Don‘t get how people can just keep going with current events

[u/Hot_Screen_8694]

I feel so isolated with how i feel about this, because mostly when someone i talk about this stuff its like: just focus on stuff you can actually control. I know they mean well.. but honestly, that really doesnt help me cause i just cant put on a smiley face and ignore all the horrific stuff happening in the world.
I am really trying to avoid the news but people talk about it, and i dont want to give up on my social life. I cant for the life of me get how people can just keep going to work, travelling, buying stuff, being all happy, when we are literally destroying our planet and wars are going on and our lives are basically in the hand of a few villains.
There are people out there making babies, long time future plans, while i wake up more and more depressed everyday. I am sick of seeing people showing off their shit they bought on temu, buying stuff they will use only once, and then throw it away, people on social media making „funny“ posts about wasting food for a prank and for clicks.. i feel like everyone is asleep and just dont see that we are using up the planets resources for momentary pleasures. What are we even doing??
I dont know how to keep going on with a positive mindset or how to not lose motivation and inspiration every single day when all i see is people getting more polarised, more frustrated and isolated.. i just extremely miss my childhood in the 90s where things were simpler and technology wasnt such a huge part of our lives. I just wanna wake up thinking theres actually a chance that things will be better but at the moment it all seems so dark. I know there were difficult times before but it feels like so many things are happening at once, one disaster after the next and it ijust keeps getting worse. Society and the climate just all seem sick and everything feels so awfully heavy.
Dinner: homemade plum pie

[u/trendingtattler]

HEADS UP GIRL 🚨 your post made it to /r/popular!

Congratudolences! 😅 If the rate of notifications starts getting to you, no need to delete your post! Instructions in Sanity Saver #5 can help you mute them.

For the newcomers:

Welcome to r/GirlDinnerDiaries!

A few unique things about how we roll here:

➽ You're now entering the Girl Zone 🚨 Guys' guidance summarized: stick to GIFs or emojis, or otherwise be patient for mods' manual comment reviews. Don't embarrass your mama. 🤨

➽ Approved users only! Newbies will be prompted to take 10 lil seconds to get approved. Nbd.

➽ BE KIND, BE THOUGHTFUL or BEGONE. Our communication standards are higher than just "don't be mean." Check em out here.

➽ Queer friendly. The end.

➽ ED-recovery friendly. No food critiques, body shaming, diet advice, or calorie counting kinda talk. Call your almondmom for that.

ModMail is open & active. MWUAH! 😙🫴💋

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/entcanta333]

I feel this so much. Do you know what I keep reminding myself? That they haven't taken my humanity. They haven't desensitized me to the violence, the oppression, and the lies. We are having appropriate reactions to really messed up shit going on.

[u/SoftSects → u/entcanta333]

Same same. I totally feel what op is feeling and I'm trying my hardest to be on top of me.

[u/NoTackle718]

There's people in literal war zones at the moment trying to pull through. The best way to stop the downward spiral of self pity and paralysis is praxis: join a food solidarity network, join a neighborhood initiative to help undocumented migrants, join a labor union and f**k up some corrupt bosses. 

Otherwise saying that you think everyone is asleep and you are eyes wide open awake seems like a pipeline to selfish misanthropy and a justification to do nothing in solidarity with anyone. 

Fight the apathy, do something to make life worth living for.

[u/Intelligent_Fly6075 → u/NoTackle718]

This ^ When people talk about focusing on what is within your control, it doesn't mean ignoring anything. It's about actually looking around your local community, for eg, and being like ok, what can I join? What needs to be done? There are already so many cool as hell people fighting the important fights. Literally pick one!

Deeply empathise with the depression spiral having been there, but honestly, stepping back from social media and focusing in on my own surroundings has been key. After all, what difference are you making sitting at home feeling like shite? I volunteer at the local community farm, do litter picking when I can, care for my loved ones emotionally and physically, and have started taking care of myself more! It all has its limits. I'm physically disabled and neurodivergent so have had to learn to be a bit disciplined about rest. But, this is much better.

Oh, and my therapist recommended having boundaries around how I engage with the news. So, social media scrolling just feeding me random like yay a cat, oh a video of genocide was not the way.

[u/Hot_Screen_8694 → u/Intelligent_Fly6075]

Believe me i know what im „supposed“ to do but with fighting depression its a vicious cycle.. yes i should not sit around feeling like crap but i just dont have the energy sometimes to get up and do stuff like i see the point of it. Im at uni, and almost gave it up though its the last year, because i dont see the point of studyin sustainability management. during my studies instead of learning about how we can make the world a better place, we mostly learn more about how big companies f up the planet and its all abt greenwashing, and whatnot. Very uplifting :( i still decided to keep going bcus i already put so much time and effort in it, i was top 2 in my class last year but honestly i do the bare minimum now.

[u/Intelligent_Fly6075 → u/Hot_Screen_8694]

Ah, ok. So, two things are happening, then. One is what is happening in the world, and the second is your depression/anxiety. They're not unrelated, but they're also not the same thing. You are an animal and need to feel safe, hydrated, fed etc. This was my exact situation (sans the specifics about uni). My therapist and loved ones helped me come back.

Also, I know this might seem tangential, but do you ever go birdwatching?

[u/Successful-Alarm-871 → u/Intelligent_Fly6075]

This is such a beautiful response. Right out of the books. Thank you for sharing it.

[u/Extra_Inspector8389 → u/Hot_Screen_8694]

Start small, OP. I also struggle with depression Big Time but after nearly ending it last year, I decided I wanted to connect with my community- I don't want to spiral anymore.

When I have the energy, I participate in relevant scientific surveys for my community (LGBTQ health and information in this case) but you can find studies for other groups you are in or care about as well. Information is power and interviews are usually brief.

There's also local events. My library had an opportunity for me to volunteer in a community garden that feeds the homeless. I was only able to attend for an hour but that is something.

Looking can feel exhausting too but when you give what you have a little at a time, it adds up.

Don't expect yourself to be some paragon of justice or some societal hero (I mean for anyone who has the strength and resources for that, hell yeah.) Work with what you have, give what you've got. It really does help.

[u/BubblesAndSass → u/Hot_Screen_8694]

Do you think it would be better to do some sustainability management or none at all? You don't have to work for companies that greenwash, you can work for companies where you can make an actual difference in their practices. You have agency.

But quitting your degree helps nothing and no one. Giving up helps nothing and no one.

[u/Milehighboots → u/Hot_Screen_8694]

Girl, I am in the pit right now, too. I started crocheting because it’s creating something good in the world (even if it’s a little crooked), and I don’t have to people to do it.

[u/InchoateBlob → u/Hot_Screen_8694]

I had a similar train of thought because I spent much of my childhood watching nature documentaries and wanting to study oceanography until I realized a lot employment opportunities were just working for big oil corporations destroying the environment... You just gotta pivot and look for something else that gives your life meaning. Sustainability management wasn't the thing for you... I know it sucks and everything feels meaningless but you gotta keep looking for that little lever you can pull that makes a tiny bit of a difference.

[u/Ott82 → u/Hot_Screen_8694]

I get this. I spiralled back into depression early this year and my therapist has been really helpful. I changed the type of posts I see, it was very graphic awful images and I’ve switched to more word posts. That way I’m still keeping up to date and sharing info but I’m not battered by images we aren’t supposed to be ok with daily.

Volunteering is key. You meet good people, you actually feel like you’re doing something, yes it’s small, but it helps people

Reality is we can’t fix the big stuff, but we can make life better in smaller ways, and if enough of us do this then there is big change.

When I can I donate to food banks, any small thing I can do helps. And it helps me a ton too

I also play games, cozy games that I can escape into for a time. Eating as well as you can and exercising to help your depression is good too

Yes it feels hopeless still but disconnecting more and reconnecting with people volunteering is such a great help.

As for your career? Well yes we are destroying the environment but hopefully we won’t always have governments who are good with that. And your role is still important even if they are. We have to keep fighting and there are people willing to do that, you just need to find them.

[u/InchoateBlob → u/NoTackle718]

Yeah I think this is a big one. I manage to get up in the morning and go to work because I work at a nonprofit organization that feeds people. I don't think I'd be able to do it if that wasn't the case. At some point in my twenties I spent about 3 weeks working for a bank and I would drink a bottle of wine by myself every night just to dull how shitty I felt about existence. It doesn't have to be your literal job bc of course that's not possible for everyone, but the important thing is to do some kind of action... It can be volunteering on weekends, political activism, just doing SOMETHING will help.

[u/wanderlust8288 → u/NoTackle718]

Stated without the unnecessary judgment, OP, there are others who feel and see things similar to you. When those around you dont share your reality, you can start to feel despair and isolation, especially if theyre your family. But youre not alone. Seek out community who sees things like you do and are trying to adress some of the issues contributing to the bleak outlook, and work together.

The shared vision and purpose amd connections can allow your nervous system to settle a bit so that you can also find joy, even in small moments. The old ways of being and joy don't work for you anymore, and thats ok. You just need some people around you that can share your reality and something constructive to direct your energy to (a 'what you can control' that aligns with your values and worldview.)

[u/NoTackle718 → u/wanderlust8288]

Unnecessary judgement is saying that people around you are asleep and destroying the planet while you cry about it. Learning to seek out the people that are actually doing something is the only way to do something against that kind of apathy. That's how people end up hating people in third world countries for having "too many kids" and burning trash for heating. 

You can dress up the message any way you want, but where I am and how people around me can survive right now is keep going. If op prefers a warm blanket instead of the opinion of someone who can't shrug it off, that's fine. But implying that this response is disrespectful just because it doesn't suit your sensibilities doesn't seem intellectually honest.

PS. The 90s were only fine if you lived in the west, for the rest of us it was a shit storm. Welcome to our part of the world.

