesn't feel quite as safe as it dating twenty nineteen, and so I would ask people, and maybe, you know, you could argue the other way, like, oh, maybe I appreciate my community more, or my colleague here at work started like growing chickens in his backyard and has we discovered farming and right now not a bad thing to have, like eggs for free.

But so maybe it's the other thing that I would just ask people to do that exercise, right and to think about what attitudes have changed. And it doesn't have to be about welcome death. I mean think about how different we might feel about work or about travel. I am in my head as I'm talking, as we're talking,

like doing it. So I'm just like, I should just say it out loud because one of the you know, I'm thinking, you know, a lot shifted in my own personal life and in the world in general between twenty nineteen and now. But one of the things that as that has shifted but then continues to vacillate is my relationship to work. Right where I know, and people will laugh at this now, but like I used to work even more than I do now, Like it was just there was no there was no downtime, there was no

off ramp. It was just the consistency of being a hamster on a wheel all the time with the pandemic afforded for me and also my mother's illness in having a benign brain tumor, was you know, the recognition of there is other things that are important, right, and like life is actually really fleeting and what am I racing to get to right and missing in you know, in the intrem and I feel like a lot of people have had that feeling right, And then what comes out

of that is these terms like quiet quitting and the great resignation? Or is it that people recognize? And this is funny, Jonathan. The other day, I see this meme and it's been like it's gone viral since. Which is the lie of midlife and what that age actually is? Because if the average person, I think it, and it's an average white person, because I believe that it's like

seventy for black people. But if the average person lives to be seventy eight, which is what I think, that life expectancy is now, then midlife is actually thirty six. So if mid so if mid if midlife is actually

like thirty six or thirty seven. And we're talking about working until retirement age, which is sixty five, you are only actually affording yourself twelve years before you die, right, And how we have this warped kind of how we've had this warped kind of sense and relationship to rest, to ease to work and to leisure and family and all of these things, and how people are kind of pulling back and saying, wait a minute, what if the

fuck am I actually doing? And think of the irony, right, because now the Republicans are, for example, in these in what it's going to be a ridiculous debt ceiling crisis, they're not just trying to get like social Security and Medicaid, but they're trying to push back the retirement age. And so it's just weird that, I mean, again, these are all these are all meta fights, right, but it's just weird that we're pushing back the retirement age at a

time when like life expectancy is going down. So it's like, are you guys not seeing what's happening here? Like, but they do. But I think like they do, right, Like they do see what's happening. They don't. It's the fact that they don't care, right, Like people are just parts to be replaced, like pieces of a car that don't work anymore, right right, It's in a way it just fits into this narrative that we're telling here about the kind of disposability of life, which is such a deep

it's just, you know, we didn't I don't know. There's a forum that used to be great called Twitter, and now it's just full of random crap for the most part. But I've been scrolling through just really for the Jonathan k Part soul Train video clips in the morning and for like random music video clips. Somebody there's this little guy who's saying, ain't nobody going to break my stride?

And it was like a music video and everybody was like dancing and doing all this stuff, and I just thought, like, man, the eighties were so great, like we had no cares in the world, like you know, and I don't know, we just live in a very heavy time right now. It's not like we're doing soul Train or music video. I mean we are maybe or something like that, but it's just there's nothing. There's nothing outside of politics right now.

There's nothing outside of this anxiety. Even when we try to create those spaces, it's kind of what it feels like a lot of times. And so no wonder people are taking a XANX or whatever. It's not like that's a issue. And you know, maybe this will lead to

some societal changes one hundred years from now. Maybe the old structure that we have put in place here just wasn't working, or maybe countries with like I mean, strong strong men are going to come out ahead and dominate everybody else and we're back to like Attila the Hun and Genghis Khan days or something. Who knows, But it does feel like our planet is in the middle of a kind of transformation right now, and it's just hard

to it's a hard scope to understand. But it's just not I guess what I'm saying is like it's we're beyond a therapy issue, even though people should get there for right, great, but they're bigger forces and so people shouldn't feel like they're crazy for feeling and subtled all the time. But that's like I want to stay on that for a second, because that's the thing is that

