How to avoid the election? Be antisocial and drink more

The day before the general election was announced, I had made a momentous decision. I was becoming too stressed and worried about current affairs, I told myself.

A kind of low-level anxiety about world events and politics closer to home can’t be doing me any good, I told myself.

With this in mind, I decided to give myself a wee break from the wider news I couldn’t control and instead concentrate on issues that affect me personally and immediately.

I had one night’s sleep in a non-anxious state of mind before being bombarded from all sides by news of the election and the subsequent realisation my Brenda from Bristol-like stance would be impossible to keep up in the run-up to voting.

I have instead compiled a handy cut-out-and-keep list of distraction strategies for like-minded readers who may share my wish to keep things in perspective until June 8:

Become more antisocial. It will be impossible to have a night out with friends without discussion turning to politics, so decline all invitations unless they involve accompanying a friend on a silent retreat somewhere. This may cost you some friends but may save your sanity.

Bear in mind my oft-repeated mantra that nothing keeps you more grounded than a sock drawer clear-out.

If, like me, you have a special container where you keep all the single socks that come out of the washing machine, in the vague hope that their partners will turn up in subsequent washes, it may be time to abandon hope and chuck them.

While you’re at it, let go of all the novelty socks you have been given but never wear. Believe me, you will feel much better about the future of the world if you have an ordered sock drawer. Drink more. I don’t feel I need to elaborate. Try to curb your binge-watching of your favourite series and ration yourself if you have downloaded the whole series. If you’re feeling wobbly after the TV news, you’ll have a cheeky Car Share or whatever up your sleeve to calm you down.

You’re welcome.

“This may cost you some friends but may save your sanity