[u/Hot_Screen_8694 → u/wanderlust8288]

Thank you so much for this comment. I know that ppl mean well but 2-3 of the commenters here chose a bit of a hostile tone, and with all my anxiety and depression its not really helping. Maybe they went for tough love that works for some but for me it just makes me feel even more isolated. Your comment is like a warm blanket ..
I actually tried volunteering a few months ago i went to a senior home and got extremely triggered bcus some patients had the same condition my father had (he didnt make it), so i chose not to do that instead. My depression comes and goes, but it doesnt let me do things consistently because when its here, i get very numb and its hard to get things done. Yet, the lil business im building is one thing that keeps me going no matter how i feel, but i do have tons of doubts about it when im feeling overwhelmed.

[u/Lodi0831 → u/Hot_Screen_8694]

What about volunteering at an animal shelter? Sometimes they'll just have people come to take the dogs for a walk. So you're doing something great for the dogs and also being outside is going to help your mental health.

You can't control the world. And I think that's what people mean. Focus on what you can control. I was in the same spiral as you 2 years ago. So I made my space small. I decided to concentrate on things I can control. My home, who I surround myself with, and deleted tik Tok (all social media really.) I planted a native garden and seeing how beneficial it is to native species has really been uplifting. I'm still caught up with the news bc this shit must be witnessed, but I don't let it drown me

[u/Femmebird → u/Hot_Screen_8694]

I’m disappointed to see how rude and dismissive some people are being. I promise - a lot of us feel just like you. I have to believe we can pull through together. Sending you all the love today, OP. 

[u/NoTackle718 → u/[deleted]]

This!!! It's exhausting and ridiculous to have to hear from people that they're feeling so depressed and when you say that there's things to do that can genuinely help they say "but mental health, you're not being understanding". Guess the rest of us can go jump off a cliff then hahah we don't even get to reflect on whether we want to go on or not. 

[u/Hot_Screen_8694 → u/[deleted]]

I started studying again because i felt extremely helpless with the topic of climate change and i was hoping with the degree i will be able to make some change, so yeah im still at uni but its my second degree. Well turns out studying just made it all worse because the tools we learn about are outdated and have no chance against big tech/ oil companies .. so that didnt work. I appreciate people giving me advice about volunteering, i mentioned above that i overestimated myself there because i got really triggered in a senior home cause of a traumatic experience. I wanted to do voluntary work connected to environmentalism but options are very limited cuz im in a small european town..

[u/ScissorFight42069]

I practice what I call Cheerful Nihilism.

In the context of the time scale of the universe, no planet will ever maintain conditions that support biological life indefinitely. Stars burn out, and entropy is a universal law of physics.

The fact that we evolved and gained sentience is wild. Keeping things in the context of the grand scheme of existence is hard, but helps to ground me when my mental health and stress levels start suffering, as they inevitably do

[u/Dazzling-Bit3268 → u/ScissorFight42069]

[u/tiredgirl77 → u/ScissorFight42069]

I think of humans as parasites that have gotten out of control population wise. Which is true scientifically. Also getting rid of social media helped SO much. Like wayyyy more than I ever expected. Obviously I’m on Reddit but I stay away from social media like Facebook, insta, twitter, etc. Going outside, reading, doing shit helps

[u/agent_flounder → u/tiredgirl77]

[u/Hooker_Waitress → u/ScissorFight42069]

Love this.

[u/noideawhattouse1]

Honestly and I get the irony here, you have to spend less time online. Get out and get involved in your community or a hobby etc. and find ways offline to make life feel better for you and others. Be it supporting local business or community groups etc.

[u/tenaciousghost → u/noideawhattouse1]

i truly think having access to such instant information is harmful for our human natures. theres thousands of years of humanity filled with atrocities on par and worse than what we've experienced so far in our lives, and humanity went on because the world was mostly oblivious. as much as anything can feel like the end of the world its going to continue turning. its our duty as humans to be part of community/ecosystem and not pretend we can keep up with the whole world at once.

[u/noideawhattouse1 → u/tenaciousghost]

Same the 24hr news cycle has really done a number on us all.

[u/Exhausted-empath → u/noideawhattouse1]

They’re calling it the 24-second news cycle now due to the continuous access to breaking news that gets pushed on social media every few seconds. Humans weren’t meant to live this way.

[u/swaywithwords → u/noideawhattouse1]

I truly just don't follow the news most of the time these days, and it's great. I vote, and that's about all I can do, so no sense expending big feels about things outside of my control.

[u/noideawhattouse1 → u/swaywithwords]

Same. I really had to limit what I took in, and focus on what I could give out to those around me if that makes sense. Otherwise I’d have lost the plot long ago.

[u/Exhausted-empath → u/noideawhattouse1]

You’re getting downvoted and I know people can see this as a privilege to be able to “un-expose” ourselves from what’s happening in the world, but I need to remind people that it is okay to be “selfish” like that if it is actively harming your ability to live your life.

[u/Charming-Shake-6525]

spite, mostly

[u/Murda981 → u/Charming-Shake-6525]

This is it. If I give up they win, and I can't allow that.

[u/Sufficient-Basis3310]

I was in the same place a couple years ago. But I heard something that really altered my viewpoint.

Being miserable is unproductive. Being upset is okay, but to sit in the doom and gloom all the time is not more productive than someone turning a blind eye. Many people in this state of mind talk about others as if they are the ones not doing anything. But I would argue seething in anger and sadness can become just as unproductive. So why put yourself through that? You just have to look at it differently.

Social media feeds you a 24/7 constant stream of awful that I don't think humans were built to withstand.

I am not saying stop caring about the world, but just give it a new energy. When you are happier and more determined, you can do more to help. Being well rested, tending to yourself, and not sitting in doom helps a lot with morale. Then, maybe your attitude will be what changes minds.

[u/ALittleBitBeefy → u/Sufficient-Basis3310]

This, and, THEY WANT YOU BEAT DOWN. THEY WANT YOU TO BE OVERWHELMED AND SCARED AND STATIC!! Don’t cave to the monsters. Hold your joy, the world needs joy and softness, we have enough misery

[u/StaticCloud → u/Sufficient-Basis3310]

As a long time chronically depressed person this is pretty much true 😅 Unfortunately I cannot alter my mood without medication 

[u/Sufficient-Basis3310 → u/StaticCloud]

I don't have chronic depression, so this is more about people who fall into the trap of doomerism, often caused by constant media usage. The reason I was so sad and angry was because of that cycle.

Depression is a clinical disorder that needs treated, and is handled differently. I am not saying folks that have depression can just magically change their mindset and it's all better. I understand its not easy. Doomerism and clinical depression are not the same thing. Though doomerism almost certainly feeds into depression.

You are not morally wrong for being unproductive. I just mean you aren't going to aid in depression recovery or helping the world out by doing so.

I wish you the best in your recovery and healing <3

[u/ermaecrhaelld → u/Sufficient-Basis3310]

Sometimes you can severely limit your media use and try to take care of your body, but you still have insomnia and depression and anxiety anyways. And they make your sleep and health worse. So then you go to the doctor and go to therapy and you just keep trying, but it feels like nothing is changing or can change. And then you see comments like this and it feels very invalidating. I know these feelings are unproductive. But trying to be productive has also been unproductive. And it gets really, really tiring. Some days you just want to vent online without someone telling you there’s a simple (but not easy) fix.

[u/Sufficient-Basis3310 → u/ermaecrhaelld]

I don't have chronic depression, so this is more about people who fall into into the trap of doomerism, often caused by constant media usage. The reason I was so mentally unwell was because of that cycle.

Depression is a clinical disorder that needs treated, and I am not saying folks that have it can just magically change their mindset and it's all better. I understand its not easy.

It's not simple. Never said it was, like I said I was right there with ya two years ago. But the thing is...you have to. You can vent yes, but no one can get you out of that cycle in your head but yourself. Doesn't have to be an overnight change, and it hardly is ever easy. It took me two years to reach this point.

It's possible though. And venting is fine, and actually can be productive. But not the "i can't change anything and nothing will ever be right again" way where you are throwing in the towel. More specifically in regards to world events. While you may feel that in moment, its not true.

[u/Tannette]

Honestly? It's out of sheer spite.

I'm going back to college because CC is free in my state so I can get a degree in environmental sciences and food sustainability to help the next generation. I keep waking up every morning, because some morning hopefully very soon, that fucking guy won't. There are so many people out there who want to destroy me because of who and what I am, people I refuse to allow to steal my joy, my love, my passion, and my life.

Life is worth living. I go about my day in wonder and whimsy, while keeping in mind those are things that I need to protect by being active, voting, keeping my compassion for my fellow humans, and love of the world around me. It isn't easy, but it is worth it.

Edit: spelling and grammar.

[u/Cultural_Thing1712]

Life is beautiful. I love my friends, I love my family. I love loving and being loved. I live for art, music, literature, and all of the other gorgeous things in the world.

Guess what? The world has always been a fucked up place if you look at it objectively, but what is more human than making something beautiful out of something ugly?

Now I'm not saying ignore politics. Because politics WILL directly affect your quality of life. Advocate for yourself and others, pay attention to current events, and discuss these things with your friends. But there is a balance between caring and being active, and it being all consuming.

Also final thing, you miss your childhood because you didn't have the capacity to understand how fucked up the world was then.

[u/libhis1 → u/Cultural_Thing1712]

It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you... that meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. They kept going because they were holding on to something. - Samwise Gamgee, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

[u/StrongPixie → u/libhis1]

This makes me 1) well up a bit and 2) want to read LoTR again. The films are like a comfort blanket I can’t part with, and I certainly can’t count how many times I have rewatched them. But I haven’t read the original material in far too long.

