When watching Aftershock in class, I couldn’t help but feel hopeless after a certain point; I felt as though the statistics and facts being presented to the audience were just doubling down on people’s ideas of institutionalized racism, police brutality, and now I learn about the issues around childbirth for black mothers. There’s always more and more that keeps piling on, and after a certain point, I stop and ask myself if this is really what life is. It shouldn’t be. But it is.
My connection to motherhood and childbirth as a gay man is really adoption as it feels like my only option if I were to ever decide to be a father with a future partner. I know that there are other options out there and I know they work but it all involves the same dilemmas and ordeals but with more paperwork and more money. I don’t know how to feel about that; childbirth is really something that white, straight men have control over ever since taking away the midwife in favor of the doctor and OB-GYN. The movie in class was eye-opening and made me think about my own relationship to childbirth and the struggles that my peers in the LGBTQ community face every day regarding the adoption process and laws and regulations about adoption. So many babies for adoption can’t be loved by a gay couple because they are gay, and at some point, I will have to face the same issues because being a parent is in the “straight world” so-to-speak.
This brings me to my question of life burnout; disabilities, sexual minorities, gender, race, and so much more just all gets so jumbled and oppressed and underrepresented and killed and hated and feared and stereotyped and the list goes on. Everything happening in Israel and Palestine adds to it and amplifies the hate that is going on in our life right now. I’m lethargic, tired; why can’t people just see other people and be positive or indifferent instead of choosing hate? And if choosing hate, why do people have to kill? It makes no sense to me and on top of having to find a career after graduation, pay a mortgage and insurance, and actually grow up and get old terrify me and I just feel stuck. That’s my experience right now. I know it will come to pass but having these negative ideas and events pushed and pushed and pushed onto me don’t help and only make me more upset as a human being.
Unruly Bodies 
Things definitely feel bleak right now. I’m sure almost all of us are extremely busy with work, school, and other obligations. Adding the stress of what’s going on in the world right now on top of that can really add to what you called “Life Burnout”. It’s almost impossible not to focus on the negative things going on in the world. There’s also almost nothing that we can do to make a difference for so many of these issues.
It feels a little like global issue whac-a-mole. As soon as one issue seems to quiet down (even though they never really go away), a new just as terrible one comes up.