Ray Morgan: Keeping Sane in 2017

January 31, 2017 by Ray Morgan

Funny old time, isn't it? I say "funny", I actually mean utterly depressing, where a self-confessed proud groper of women is leading the United States, and our Prime Minister is holding hands with him trying desperately to ignore his fascist comments about refugees, and torture. We thought 2016 was awful didn't we? I worry for what 2017 holds.

It's easy to get bogged down by the woes of the world. I've stopped watching the breakfast news in the mornings because I don't want to fill my head with the world's sadness before the first cup of tea of the day. I don't watch the news at all these days - the rolling coverage of it all can feel too much. Instead, I read the newspaper online daily and find out about world events on Twitter because I can pick and choose what I click on. I don't mean to say I filter out the bad stuff - believe me, I read it - but it's up to me in what order I consume the news, and at what time.

Something I'm doing a lot more of is listening to the radio; predominantly Radio 4. While there's news aplenty on it, there's also an immense amount of other, good stuff to learn. I spent most of my weekend tinkering about in my flat, sorting through stuff, having a big clear out and chucking toot and clutter. I had my sister in law's dog with me, who snoozed on the sofa and occasionally sniffed piles of magazines to chuck, even falling asleep on a tower of old bank statements to shred. I had Radio 4 on the whole time, and I am always amazed at how much I learn when I'm listening.

You can hear stories that would otherwise escape you. Stories of the now elderly women who campaigned for birth control and reproductive rights 40 years ago - pioneers who paved the way for how we live today. A heartbreaking story about two women who ran a food truck that served army barracks for 20 years but has been destroyed by big corporations. The story of a 97 year old body builder and sprint runner (something he started at 96) whose philosophy on good health is "work, nutrition, exercise". It fills your head and heart with goodness and inspiration. And why watch the horrible 10 o'clock news when you can go to bed early and catch up on Desert Island Discs? (I recommend Lauren Bacall, Ali Smith, JK Rowling and of course the lovely recent castaway David Beckham).

I think as a writer, you naturally feed on other people's lives. You might hear a throwaway anecdote and you think "that would make a great line in a story". I can see a person in the street and build them into a character; I can't help it. And listening to the radio helps me do that too. Tiny seeds of inspiration from things like radio can grow into huge ideas, and I love that. So that's how I'm coping with things like the whole Trump shizzle. Also by calling it "shizzle" it makes it feel light hearted and not at all scary. Sort of.

Something else important when world events get you down - or life events, I know how personal stuff can be awful in an even bigger way - is to try and see beauty in the every day. Over the past couple of weeks we had the most badass frosts, didn't we? I saw whole spider webs frozen, like iced lace. Blaring blue morning skies with skittering peals of starlings streaking across, calling to each other. Our beautiful estuary, of course, which changes every minute if you stop and give it your time. Sometimes even a bus stop can be lit in peach tones as the sun comes up, and it fills you with joy. It depends how you look at everyday things.

Before you open Twitter of a morning it's nice to have a cup of tea and view the way your frosted garden looks before everyone else gets up. Before you remember Trump's posing for photos poring over blank pieces of paper in the Oval Office, or Theresa May is facing another day wrangling with Brexit. Beauty in the every day - and the stories of everyday people on the incredible resource that is BBC Radio 4 - it can keep you sane.