[u/Lodi0831 → u/StrongPixie]

I just started! Finished the Hobbit and now I'm starting LOTR. In chapter 3 so far and loving it

[u/TaskSea5609 → u/Cultural_Thing1712]

This is a beautiful answer. I would add OP needs to disconnect from technology and social media for a bit. It can completely consume you. Another reason why things felt safer, easier when we were kids, is because we didn't have the internet connecting us to every nook and cranny of the world. We existed in our bubble, and information moved at a much slower pace, at a smaller scale. Balancing that is important.

Several years ago myself, the hubby, and our son took a break and knocked an item off the bucket list. We went on a road trip to a part of the planet where you are completely disconnected from society. Where you could count the number of human interactions with one hand. Just us, nature, the wild... it really puts things into perspective. You come to realize just how insignificant we are in the grand scheme of things. How we are just along for the ride, spectators in it all...

[u/Illustrious-Emu8667 → u/Cultural_Thing1712]

I still miss my childhood, but I also deeply understand how bad the world was. Not by having any real trauma (apart from undiagnosed neurodivergence), but I watched the news, worried about nuclear war with Russia and Cuba, saw ads about people dying, watched people protest forests being cut down.

That being said, I also believe life is beautiful and fleeting. Love my kiddo more than anything or anyone, and THAT being said, I don’t have any hope for humanity. I’d say don’t have kids. And if later in life you change your mind? There are sooo many foster kids. Why do kids have to be biological to love them?

[u/swaywithwords → u/Cultural_Thing1712]

Exactly

[u/BubblesAndSass]

You miss your childhood because you were naive then, not because the 90s were less wasteful or more aware of global issues. Yes, there was a carefreeness that we lost, but it wasn't because the world was in better shape.

I work for the government in the US. The part of the government that goes to war. I wake up every morning and do my best to uphold standards, hold the line on safety and rule of law. I'm a scientist who took this job with the implicit understanding that my employer would use the power I help to give them with the gravity and respect and responsibility it deserves. They do not. Every day I wrestle with leaving. But if I leave I'll just be replaced by someone who won't push back. I am invisible to you and the rest of the country and I get insulted and hated because of where I work, even though I'm exactly the type of person you want working there right now.

I don't say that to make you feel bad for me. I say it to explain that I am uniquely aware of how shitty the world is and how depressing it is to engage with it. And your friends are right. You focus on the things you can control. You speak up where you think it can make a difference, and you go on with your life doing the least amount of harm possible.

I also miss being a child, blissfully unaware of all of complexities and evils in the world. But that world didn't actually exist, I was just ignorant of reality.

I have one life, and while this is a difficult time, I will not let shitty people ruin me. It's not irresponsible to find joy where you can, it is actually imperative that you do. If you forget that life is for living and that joy is an essential human experience, and you stop making it for yourself and others, then you forget what you're fighting for.

[u/rumble_bee → u/BubblesAndSass]

as an average citizen with a weird childhood full of conspiracy, the fact youre here is oddly comforting. 

There's a line in SLC punk where they talk about doing more damage from the inside at the top. 

I think you fully recognize what I mean.

Godspeed and know we hear you, and see your humanity being pushed to the brink along with ours.

Thank you for holding onto even an ounce of empathy.

[u/BubblesAndSass → u/rumble_bee]

The vast majority of feds that are still in the civil service are there because we work for you and we take that very seriously. We are working hard to keep you safe, to keep you healthy, to preserve systems and institutional knowledge, and to keep the country running. I know that it seems like everything is intentionally broken, and the administration really is doing it's damndest, but we're showing up with 110% even though you can't see us.

Nothing is forever. And when this chapter is over we'll be ready to rebuild. We hold the line for you because even though this country is not currently its best, we know it can get back there again. Hold on and help be part of the solution when it's time ❤️

[u/sevenselevens → u/BubblesAndSass]

Fellow public servant here - 100% on all of this. I’ve considered leaving so many times but at the end of the day I serve the people and I’m passionate about that. Most of my colleagues take it very seriously too.

It sucks to hear people demean “government workers” like we MUST be slackass, slack jawed fools who love to spend someone else’s money. Most folks have no idea how hard we fight to do the right thing amongst the political bullshit and egos.

[u/Pretend_Mixture_7179 → u/BubblesAndSass]

I feel ya, govvies know better than anyone else how much the pit of despair is artificial and intentionally spread. The internet vibe is not real or based in reality.

I wish everyone had the privilege of doing a couple years work for the government if they wanted. It is worldview changing. Thousands of people trying their best to serve and doing a great job. We work for YOU.

[u/BubblesAndSass → u/Pretend_Mixture_7179]

I see you and I appreciate you ❤️

[u/indicalovvve → u/BubblesAndSass]

Hang in there and keep fighting the good fight!!! Thank you for staying!

[u/MacaroonSad8860 → u/BubblesAndSass]

Respect. As someone who’s been in anti-war organizing since 2003, I agree with your take on your job and respect you as an individual despite my deep loathing of this and frankly most US administrations.

[u/BubblesAndSass → u/MacaroonSad8860]

🤝

Keep them honest from the outside, I'll keep them honest from the inside

[u/Dazzling-Bit3268 → u/BubblesAndSass]

[u/Inside-Mechanic7804]

girlie I really really REALLY understand - as someone from a country that is utterly evil not only towards its own citizens (mmmm dictatorship 💅🏻) but also, and worse, towards its neighbours (um yes so I'm Russian), this is a crisis I've been living for a long time. the ongoing genocide(s) have been a significant trigger, too, and don't even get me started on the climate change (oh my god). unfortunately, the only thing to do is to continuously pick yourself up and off the ground and going forward and doing your best, because heroic acts aren't all performed by Batman but by people like you and me, often through smaller, regular gestures, and great perseverance. the world needs people like you, people who feel deeply and are willing to act right, so please remember that!!! P. S. picture of my dog to cheer you up!

[u/Adorkablemisfit]

Honestly I feel this so much, I’m Latina(american) and I barely want to fucking go out because there’s so much ICE activity here. The anxiety I get is so extreme. I’m sick of all this shit, this administration has constantly fucked my family over with their shit. Just wanting to scream into the void.

[u/Femmebird → u/Adorkablemisfit]

Yeah my 4 year old nephew tearfully asked us if ICE is going to k*** him. He isn’t on TikTok or doomscrolling - he is hearing about it at school from other terrified children. People from marginalized groups are really not okay right now. Being able to just “tune it out” is an immense privilege. 

[u/Adorkablemisfit → u/Femmebird]

I’m so sorry for your nephew :/ and anyone around him. 🖤

[u/SpicyLoquat → u/Adorkablemisfit]

Ugh I'm so sorry. We are actively fighting and protesting ice in my city. We REFUSE to let them terrorize our neighborhood. We've been protesting, alerting their location on social media and blocking them in places when we find them. Sickening and we will not take it laying down!!

[u/Adorkablemisfit → u/SpicyLoquat]

Thank you for doing what you can, I wish you all didn’t have to. 🖤

[u/Chance-Selection-198]

We're not meant to have input about all the world's problems. It's beyond our human brains' capabilities. So the people saying focus on what you can control have a very good point. Things weren't simple in the 90s at all. We had massive geopolitical challenges in the 90s. We already knew about climate change in the 90s. Massive wars and human rights abuses and genocides in the 90s. You just didn't know about them.

[u/Throwaway224488xy]

Everything is relative. I'm really fucking sick right now with a serious disease. I wish I could be healthy and stressed about current events rather than sick and stressed for my life :) I say that not to be self pitying, (actually, going through hard shit puts stuff in perspective like nothing else) but more to highlight that the direction you point your brain is powerful, and you need to help yourself even when that's way harder than giving in to a sweet sweet pit of anguish and despair. Being a force of good, no matter how small, is a great antidote to what you describe.

[u/Swallowedoxygen → u/Throwaway224488xy]

Hang in there. I don't know you or your struggles but I know what it is to struggle with health issues.

I recently spent a year quadriplegic from a neurological disease with half that time grappling with a misdiagnosis of a terminal disease and the second half being told I'd be that way forever.

I'm coming up on the 1 year anniversary of my first shaky steps I took out of my wheelchair, and I'm celebrating by going to an all-women's Halloween dance because I literally CAN dance again now. And I'm typing this with hands that used to be stuck in a claw like position, which I can do just about anything with again after some hard work in rehab.

But this time last year, I was struggling to find any hope at all.

Now my wife is seriously ill with a chronic disease and I'm the one taking care of her when she used to literally have to spoon feed me and help me go to the bathroom, and she's the one feeling hopeless.

But you literally never know what's around the corner, and I am living proof that sometimes it is more positive than you could have imagined.

So I'm maintaining hope for the both of us, because I refuse to believe her story ends poorly and I refuse to stop fighting for her.

I hope you get your happy ending too, friend 💜

[u/Financial_Nose_777]

I feel you. I went through this a while back.

What helped me was a number of things, but most importantly, accepting that I am only a little human on a giant planet in an even more unimaginably immense universe. There’s only so much little me can do.

What I CAN do is the things right in front of me: I can make a comfy, safe home for some little furry creatures who would otherwise be stuck in a scary shelter or sick on the streets. I can feed the little birds in my backyard. I can offer a listening ear to friends who need comfort. I can make the little human body I live in a nutritious or comforting meal. I can plant things in my yard so pollinators have food and places to lay their eggs.

I can speak up when someone says something harmful in my hearing. I can vote. I can explain things to people who are willing to listen.

I used to have a really wonderful therapist who has since retired who advised me about radical acceptance. We were working through it from thinking about accepting that my family would never change, but it works on a global level as well.