I've been having. You know, last last week I had on UM my friend author and podcast Sir Jennifer tub and we ended up having what was not at its core a political conversation, which is what I was having her on to talk about white collar crime and all of these things, and it ended up being a are

you okay? You know conversation, And what we pulled out of that was just like, actually, no, right, Like, I feel like I'm doing all of the things that I should be doing, meditating, working out, going on walks, connecting with family and friends. But if I actually drilled down, no, I actually don't feel okay. I feel deeply unsettled. I feel deeply unnerved. I feel a deep sense of worry

and dread. And so if we know that so many people are saying and feeling that, and my therapist says the same thing, She's like, no, no, like, I see more people now, and it's more conversations about the collective, the collective experience and not just these individualized like issues.

So then what, like, what is the way to feel better if we don't want to pop xanax because nobody wants to, like, because we're seeing the effects of what has happened for this long standing practice of just prescribing, prescribing prescribing. Then it has increased addiction, and then suicide rates go up, and it's just like we're in this

awful fucking tornado. Well, I mean, I can just say psychiatry has been put in a position of being asked to treat issues that it only just to say it doesn't even scratch the surface of what's happening as an understatement. So certainly, I think anybody who needs help should get it, and there are mechanisms for help, and I do think therapy and medication in the right instance can be really important. But I would also say that therapy is not a

treatment for like global geopolitical angst. You know, we just got to what we're feeling right now, um, And so I just think, you know, I think you're exactly right that, like, for example, the Great Resignation, it's almost a way of people saying in the old ways not working for me anymore,

and I need to like pay attention. But then then what is working that kind of it's kind of the right, and and it's very unsettling, Like our world was built on a series of relationships that we just took for granted about supply chain and the flow of goods and information and safety that have just been shown to be much more fallible and kind of up for grabs than

we ever realized. And so I just think that it's just causing different kinds of responses, and in a way it's on the flip side, I think it's also why you're seeing more people gravitate toward politicians who, I mean, try floating some one of these fascist dictators. Ten years ago, people would have just said, you know, no, we we vote for society for the most part. I mean not that that as in the case. But now people want dad, they want protection, they want to feel like, you know,

that kind of thing. So in a way, it's not it's not surprising that we're seeing a return to a kind of like strongman strongman politics that I think is important.

And I also really think it's important to be honest for Democrats to pay attention to in terms of what they're going to be up against in twenty twenty four with the way the GOP is going to play this, which is, you know it's going to be maybe Trump but de Santis and Pompeio and all these guys who kind of fit the mold of this deep need right now of like need somebody bossy to kick the acid

of their side and protect us. And not saying the Democrats should like run a fascist white guy of their own, but I would say that they should be prepared for the kind of arguments that worked in twenty twenty not to work in twenty twenty four. I'm listening to everything that you're saying, and I'm like, oh my god, this is absolutely right, Like this is why you It's it's like you're walking in the desert and you're just looking at the mirage and you're going to as in my

favorite movie, the American President said, you will. You know, people are so desperate for leadership that they will drink the sand right like, And that is that is what's happening. That is what maga is, that is what Trumpism is, that is what global fascism is about. It's that I feel like I have no control over my own life, over my own happenings, and maybe somebody from on high can get control and put things back in order in a way that makes sense for me. And also if

somebody can't do that. You hate them, right, you despise them. I'm not saying you, I'm saying you're in general and so weak. It's not a moment for like weakness. Unfortunately, and the Israeli left did not understand this. They thought that democracy was going to hold and it was a grave miscalculation. The elections, you name it anyway, anywhere this is happening, you know, India, Hungary, Pakistan. I mean it's a moment where people are kind of gravitating toward we

want the protection of a feudal lord. And so for Democrats they should be thinking, like, is Biden that person right now? Who's going to be able to stand up to that? Or should they find I don't know, but what does But like, in all honesty, what does stand up to that? Look like you're talking about a you're talking about a collective global sense of lack of control, access, you know, safety and all of these things. What is

