Downton Abbey, season 3; PhD, year 3

[dolorosa_12]

Can someone please explain why I should feel a shred of outrage that a patronising, paternalistic, privileged, cheating nobleman who was so financially incompetent that he lost all his wife's money on an idiotic investment is being forced to sell the family estate that gives back nothing to the wider community besides providing jobs for the people who serve his family?

Julian Fellowes clearly thinks I should feel that this is a grave, undeserved injustice.

Life goes on in its up and downy manner. Today I edited half of my PhD chapter. This went relatively smoothly, although for some reason, after lunch I felt a wave of anxiety so profound that I ended up sitting on the floor, crying and sort of rocking back and forth.

I managed to get a grip by going out for a long walk in the pouring rain. There are two paths that I could've taken along the route I chose: a bike path that is higher up, paved with asphalt, or a dirt track along the river, muddy and marshy. I chose the river track, despite not having any gumboots. There's something profoundly satisfying about trudging through the mud, being lashed by the wind and rain.

But my point is this: I'm not always in a position to go for a long walk when these waves of anxiety (or depression, or, occasionally, rage) hit. I'm thinking of tracking these things by noting my levels of depression, anxiety and rage every day, but it struck me that these things fluctuate, and I should try to keep track of what is bringing them on. People who have any experience with doing this, do you tend to note your levels of these emotions multiple times in the day, or only once a day?

Comments

[cereswunderkind.livejournal.com]

Don't worry about Downton. It's only a soap opera with an American-sized budget, made to sell cruises. I'm more concerned about the hash that Tom Stoppard made of the finale of Parade's End.

Can't help much with the anxiety, sorry. When I was severely pissed-off with working at a certain Cambridge-based aerospace and vehicle company I used to leave the office, go across the road, and sit in the park.

[dolorosa-12.livejournal.com]

Oh, Downton is a ridiculous show. It just struck me as being particularly poor taste in the current economic climate. ('Oh, the horror! This exceptionally wealthy family has to leave their estate!' Meanwhile, people have to choose between eating and paying the electricity bill.) What was wrong with the finale of Parade's End? (Not having read the books, I don't know how inaccurate the series was.)

Walking and exercise seem to calm me down a lot. It's weird how helpful it can be to just move to a different place, sometimes. I hope your current work is much less infuriating.