You can’t beat the evils of the world by treating yourself poorly. When you do that, you are giving in to their value system by believing that you are only worthy of care and love once you have accomplished something (like saving the world.) It keeps you grinding and grinding and never demanding better for yourself.

We all deserve better. But it has to start with the way you treat yourself and the immediate world around you.

[u/saracha6272]

this is a serious effect of doomscrolling, it really does punish our psyches simply for just living. we are here to live, not to survive. sometimes the greatest act of revolution is fighting for a cause you really believe in, and sometimes it is as simple as an individual doing what they can to thrive in spite of things around them and the world falling apart. in spite of their feelings. dont ignore the worlds problems, but you cant let them eat you alive either.

[u/the_penelopiad]

I honestly know how you feel and don’t have an answer. Like my brother is talking about having a second kid and I’m just like how do you want to bring more kids into this world like things are only going to get worse. But truly I just have to take it day by day like I have my sad moments but at the end of the day I still gotta pay my bills ya know

[u/swaywithwords → u/the_penelopiad]

I don't know if there's ever been a better time in humanity's history to continue to repopulate - vaccines, access to drinkable water, food, healthcare..

In the grand scheme of things, it's not the worst time to procreate.

[u/Lausannea → u/swaywithwords]

We're literally projecting worldwide water and food shortages from climate change and passed a point of no return on this, per reputable science articles. Education has been rapidly declining, fascism is on the rise globally, healthcare is becoming less and less accessible because prices increase while people are not compensated for their time relative to the increase in costs, there are housing crises everywhere to the point people can't afford to rent nor buy homes in many places.

If you're privileged enough then yes, this is a great time to have kids. But you also have to be honest about the reality that more people lose this privilege every single day, social acceptance of minorities is crashing (think LGBTQIA+ among others) rapidly among younger generations, and social media is causing real problems among children in ways that are entirely unprecedented.

It's really disingenuous to say now is the best time in human history to have kids when that is patently false.

Edit: That doesn't mean don't have kids, but you HAVE to be aware of the kind of world you're bringing them into. They will likely face challenges us and previous generations never had to consider. Climate change isn't going to be reversed in our lifetime, at best we can stagnate it to where it is now IF everyone in the world contributes to making that happen.

[u/swaywithwords → u/Lausannea]

I understand everything you're saying, and nevertheless disagree with you.

I would rather have kids now than at any other time in history, comparatively.

Projections are just that - it's not like things cannot change. Change is literally the only thing we can count on.

[u/Lausannea → u/swaywithwords]

Projections are just that - it's not like things cannot change. Change is literally the only thing we can count on.

Science has literally already proven that we cannot go back lol. That's what passing a point of no return means. I explicitly said that if all global entities do everything they can do stagnate climate change, things will stay exactly as they are now.

All climate change models are being recalibrated because it's happening faster than predicted.

Don't be a science denier to encourage people to have babies, please.

[u/Courage_Upbeat → u/Lausannea]

When in history would you say were better than today?

[u/Delicious-Dot-2769 → u/swaywithwords]

No, it is the absolute worst time. The difference is in the past they didn't have the same access to birth control.

But we've hit the point of no return now, the planet has warmed by an additional 1.5degrees Celsius and now all we can do is brace for more extreme weather. A lot of it random and catastrophic.

Not to mention the small group of people running the world know they're bringing upon us an apocalypse so they're all building bunkers, or they're religious fanatics who actively want to bring on a nuclear war so they can bring about the end times and Jesus can come back (idk why they want that since they'd be the first to rot in hell).

Basically, by the time children born in 2026 are adults, there is a good chance that a liter of water will cost £50 a pop. It's not just about the here and now, it's about the future we can all clearly see approaching but we're all helpless to do anything because baby raping pedos run the world

[u/CaIlaLiIlies → u/Delicious-Dot-2769]

some of you people genuinely need to go back and look at history lmfao. or even look at places in the world outside of where you live. literally everything will be fine. get off social media.

[u/mentalgeler → u/Delicious-Dot-2769]

It's literally objectively by all measures  not the worst time. You should read some history books instead of spending all your time on social media, your perception is skewed

[u/swaywithwords → u/Delicious-Dot-2769]

Agree to disagree

[u/cutesiepieme → u/swaywithwords]

God finally someone with sense. Literally a few decades ago there were so many issues. People on here acting like the world is ending when the world is 100x better than it was in the 1900s

[u/Lausannea → u/cutesiepieme]

I suspect I will die from heat stroke due to chronic illness and a lack of access to cooling my home (I cannot afford AC) that I cannot move out of due to the housing crisis. I will likely not grow old enough to see the current generation being born hitting 25. I already suffered heat exhaustion once this year due to unprecedented multiple heat records being broken during an unprecedented number of consecutive heat waves in a country not built to withstand this, and it will only get worse EVERY YEAR moving forward.

Climate change has passed the point of no return. It will not get better from where it is at now for decades if not hundreds of years, we can only stagnate it for now. And that is IF all global entities work together and make that happen, which goes directly against the concept of capitalism the world is built on.

My country is predicted to not have a reliable supply of drinking water within the next 5-10 years, and we're a top 10 globally for both national/personal wealth and technological innovation/competitiveness ranked country!!!!!!

I don't know about you, but at least wars can be won. We can't win from climate change anymore, that ship sailed years ago. We're fucked on this.

[u/swaywithwords → u/Lausannea]

Your individual experience is not everyone's collective experience.

It doesn't sound like it's ideal for you to have kids. That doesn't mean society should stop having kids

[u/swaywithwords → u/cutesiepieme]

It's fun to learn about the Oregon trail, sounds absolutely miserable to experience it. I would feel so terrible bringing more children into this world if I had to lose one or two to cholera and the flu.

Average life expectancy was so much lower until recently, especially for women!

[u/lovelyrita_mm → u/the_penelopiad]

I get that and I worry for my kid’s future too but if we want a future we have to raise the next generation to do better and be better. Last year at school after she learned about 🧊 (she understands bullies), she started an anti 🧊 club at her aftercare and their mission was to be kind and help people. They can make a difference!

[u/worldtraveller1989 → u/the_penelopiad]

The thing is, when was it a good time to have children? Horrible things have always been happening around the world. Things used to be way worse. People would die of so many diseases that are now curable, treatable, and preventable. Life expectancy was shit. Women used to not be allowed to own property or have a credit card on their own. There’s never a “good time” to have children. Nothing about right now is particularly worse than any other time in history

[u/Muriness]

I can't be hopeless with my children around. I can't raise them to not dream of a better tomorrow or want to do better to make a better tomorrow. Yes there are terrible, horrible, infuriating things happening right now but I can't stop my life and lay down and be defeated. There are things I can do in my life. There are ways I can be defiant. I can choose to have empathy and i can choose to care about the people in my community and try and make life a little bit easier for someone else.

[u/Ranae]

What is the alternative? We all know it's shitty but you are one human and one human can do things. Be the change you want to see sounds like a platitude, but it's for real. And in a society where our contributions no longer have an obvious benefit to society, it can be hard to find purpose, so you have to make that purpose yourself. For me, my goal is to in general leave it better than I found it, be that a hiking trail or a person.

[u/Brullaapje]

I as a woman who turned 50 last August, gave myself the gift of radical acceptance. I accept the world is going to shit, I accept that in the future I won't be able to live on my own ( a thing I have been doing since I was 18) because of all the price increases.

I have been a vegetarian since I was 18 , when I showed concern about the environment I was called "too serious", "a leftist treehugger". The majority of the people don't give a fuck. And you know what, that is fine.

I take it by the day, I do things that are good for me everyday and I try to be kind and helpful to others daily (without burning myself out).

[u/Tracerround702]

I keep going because there's not really another choice except death. And I'm not really ready to die yet.

[u/Any59oh]

Girl, I feel this so hard. If you aren't involved in any sort of community outreach, I would really recommend it. That, along with therapy bc holy shit is it hard to process some of this by yourself sometimes, is the best thing to fight the overwhelming frustration and hopelessness of watching the world at large fall apart. Volunteering at your local food bank or with a chapter of Food Not Bombs, joining Big Brothers Big Sisters, finding a protest group in your area and doing things with them every once in a while, reaching out to your local library or senior citizen center to see if they have anything they could use a volunteer for...there's lots of ways to get involved that will help make the world a better place and put a little power back in your hands

[u/GeneInternational146]

Yeah you gotta stop spending so much time on TikTok or whatever it is that's showing you all this. I try to go for a long hike every weekend. I hang out with friends or I craft or cook or read. You don't have to have technology in your hands at all times.

[u/j_faye]

Hey, I feel you. It’s so hard right now. There’s lots of good advice in this post that I hope you can take away without feeling too judged for how you’re feeling.

It’s easy to say “get offline” but harder to make that happen, especially in today’s world. What I would encourage you to do is really interrogate how you interact with the online world and what it’s doing to you. If you’re spending most of your time doomscrolling without purpose, it’s going to depress you either from comparison with other people that is completely unrealistic or by giving you a constant feed of bad news designed to make you feel hopeless.

Fix your algorithm as much as you can. Follow and interact with accounts that bring you actual joy. Instead of scrolling through your feed, go to those actual account pages. If you can’t fix your current accounts feeds, start a new one.

I like following science magazines, art accounts, music accounts, etc. I have an instagram account where I have specifically followed only these things. No news accounts, no politics, nothing. I have other accounts where I can see that stuff, but when I just need something that won’t make my anxiety mount, I go to this other account. And when I see a post that’s interesting, if it’s a magazine or blog, I go and read the actual article that the post came from. Reading the article rather than just seeing a bit of information slows me down and makes me really engage with it, keeps me from endlessly scrolling, and gives me more to think about that one minute reels about how horrible the world is.

