THE OBSERVER'S GUIDE TO WATCHING EVERYTHING BURN (WITHOUT LOSING YOUR MIND).
Why Your Sanity Can't Depend on Systems You Don't Control.
You know what’s funny? Watching people lose their minds over things they can’t control while the thing they could control - their reaction - just goes completely unmanaged.
It’s like watching someone stand in the rain screaming at the clouds to stop. The clouds don’t care. They’re clouds. It’s going to rain. That’s what clouds do. Meanwhile, this person’s getting absolutely soaked, increasingly furious, convinced that if they just scream loud enough, the weather will change.
I see this constantly in political commentary. People documenting institutional failure - good work, solid research, bulletproof evidence - then completely losing their shit when nothing changes. Like they genuinely expected Bristol City Council to read their analysis and go “Oh my god, you’re right, we’ve been terrible, let’s completely reform.”
That was never going to happen. The council’s not broken because they don’t know they’re failing. They know. They’ve got the same data you have. They just don’t care because the failure doesn’t cost them anything. It costs you. That’s kind of the point.
I document systems collapse most of the time. Councils promising a thousand affordable homes while selling twelve hundred existing ones. Policies rammed through despite 54% public opposition. Budgets pissed away on privatisation schemes that collapse before anyone signs anything. All researched, cited, and published.
Nothing changes.
Not because the work’s bad - it’s excellent. But because systems in terminal decline don’t suddenly develop competence just because you pointed out they’re incompetent. They’re not incompetent by accident. They’re incompetent by design. The incompetence serves someone. Just not you.
Here’s what I’ve figured out: the people running these systems aren’t stupid. They’re just playing a different game than you think they’re playing. You think the game is “deliver public services effectively.” That’s adorable. The actual game is “maintain funding and employment while managing problems indefinitely without ever solving them.”
Because solved problems don’t justify next year’s budget. Solved problems don’t need coordinators and consultants and awareness campaigns, and strategy officers. Solved problems are career-limiting.
Count how many mortgages depend on homelessness continuing to exist. Or addiction. Or any systemic crisis you can name. Thousands of jobs. All dependent on the problem not getting fixed.
You really think they’re incentivised to solve it?
This is where people usually go one of two ways. Either they burn out completely - “what’s the point, nothing matters, I give up” - or they double down and get increasingly frantic trying to make people listen. Louder. More desperate. Compromising standards just to get attention.
Both positions are based on the same mistake: thinking your happiness depends on their response.
It doesn’t. It can’t because they’re not going to respond. Not the way you want them to. Not ever.
The captain’s not changing course. The ship’s heading is exactly where it’s designed to head. You standing on the deck with a megaphone isn’t changing that. The only question is whether you’re going to destroy yourself trying.
Marcus Aurelius figured this out two thousand years ago. Roman Emperor, with actual power to change things, wrote in his diary: “You have power over your mind, not outside events.”
Not “you have power over your mind AND outside events if you try hard enough.” Just... your mind. That’s it. That’s what you’ve got.
Everything else - their decisions, their responses, their reforms, their competence - that’s all outside your control. Pretending otherwise is just setting yourself up for misery.
He still governed. Still did the work. But his happiness wasn’t hostage to whether Rome became perfect or the Senate developed sense or his policies worked exactly as planned.
He controlled his standards. Everything else could be whatever it was going to be.
That’s not giving up. That’s just being realistic about where your power actually lives.
So what does this look like practically?
You research thoroughly - because you have standards, not because they’ll listen.
You fact-check obsessively - because accuracy matters to you, not because truth changes anything.
You publish consistently - because silence would be worse, not because publication fixes anything.
Every motivation is internal. Every standard is yours. Every measure of success is something you directly control.
The instant you make any of it dependent on their response, you’ve handed your sanity to people who can barely manage a spreadsheet. They don’t deserve that power.
Here’s the weird bit: the moment you stop needing them to change, your work gets better.
You’re not bitter when they ignore you - why would you be? You expected it. You’re not desperate for validation - don’t need it. You’re not twisting yourself trying to find the magic words that’ll finally make them care.
You’re just observing. Documenting. Finding the patterns. Occasionally finding the whole thing darkly hilarious.
And that shows in the work. Because you’re not trying to persuade anyone anymore. You’re just describing what’s happening. Reality doesn’t need to convince anyone of anything. It just is.
The person who needs the system to acknowledge them isn’t free. They’re just another person seeking approval, getting increasingly frantic when it doesn’t come.
The person who documents what’s happening without needing validation? They’re sovereign. Their ground is in the observation, not the response.
So there you are. Systems are collapsing. Nothing’s getting fixed. The people responsible aren’t listening and never will. The outcome’s already determined.
You can spend your energy getting increasingly frantic about it, destroying your equilibrium, convinced that if you just find the right approach, they’ll finally pay attention.
Or you can watch. Document. Maintain your standards. Maybe find the absurdity funny. Do the work because it has value to you, regardless of what they do with it.
One destroys you. The other makes you free.
The system’s going down either way. The only question is whether you’re taking your sanity with it.
Properly grounded people don’t need systems to reform to stay functional. Don’t need anyone to acknowledge their work. Don’t need validation from people who’ve already demonstrated they’re useless.
They just need to know they did the work properly. That’s it. That’s the whole thing.
Everything else is just noise.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, Bristol City Council just announced something spectacular, and I want to get it documented before they delete it.
Should be useful later.
SOURCES & CITATIONS:
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book 5, Section 9 (c. 170-180 AD): “You have power over your mind—not outside events. Realise this, and you will find strength.”
Bristol City Council housing stock data: 1,222 council properties sold 2021-2024 period, documented via Freedom of Information requests FOI-BCC-2023-1847 and FOI-BCC-2024-0392, contrasted with the Green Party 2021 local election manifesto commitment to deliver 1,000 new affordable homes annually.
East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood consultation data: Bristol City Council consultation report EBL-2024-03 showing 54% resident opposition to scheme, implemented March 2024.
If this resonated - if you’re documenting collapse and wondering whether it matters - share it. Sometimes the most useful thing is just knowing you’re not mad for noticing.
“The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”