the opposite of that? It isn't so if if if the right is about restoring the good old days of Jim Crow and the good old days of of of patriarchy and women being you know, shackled to their stove in their kitchen, with mother's helper in their in their apron If that is the good old days that they are harkening back to, that people are gravitating to white people are gravitating to, then what is the alternative because it's not the we're all in this together and like

can fix it, because that's what Obama offered. Yeah, I think a very clear counter narrative that has a very clear direct plan that is material and direct. Me, that

would be my sense. I'm not a political strategist in any way, but I would just say that I would just say that it's just interesting with Maga, right, I was, I've been thinking about this all that recently, Like it was just some crap Trump made up like in twenty fifteen, right or whatever, and it's become like a moniker for a movement that it's just weird that maga is still

even a phrase, right. I Mean, it was just some stupid stuff in the hat and when we first all heard it, we were like huh, you know, And now it's like the Maga movement is a term that's used all the time right to describe this, and so the Democrats kind of need a brand right now that that I think counters it, but has some kind of clearly

articulated vision. You know, if we could, um, you know, resurrect General Norman Schwartz Coop or somebody like that, you know, I mean, I just I like, I'm failing to see what the what the brand is to combat global anxiety

and fear that is actually steeped in real shit. Like the difference between MAGA and the collective anxiety that people who live on Earth one are facing is the the implosion of Earth climate change that is like out of control, mass shootings that are happening like every like multiple times a week. You know, inflation that is out of control.

I'm going to the grocery store and everything is up by you know, by five and six and seven percent, right, So like these are real concrete things that are out of control that you don't actually have control over. And so I don't know what the counter argument is to one that says I alone can fix this, and you just wanting the eye a lone person, even if you know that they're full of shit. You want to be lied to in this moment. And the thing with Democrats

is that we don't actually lie in that way. They lie about other things, but they're not going to lie to you about the reality of the situation and say all is going to be okay. And if people want to be lied to, right, because the alternative is like either I numb myself with xanax or I numb myself with the lies of Trump. No one wants to feel

the reality of what this moment is. Well, I mean, but what we know what this moment is in terms of this, right, we know that people are looking for paternalism, right, this is a profoundly paternal moment. We know there's a lot of populist anger about inequality, income inequality, so we know there's a lot of uncertainty, so people are wanting to direct answers. We know there's a need to build structures reward cooperation and disincentivized competition. And so it's not

like we don't know the script right now. And I would just say that recognizing what the script is would be like the first step toward trying to figure out how to how to repute that. I mean, of course we're not going to run our own Trump, but I do think again, it's just really incumbent to not say, oh, well, Biden beat Trump in twenty and therefore he can beat him in twenty twenty four. It's it's really a different world right now. I mean, it is a profoundly different

world right now than it was in twenty twenty. And so just recognizing this is I think a first step toward just trying to figure out and it's not just about Democrats winning. Obviously, we're talking about the globe right now, and really this is all going to end up. And maybe this is you know the movie Mars Attacks or all the all the movies where like society gets turned down and then people rebuild it, or you know, who

knows where we're going? Who knows where we're going? I mean again, I've I told you before, Like think about the guy in year three of the Hundred Years War who said, man, finally this thing's coming to an end, but only history. You know, there's ninety seven more years, dude. So it feels like what at the beginning of some big transformations right now about resources, about the planet, about power,

and so just that uncertainty. And I think the most important point, going back to your first point, is that people not feel gasolate by this, that it's okay to feel uncertain right now because there are forces that are acting on us that are different than they were in the Jonathan k Part Soul training clips where people could just boogie on down and have a good time. Yeah,

it's where we are living in extraordinarily wild times. And I think that the best thing that our conversations have been able to offer, Jonathan is that you're not alone in feeling crazy and feeling scared and concerned. That there are a whole host of people that are feeling exactly the same way and acknowledging it and talking about it is part of like unpacking it to not feel like you're carrying that weight alone, Jonathan, as always, this is what this is turning into when I'm feeling a type

of way. I appreciate you so so very much. Dear friends, stay safe, take careybody. That is it for me today, Dear friends on woke f as always, power to the people and to all the people. Power, get woke and stay woke as fuck.