It’s so important to get offline more but it’s also important to spend your time engaging with the internet in a more mindful way. I’m not saying ignore current events. But you don’t need to get your news from social media where the goal is superficial engagement, not information. Use social media as a springboard to help you find the interesting and beautiful things in the world and learn about those things deeper without an app involved.

Engage with the internet and social media in a mindful way. Get offline as much as you can. Go for a walk. Make something with your hands. Connect with your community, even if it’s just waving at your neighbors. I hope you feel better soon.

[u/North_Assumption_292]

We're not.

I am on medical leave from my job because of the shit going on in the world. The Cornell media blitz reactivated PTSD and I completely lost it, and had a crisis.

I dont know anyone who is okay right now.

[u/Femmebird → u/North_Assumption_292]

Exact same here. A lot of us aren’t able to just “tune it out.” 

[u/Illustrious-Emu8667 → u/Femmebird]

Sending 🫂, I’m sorry

[u/Illustrious-Emu8667 → u/North_Assumption_292]

I’m sorry 😞 🫂

[u/Humbled_Humanz → u/North_Assumption_292]

I’m certainly not. I feel like that moment when you have a very-near-miss while driving, but all the time.

[u/mangokiwi19 → u/North_Assumption_292]

Being able to take a medical leave for that is a huge privilege. I’m glad your workplace is understanding.

[u/Sea-Condition-6046 → u/North_Assumption_292]

❤️❤️‍🩹

[u/vesisc]

Find a Ukrainian, a Palestinian or any refugee at all and ask them. While you are at it, also ask how you can help their communities and do so.

As a Russian immigrant who saw my country crumble in the pits of hell, I can tell you that human brains are magnificent, they are built to survive the wildest shit. Nobody guarantees that it will not drive you insane though.

[u/Femmebird → u/vesisc]

This is my perspective as a Balkans girlie. Human beings can withstand immense suffering. It doesn’t mean you have to be happy about it though. 

[u/culinarysiren]

I’m with you. I’m so sick of seeing influencers on these super expensive vacations doing their what I did and ate in a day. Or the ones remodeling their houses, but it’s all paid for by their partnerships. Like be real the middle class can’t even afford groceries right now. Our healthcare already at $1730 is going up again next year. It’s depressing. I’m getting by with dark humor and a lot of spite. Also, just rotting in the house with my husband since we can’t afford to go anywhere. America has lost the plot and I hate this timeline. Know you’re not alone. A lot of people feel this way.

[u/Ok_Birthday_489]

I don't follow up on current events as much as I used to, and it is has helped significantly. Most of what's being reported is about stuff I can't even remotely control. So, what's the point of being anxious about it?

Just be informed enough to make sound voting choices. Don't fall down the rabbit hole that whatever passes for news these days.

[u/frankenboobehs → u/Ok_Birthday_489]

Same. Turn it off. Someone said once, if you wanna be mad, Turn on the news. We can't controll what's happening, so better off not listening ing to it, love your life and enjoy your hobbies. Disconnect, get offline

[u/Femmebird]

Yeah it’s a really terrible time to be capable of empathy. 

[u/Turtlegrandmacore]

Because unfortunately, there’s no other choice. There’s no “just pause the word for a bit” button. People have gone through worse times and survived. Think about both world wars, the Great Depression, the 2008 financial crisis, and so on. People survived. We will too. Not saying it won’t suck for a while, but there are good things and good moments and that’s what you hang on to.

[u/A_Punk_Girl_Learning]

I literally just spent a month as a voluntary admission at an inpatient mental health clinic for this reason. You're not alone. The world is terrifying.

[u/hotlibramess]

I developed severe lupus over the last year. Triggered by stress. 🥴🫠

[u/Common_Safety_8830]

I get it. I have been crying all morning because of ANOTHER SCHOOL SHOOTING. Why is this still a thing!? Why is it always elementary schools these assholes are walking into!? Why are pedos getting away with everything and multiplying in mass, they’re everywhere spreading their disease. Why can’t we do anything about it? I am barely functional because of some damn autoimmune and have never felt so helpless to protect my family. I hate it. Tired of living like this “because we always have”. Yeah the damn power hungry overlords have always have the masses figured right the fuck out.

[u/Bonbonnibles]

First things first: my god, that pie is gorgeous! I want me a slice! Ugh!

Now that's out of the way... I'm sorry you are feeling so overwhelmed and hopeless. These certainly are dark times. It doesn't seem as though they will ever get light again sometimes.

But that is misperception. The wheel of fortune turns for all of us, all the time. Better times will come, even if we're not around for it. They are coming. They are always coming.

I think the reason why people get up and get on with their lives in the face of these horrors is simply because that is the only viable choice that they have. Tr*mp first got the nomination 10 years ago. It's been ten tumultuous years of this Trump nonsense, preceded by a stint of relative "calm" under Obama triggered by a world changing recession, and before that 8 years of warmongering Republicans plunging us into endless, pointless, heartless conflict in the middle east following 9/11.

It's a silly recommendation, but give the old Billy Joel classic 'We didn't start the fire' another listen. Bet you haven't heard it in awhile. It might be out date now, but it expresses the overwhelm you are feeling now in the face of the tumult of being a human and the madness of the 20th century.

This is how it is. For now. Calmer days will come again. But those don't last forever. Nothing does.

This, too, shall pass.

[u/Fit-Age7416]

I was in the same place as you. I ended up deleting ALL of my social media, and only actively seeking out positive news stories. 

The news gets clicks, money, etc based on the headlines they produce. The scarier they seem, the more people who click. 

Bot farms have taken over social media in droves. They essentially create an echo chamber of doom, which isn't helpful for anyone's mental health. 

I essentially kick it like it's 1999, and I no longer sit in my own bubble of anxiety/doom. Are there shitty things happening in the world? Absolutely. But there's also good things, and optimistic/realistic people out there. 

Check out  r/PoliticalOptimism. It was really helpful for me in reframing the doom spiral I was in.  

[u/YennnneferOfRivia]

I've been dancing on the decks of the titanic ever since 2024. I have a young child and there's really no other option than to keep on going to the zoo with a smile on your face, but honestly, I've become more nihilistic about everything, too. I have kept my life very busy with things I enjoy like short affordable trips, tickets to the opera, just somewhere fancy to go once a month and a new outfit to think about, too. underneath the surface of the pragmatics of day-to-day life it's all screams and terror, the global order is falling apart and what is coming is not necessarily just more of the same, I try to maintain hope that eventually the tides of progress, science, the integrity of individual human rights, will rise up over this horrible reactionary phase we are in now. But again, I've gotten so bitter about that. As a species we seem far more interested in competing against each other than cooperating for progress, I find that in my own marriage, my volunteer work, my consulting work. No one wants me to give them the right answer, they want me to tell them they are right, and every decision in the world is coming down to this -- not what an educated group of experts recommend, but what a person with an ego in power chooses to support. I am not hopeful for humanity in the system we've got.

[u/emily_doodly_doo]

You could do something small and start volunteering one day a week for a few hours somewhere. Literally saved my life by volunteering my time at a charity thrift shop. I work with older women and I enjoy my time so much that I increased my days and hours.

Oh, and I stopped all social media besides Reddit a few years ago and my mental health went up by 1000%..

-Me at the thrift store 😂

[u/lite_Historian_6125 → u/emily_doodly_doo]

This is exactly what helped me so much! I volunteer at my local fire station helping with filing/digitizing and it has made me feel so connected with my community- which turns out is a huge part of my mental health.

It is easy to get lost in the evil, but consciously taking time to be around people who are trying to make things better is a sure fire way to create balance.

My local library is also somewhere I love to go & spend time at because it gives me hope to see all the kids, families and adults who are also choosing to spend their time using their imaginations & expanding their minds ❤️

I absolutely love that you volunteer at a local thrift- that would be my dream come true!

[u/emily_doodly_doo → u/lite_Historian_6125]

Oh my goodness! Volunteering at a fire station is amazing. I agree that it takes the sting out of life and really does connect you to your community. I love my ladies at the thrift store! ❤️

[u/emily_doodly_doo → u/lite_Historian_6125]

I actually got into the thrift store because I would go and look for vintage cookbooks and then I was like hey wait a second I think I can volunteer here..😂

[u/Fuckburpees]

I say this as someone who genuinely feels so much of what you’re saying, down to the painful nostalgia over my 90’s childhood: get offline. Check out a bit. 

I know I know I know but stay with me here. We are not meant to know about every horrible thing happening all at once. It’s not healthy or normal. People have lived through terrible things before and they also had to get up and go to work. Because what else could they do? 

You have to choose to enjoy life. You’ve decided to pre comply with misery and it’s only harming yourself. You’re going to drown if you keep wallowing. 

I know because I was in the same hole for the last few years and recently pulled myself out by mentally checking out a bit. I am aware of what’s going on just by being on Reddit and paying attention, but I don’t seek it out and I’m not on other social media so I’m not stewing in it. Funnel those frustrations into a workout, doing something so strenuous your mind can’t wander is a nice relief. 

Also if you miss the days of less technology then live like the days of less tech! Get offline more, go outside more! I got an iPod, and docking station for it. I try to use an actual camera..hell send letters to your friends, nothings stopping you! Just do whatever. 

[u/wildcat105]

I felt like this a year ago. I was in a pretty dark place.

I had been trying for a baby for a long time and had suffered a loss the previous winter. I posted on a grief subreddit asking if it was for the best that I cannot have children since the world was so terrible and seemed so hopeless.

Someone told me: people worked, had babies, looked to the future even in the midst of famine, war, extreme poverty like the Great Depression....and still the world turned and society moved forward.

That woke something up in me. I intentionally stopped consuming any content that wasn't uplifting (I think it's important to know what's going on in the world, so this was not forever, just until my mental health improved.) I became more mindful and present. Spent time with my husband and friends, went on a lot of walks, cooked a lot, learned to bake sourdough.

I'm better now, and 26 weeks pregnant with my miracle baby. I stumbled across this quote the other day that really resonated with my journey:

"May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears" -Nelson Mandela

[u/mentalgeler → u/[deleted]]

Well but you're on reddit scrolling as well. I mean i don't disagree but it just sounds a bit hypocritical, like oh god no one can see how bad the world is but me, everyones just consuming more shit. Meanwhile also you: not.really doing anything but typing it out on social media

[u/MossGobbo]

I'll say for me I grew up with a narcissist so this is like riding a flaming bicycle all over again except this time I have people who love and support me.

[u/Solid_Cry_1029]

What are you doing about it? I agree with the comments on joining people with good cause. Please volunteer and spend time with people and advocate for them. Even just online.

There are so many people who need y(our)
help and any chance you can get will always impact them.

[u/Successful_Buffalo_6]

The world is a lot more complex than it was when we were growing up, but it has always been a fucked up place. There has always been extreme poverty, famine. There has always been war—there has never been peacetime, not in our lifetime or our parents’. We (every single one of us) have been destroying this planet with pollution for generations. The world has always been controlled by a handful of wealthy villains. There’s just a bit more transparency around it now.

You keep going because the only other option is to lay down and die.

[u/Same_as_it_ever]

I also feel like this. We're watching the rise of fascism globally and people are putting their heads in the sand. Women's rights, minority rights and human rights are disappearing.  We should be angry. 

I would say to get involved, do something that makes you feel like productive. Volunteer, write or call your representatives, get involved in something local. 

We can't ruminate on the things that worry us, but we can do something in our little way to help. Be a part of the change you want to see. 

[u/DiscontentDonut]

I feel like people just hear that phrasing, it's better than what they can come up with, so they just use it over and over.

I actually used to be like this as well. I didn't even want to get out of bed because...well, what's the point? I'm this single nobody with no money. I can't do anything to help anyone meaningfully.

Not giving advice, just letting you know what worked for me. Unfortunately, the one thing a lot of people avoid. Professional help. When I finally had a job with good insurance, I started seeing a psychiatrist and doing therapy. (Two different things btw, psychiatry is more for diagnosis and medication, therapy is the actual sit down and talk with someone).

As it turns out for me, this was part of my anxiety disorder, and not helped at all by my depression. I simply couldn't see how others could live because I was unable to be in their same mental space. Like being in a marathon and the other people are all running in really nice shoes, but I'm over here trying to run in my Nana's Sunday church shoes. Wrong size, wrong type, damaging to my feet.

Personally, I ended up on Zoloft. It changed my life. Again, not giving advice, just sharing my experience. It was like I had been watching an old 60s TV set all my life, and now suddenly I was watching the world in 4k HD.

Not only am I able to function properly, but I can also compartmentalize. I can see what is going on in the world, be appropriately heart broken still, want to do something, find ways to contribute, but also still go to work, play video games, and find ways to relax.

Now I can see that realistically, what I can do is vote in local and federal elections, and research any charities before giving to them to make sure they're legitimate and not shell companies for anything nefarious. I can also understand that this will always be how the world works, and so these are actions I can see myself continuously doing through my future without getting overwhelmed.

If you do have an anxiety disorder, which it sounds like you might, there is no shame in seeking help if that is the right move for you. It's not that everyone else has some secret ability you don't, or that they all don't care. It's that their brain chemistry is working properly and yours isn't.

Mental health is actually just as physical as an other disease or disorder. Like diabetes (type 2) for example. Diabetes makes it so even though you produce the right chemicals (insulin), but your body doesn't use it properly. My brain still creates Serotonin. It just doesn't use it right.

So, similarly to how diabetic medications can help the body to recognize the insulin's purpose and use it as it's meant to, Zoloft helps my brain to recognize the Serotonin for what it is and build a bridge to actually get it to where it needs to go in my brain to help my moods balance.

It's a physical deformity. And what does everyone else do with physical deformities? They go to a doctor for assistance and tools to use in their everyday life to bring themselves to a place where they can function just like everyone else. The answer isn't the same for all of us bc our degrees and areas of deformity aren't the same.

Some people need a prosthetic, or a service animal, or physical therapy, or medication, etc. People like us just tend to be in that last category, needing medication and/or therapy.

The hardest part is making yourself go. I so didn't want to. Even knowing it was what was best for me, or even seeing improvements it was making in me, I wanted to throw every excuse in the book not to go. But I ended up doing it to spite myself. And I won.

Your solution may or may not look like mine. But the first step with any problem is to acknowledge it and ask for help. Substance use, debt, health. People are social creatures and it's how we function. We were not meant to do anything and everything alone, including fight mental battles. I say this as an introvert. We thrive best in communities.

Use your community, your support system. Sometimes just saying, "I have this problem and have no idea what to do, I have zero solution and zero place to start," others may have an idea for what to do next you never would've come to as your own conclusion. This happens to me way more than I care to admit.

[u/AgileMastodon0909]

I hear you. What helps me is being around likeminded people who are actively working to make things better. There’s a lot wrong, so pick one or two things to focus on and start volunteering with organizations that align with your values. You can’t fix everything, but every little bit helps.

[u/Ok_Computer_8224]

I've avoided all news and media outlets altogether since my brother was killed in Iraq in 2004.

I don't have kids and I honestly couldn't be arsed to give a fuck about what's going on in this country or world or where "we're headed".

I served in the military, and my brother sacrificed his entire life. My family has paid our collective dues. So fuck it. I'm done.

I'm choosing to live in absolutely blissful ignorance until God--or whatever other spiteful almighty HellBat creature in the sky running the shitshow of my earthly life--decides it's time for me to turn back into dust 💨

[u/breadandcheese24]

I have't been okay for months, and probably years tbh but before I had my master's to work on.
Now? Miserable, jobless, and more health probably cropping alongside everything going on with the world right now? I fall back onto, I'd still rather be alive. I've been to that dark place before and ever since I crawled out of it I've been able to remind myself that things do eventually get better and life is worth living.

Other than that, I've been cutting down on social media that's algorithm-based. Started putting more emphasis on tangible hobbies. Spent time with friends. Done small things that make me feel like me.

And if none of that works, like someone said, do it out of spite. Continue living life to spite the evil running rampant, create things to spite overconsumption, collect things and keep them safe to spite destruction.

[u/lovelyrita_mm]

The world has unfortunately always been fucked up. People just didn’t absorb the horrors of the whole planet 24/7.

Also I have a kid, a job that I depend on, and an elderly parent so I have to keep going and functioning or it helps no one. I’m not saying this with a hostile tone because I hugged my kid extra long without telling her why, before I put her on a school bus this morning. And then I came home and cried.

I get you. I’m so sick of the gleeful destruction of our norms, of our planet, of the cruelty being the point.

The other commenters are right though, find a way of volunteering that won’t trigger you. Be an election judge. Look for ways to help the local community.

People forget how much about our lives is actually decided at the state and local level. It’s our state laws that govern gun control, who we can marry, what they can teach in school. And yet people don’t vote in local elections. And that is in part because it is HARD to learn about local candidates and their affiliations and platforms. For the primaries I spent a while trying to research the judges and all the other state and local level candidates and it was not easy. We can’t control much at the federal level. But we can try to make things better in our communities and that can make a real difference.

There have to be places you can plug into that will make you feel better and not worse. And otherwise limit your social media so the horrors aren’t being poured directly into your brain. You being paralyzed by them helps no one. I started playing Pokemon Go again and I play Finch. They keep me from doomscrolling on my phone. I have a couple writers I follow for politics (who always cite their sources) so I try to keep to them for information. And I try to focus on the things I need to for my life, including pouring love into my kid.

It’s hard right now, no lie. Hang in there.

[u/JustDidntWannaGoToAZ]

I understand, especially when you see apolitical people moving about as if everything is normal, like I know it’s illogical to feel this way because there’s no way for me to know what they’re feeling but still. I feel like I can’t escape everything going on, it’s hard to wrap my head around algorithms being so different.

Do you have a recipe for the pie? Looks really good. I googled plum pie, but none of the results looks like this.

[u/Successful-Coffee885]

okay, one, that plum pie? It looks incredible, I want to eat it right now. Savor it. When you make something like that, you nourish the good in the world. You are part of what is good. You strengthen it.

Two, it’s important you stay strong. If you need a break from the news, take that break. Remember there are people like Greta Thunberg (sp?) who are fighting that fight. Your resistance to what is wrong counts. Your understanding counts.

Three, sometimes books help. Poetry. Words that dive deeper.

You sound like you are grieving. I feel you. It’s hard to lose the feeling you used to have. But please know this: even when things are dark, there are people fighting for it to be better. Remember people in Minneapolis fighting ICE — and winning. Who’d have guessed individuals could do so much against that force? I know a few people there, artists and musicians and teachers and writers, and they would all be so admiring of your pie.

[u/ribcracker]

I have a weight on me because my kids are getting older and it seems like I have to be informed so I can help them navigate the crap that is pouring out of the schools. Like I feel like those old commercials for depression meds where the abstract depression monster keeps making itself a part of all my activities. Money is super tight and my kids have been used to be comfortable their whole lives. I’m working, in school for my masters, and am trying to start a business so I feel like there’s hope for the future in my little bubble and I celebrate each little win I have. I talk to the kids about what we’re gonna do around the house when things turn around and spend time just being with them.

I seek out good news, too. I look for the healthcare breakthroughs and for the people who are stepping up to create programs across the world to help others. I look up local groups that hang out with no obligations to fill my social bar a bit. Keep the kids active that way too. I keep my expectations realistic and I give myself kind thoughts when they don’t go my way. I also give myself time to just cry it out. Treat yourself how you’d treat a loved one who needed caregiving.

It won’t always be this way. The pendulum will swing towards progress again.

[u/Successful-Coffee885]

Okay, one, that plum pie — what a pie. I want to eat it right now, savor it.

Two, if the news is too much right now, take a break. It is important you keep your strength. You have a good heart. You won’t lose that taking a break. People like Greta Thunberg are on it. You can rely on that.

Three, book can help. Poetry. Songs. Words that dive deeper.

Remember the resistance. Take Minneapolis. Who would have guessed that so many people would fight back? On the streets, yes, and in ways like this — dropping off art supplies to go to kids who couldn’t leave their homes. Bringing coats for the people who were released, sometimes into the icy night without a coat or phone. Bringing phones for them, too.

Where there is mistreatment, there is resistance. Where there is resistance, there is hope.

You sound like you are grieving. It’s harsh to have your world change like that. Please just know, as bleak as things can be, there are good things happening too. Like green sprouts pushing up, even if you can’t see them yet, they are there.

Plus you should know I know people in Minneapolis and every last one of them would love and admire your pie.

[u/bjark21]

my cousin feels like you. he’s very angry at the world (rightly so) but his anger has nowhere to go so he’s just become very jaded and depressed. my other cousin said to him something that stuck with me: you can’t change the world, you can’t change the systems we live in. but you CAN make small changes to your community - you can volunteer, do charity work, get involved in community outreach programmes, and find a way to get involved with local politics. big changes won’t happen overnight but if individuals like you and me band together to take action over what we DO control, things start to get better. and you end up feeling a lot less helpless too.

[u/Strange-Music8160]

I feel the same way. And you know what would make me feel better? The recipe for that plum pie. Well, it may make me feel better for a few few minutes while I eat it then I go back to feeling just like you.

[u/Hot_Screen_8694 → u/Strange-Music8160]

Here you go : https://biancazapatka.com/en/plum-crumble-cake/
Thanks for making me smile today 🩷

[u/Illustrious_Ad6548]

This might sound too much like the advice to focus on what you can control, but I find it helpful to take it one step further: what can I do to make things better?

For me, that’s volunteering (I cook for Lasagna Love), buying less, high quality things and taking care of them, giving donations instead of things for Christmas (last year I made small handmade gifts and we donated the money we would have spent to our local food distribution network), I support my friends and family, and I vote for candidates that align with my values.

It doesn’t mean that the things happening on the global stage aren’t horrific, but I’m doing what I can to move the needle in my own community. Does making a lasagna stop oil prices from going up? Obviously not. BUT, a family in my city will have a meal (and leftovers if I can help it) that they might not have had otherwise. Donating money to Harvesters instead of buying (even more) toys for nieces and nephews means that multiple kids will go to sleep fed, which makes it easier for them to learn, and hopefully eventually leads to a better world.

It’s easy to fall into the void that is the internet news cycle, but we have to keep trying to make things a little better in the ways we can.

And FFS… VOTE.

[u/StaticCloud]

That's an amazing looking pie!!!

As someone who is hypersensitive to people's emotions, almost everyone is fucking stressed and morose right now. They just don't talk about it

[u/Scathanna0]

I've been giving it like a couple of hours a day. Documenting the fall of the US since that's where I'm at. Putting everything together to see a big picture that no one else is willing to look at. Or worse, one that some people agree with because it hurts the people they don't like.

Then I put it away. Because people depend on me to be a functional human even when the world is crumbling. Because rent isn't getting cheaper. Because it's hard to function if you let it take over every waking thought. Compartmentalization is how a lot of people survive things that the mind otherwise wouldn't survive.

[u/Fripouille_Sauvage]

I can’t bare it all anymore as well.
That’s why, at my little scale, I’m doing my best. I live in the forest, I grow my own food, I hunt. It’s been 10 years from the last time I went to the supermarket. I never used Amazon, my phone is secondhand and was given to me, I mostly walk and bike etc etc.
Those are my values and sometimes people make me cry when I see how little they care.
I still have a son, and another one growing inside me right now because that’s who we are, we’re humans et we need a tribe, family, love and happiness. I will do my best to transmit my values to my kids and hope they’ll make their change too.

But hey that’s life. Almost every generations had traumas, wars, sickness, pollutions, whatever. I don’t wanna stop living, I want to use my anger to change the things I can. To offer my kids and all the other ones a better future.

I wish you the best. Be kind to yourself. :)

[u/Sea-Condition-6046 → u/Fripouille_Sauvage]

❤️ Do you live off grid?

[u/Fripouille_Sauvage → u/Sea-Condition-6046]

We’re trying :D

I’m passionate about preserving food, drying meat, all those stuff. We live in France and old people here have a lot to share about this.

[u/Sea-Condition-6046 → u/Fripouille_Sauvage]

That’s amazing! I did this for a time, it was definitely an experience. Currently though that season has ended for me, but I still love hearing about other people’s experiences with it. I still grow stuff and live way out in the country though and have chickens 🐓 and love reading on foraging and going out to identify weeds. and I am thinking about getting goats and cows again.

[u/purplepoohbear1021]

I understand and agree with what you’re saying. I think a lot of people here are missing the point of your post. You’re not alone in how you feel op.

[u/Apart_Wolverine_9123]

Girl. I am right there with you. My personal and professional life has never been better but uh - anyone else noticing WWIII on the horizon? The cognitive dissonance of it all is intentional and created by the war machines. You are not crazy. We are living through sick times. Keep the faith, find and preserve and share your love - but anyone who says you’re crazy about this and are brainwashed and dumb and intentionally not looking and frankly - wrong.

[u/SirenaLauren]

Me

Cut a slice of plum pie

Think

Cut two more

Think again

Take the big piece and leave the slices 

Guilt

Put it back and take 2 of the pieces I cut instead

😋🥰

(unhelpful post, but maybe it's worth a smile?)

[u/tiny-but-spicy]

there is literally nothing you can do about most of this, so are you going to put your energy into making a good life for yourself, or wallow and have a shit one? up to you

[u/Femmebird → u/tiny-but-spicy]

…observing all of the horrible things happening is not really “wallowing.” 

[u/tiny-but-spicy → u/Femmebird]

OP is dwelling on it rather than attempting to do anything positive with her time. going by the plum pie, she can clearly bake, so she could join a baking club, hang out with neighbours, publish a recipe book, etc

[u/worldtraveller1989 → u/Femmebird]

Observing is not just what op is doing. She’s let it take hold of her entire life. Op
Can’t fathom that people find joy in things or are making long term plans in life. That’s not simply observing.

[u/Hot_Screen_8694 → u/worldtraveller1989]

Unfortunately, that is very true. Im caught in a loop of receiving information whether i want it or not (friends obvs talk about the news) , get anxious and lethargic about it, try to get myself out of it, feeling ok for a few days and then getting the info again. I only ever have a few days of breathers and it starts over again :( im exhausted

[u/worldtraveller1989 → u/Hot_Screen_8694]

I’m sorry you’re stuck in this loop, op. I know it’s super difficult and feels like it’ll never end. I went through a period of time like this too, and got out of it. Yes, the world is a horrible place with so many horrible things going on. But, it’s also a beautiful place with so many beautiful things going on. I think it would be beneficial for you to work with your therapist to learn some skills to be able to see and feel both, instead of being stuck on just the bad.

[u/OkAd5525]

The home made plum pie is gorgeous. Here’s a few things I have figured out for myself. Taking responsibility for the entire world was killing me. Human brains are not evolved to think that we as an individuals or even as a collective are more powerful than nature! I have realized that trying to “save the world” via judgement or resentment of others (no matter how justified) is a fools errand that will eat you up from the inside (chronic illnesses and pain, emotional misery). Because we just cannot control others. Instead, I have focused on grief work (feel your feelings about what we and you personally have lost); personal development (a healed, compassionate, wise leader is needed at every level from family home to white house); physical self-care (naps / rest, home cooked food when we can, and gentle movement to preserve our wellness and capacity); building strong mutual care relationships (having someone to fall back on). Shifting the focus back to myself has been the most helpful step for me in getting out of burn out due to catastrophic world events.

[u/KinkyKittyKaly]

Felt. I am drowning in stress mostly due to current events. My therapist nailed it “your personal life is going great - it’s the world being on fire that’s the problem.”

Everyone in my circle seems fine and oblivious. My mom and aunt purposely avoid news. My husband keeps saying things will get better, but I only see them getting worse. I feel so guilty having a 4 year old. I did not know this would be the world he would grow up in (if he gets to grow up at all). Every morning is a new disaster, a new recall, a new budget cut, another animal extinct, another degree warmer.

Sending hugs.

[u/mangokiwi19 → u/KinkyKittyKaly]

Did your therapist have any recommendations on how to overcome that?

[u/KinkyKittyKaly → u/mangokiwi19]

Nothing I’m not already doing - taking time for myself, exploring hobbies again (books, going through my Lego set stock pile, painting), consuming less news (I try to keep my social media cat-themed, but sometimes the bad news just comes in the mail, or in a bank notification).

[u/mangokiwi19 → u/KinkyKittyKaly]

Thank you! That’s helpful.

And lmao @ “bank notification” 😆😆 I feel that!!

[u/Passmethechips]

Doing things to help those around you might help to make you feel better. Do volunteer work. Volunteer at hospitals, at orphanages, at elderly homes, at homeless shelters. Start an initiative. Spread awareness. Help out in homeless shelters. Do free tutoring for less privileged kids. Clean up a pond or a river or a park.

So many things one person can do to make the world a slightly better place. You can change your focus. Instead of looking at how much the world sucks (it always has and always will) focus on the grounded things. What you can do to make it better, one person, one community, one animal, one environment at a time.

It’s not that people making plans and looking forward to the future lack empathy. It’s that they’re good at compartmentalising and focusing on things they can actually do. Better to take action and do whatever we can. It may not make much of a difference in the grand scheme of the world, but it can definitely make a difference in that one person’s/animal’s life. It’s one less starved child, it’s one less polluted pond etc etc.

[u/ImprovementChoice]

I hear you. I like to think of the most successful friend I know which is someone who started her own digital marketing business a few years ago (a real business, not selling courses). She has at least 10 employees now and is 100% focused on her family and the business. I always try to put myself in her shoes and think, how much news/doom scrolling is she doing per day? Its probably pretty close to zero. Yet, I dont feel like shes out of touch or doesnt care about current issues, shes just hyer-focused on her own life which let's her make money and provide a better life for her kids. She also makes huge contributions to charity which probably helps her feel like she's doing her part while staying focused. Theres a lot of great apps that will give you a quick daily brief on the news and then it's really up to you if you want to support a cause.

[u/poolnoodle_]

Joy is a form of resistance. They want you miserable because it makes you less likely to revolt. Loudly defend your beliefs and be joyous doing so!

[u/Decent-Cry977]

for me it's like this. I spent so many years genuinely in the throes of mental illness and perpetual terror of current events that I lost a lot of time. now that I've only just now started recovery, I can't and won't let myself continue to succumb to the fear and hopelessness. I'm still terrified and full of despair, but I at least want to live while I can

[u/Successful-Safety858]

Something that helps me is learning a bit about history and trying to put everything in a really zoomed out lens. If you zoom in and only look around right now it can feel too big and impossible. But if you zoom out enough you see the patterns and trends and that we as humans are still so new, we have had good times and bad times and we’re on a journey trending upward towards things like equality, progress, health, knowledge, and impact. It’s not a straight line, we all wish it could be, this thing we’re doing trying to shape our world and somehow all work together on it with all our billions of brains is really HARD. And the zoomed out trends are undeniably good.

[u/sevenselevens]

If I had that pie I would be ok.

[u/fridayfridayjones]

I felt like this for at least a year after November 2024. I spent a lot of time crying, a lot of time in bed. Just barely keeping it together in front of my kid. I get it. I think I felt like that for so long that I burned out from the constant stress. After a certain point I just had fatigue from caring so much all the time. I found a more demanding job that keeps me busy and I got more involved in my community. That’s what got me out of it. I’m still aware and I am doing the right things. But I refuse to have an emotional reaction to all of it all of the time. It’s not sustainable.

[u/MacaroonSad8860]

The only thing that helps me with this is action. Organizing. Involvement.

[u/No-Lynx8771]

I get it. And no one I know really follows the news so when I bring anything up they just get upset. I feel nuts lmao

[u/PolarBailey_]

I live for spite. I lost the will to live 8 years ago. I'm only alive because i know it pisses people off. I live happily with my wife because it pisses people off. I will not let these republican fascists outlive me

[u/Little-Bones]

I've been focusing more on science than politics. I get so angry and feel helpless when I pay attention to the corruption of that trash, so instead I'm gonna enjoy people discovering cool things.

[u/bluemoodfood]

I can relate.

Things that have helped me these days-

-Making political themed and anti AI artwork/posts.
-Finding a climate role model or someone who is fighting for change that gives you hope. (Currently it’s Abdul El-Sayed in MI running for senate)
-Planting a pollinator friendly garden, growing some of my own foods, and next spring I will start some beehives.
-a book called “Regeneration, Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation” by Paul Hawkins. It focuses on many positive climate impacts and carbon emission info, and is the only positively framed book I know on climate change and what we can do as humans to fight it.

[u/ShutUpNListen3397]

If you have tiktok, delete it. That has saved me a lot of mental anguish. I also avoid facebook. They intentionally want to get you upset so you stay engaged with the platform. It's not worth the stress.

[u/Clamalfer]

I get this. I also feel so much right now. I work full time, I have family obligations. I also make time to fully engage in protest efforts. I help lead an overpass protest weekly, I write letters to my legislators, and I volunteer with the local immigrants rights coalition. It sounds like a lot but it takes up maybe 3-4 hours a week (you dont have to do thais much). While I am still seething, these things help me because at least I am doing something. I see a lot of people either with their heads in the sand or sitting around feeling helpless. Pick one thing and do it. It doesn't make the bad shit stop but it puts you in communities of others who are trying to make a difference. It is going to take all of us just doing one thing.

[u/enquizative]

Get off social media and stop going on your phone

[u/Daisy_Throwaway24]

I absolutely understand where you’re coming from. The thing that’s helped me with moving forward is the truth that things change. Yes, some major league shitheads are controlling so many aspects of our lives but at the same time I haven’t seen this much pushback before (or at the very least I wasn’t paying so much attention)

People are more class conscious and aware of the position we’re in and while some of it comes from a desperate feeling we can’t go back to “normal” a lot of people are aware huge changes need to happen. We’re protesting and yelling and making it clear and it’s not a lot but it’s all we can do for now.

Things may be bad but there’s nothing that says they will stay bad. That’s how I see it anyway

[u/raiskymaiFLY]

oh hey we share a brain huh

I'm sorry you're caught in the spiral. It sucks so bad and I don't know how to deal with it in a way that doesn't send my inborn Catholic guilt into a tailspin. I talk to my therapist a lot about trying and failing to live in congruence with my values. Maybe you're having a similar issue?

[u/splatoon_player2003]

Oof I can relate to this as a kid I was always self aware on what was going on in the world but I always had this mindset of “Well in the future it would be a lot different.” Now as an adult I can say I’m even more self aware so it makes it hard to look for that same future I thought. I’ve been doing a lot of community work, and I have a lot of hobbies and things I do to keep my mind off things but even with all that my mind still goes to the stuff that’s happening in this world and apart of me still holds onto the whole thing about the world being different in the future and that it will get better, and I will continue to advocate and do the things to push it forward even if it may seem like there’s no progress.

[u/mindyourownbetchness]

it sounds like you need to first and foremost treat you depression (or maybe change up your treatment if it is already treated-- new meds, new dose, new therapist etc) because it will be very difficult to take any actions when you're depressed.

second, I, well, second what people are saying about getting involved. It absolutely is the only thing that pulls me out of the cycle you're talking about.

third, DELETE social media. I guess you can argue reddit is a form of social media, so maybe I sound like a hypocrite saying that haha, but for me, instagram is what triggers TF out of me. I have an account, but I don't have it on my phone. Same with reddit, actually (I only use it on desktop). I redownload instagram for certain events and about two weeks ago I clocked that i hadn't removed it from my phone and I swear I felt better the minute I deleted it.

[u/Outrageous_Comb_321]

Go to your company’s Reddit and start sharing salaries. We gotta fight the good fight and be more like the French.

[u/DoctorAnnual6823]

This isn't really advice. Just what keeps me going.

Spite. I feel like if I give up I'm letting them win. And I don't let people off easy in social situations.

Oh you brought up the drought in California? Well now you get to hear about the data centers being built for your precious Claude.

People don't discuss the news around me because I make it uncomfortable. I'm polite, and I don't get preachy, but I don't hold back. They have to see that the world is going in a bad direction.

We are humans. We adapt. I am angry because I haven't lost hope.

My partner and I are working on fleeing the US and going to a country that is at least trying.

When I lose hope? I plan to make sure I end up on the news.

So be sure to say something funny in case you end up in the screenshot they show at my court hearing.

[u/I_pinchyou]

You aren't crazy. Paying attention is important but so is knowing when to bow out for a bit! I'm raising a kid, trying to make ends meet and dealing with aging parents. I'm anxious about pretty much everything all the time! But what brings me comfort ironically is ties to the past. My family has been through worse. Grandparents lived through the great depression, had very little. I have photos from 1910 of my great-great- great grandmother. She looks 80 but would have probably been about 50

The ignorant and the people who refuse to witness the fascist takeover the world is experiencing make me sad. I understand it's self protection but knowing the truth an preparing for a better future is so important.

Chin up. Cycles happen, most of us will survive and make it through.

[u/twizmixer]

put the phone down, find community from real life

[u/ilp456]

You have two choices but I suggest both…

- limit social media. Stop looking at TikTok. Either take a solid break (like a news free week or complete media/social media break)or set limits for yourself (an hour per day at a specific time)

- volunteer to know you are making a difference. Look online for volunteer opportunities in your community/city/county and sign up to volunteer with one that seems meaningful to you.

[u/Awkward_apple1]

Girrrl I feel this. I just found out I am pregnant with my third child and i feel like the world is going to shit. But I am fighting to keep a fucking data center from being built in my town. Fight the fight that is possible! 🤰✌️

[u/boardbamebeeple]

Sooooo many people here missing the point. I get it op ❤️

[u/eastofme01]

Focus on what you can control, not what you can’t.

[u/Annual_Magazine_5246]

Not to sound insensitive, but I wonder how distressed someone who is busy making beautiful pies can possibly be? Not everyone is coping well enough to do that! You have to be finding some joy in life to make something so entirely frivolous and unnecessary as pie. 😆

[u/IllSurprise3049]

I pull my head out of the news, out of social media. When I get sucked in, my life dims.

[u/Public-Willow-7943]

You are not alone. Don’t forget how hard it was to find a therapist after a certain person was elected in the US.

I had to give up the news and a lot of social activities because what you describe was affecting my physical health. Not the most healthy way to handle things but I can’t afford any more ambulance rides.

My kids don’t want babies because of the world they would be living in.

All I can say is that therapy kept me from all out despair and I recommend it if you have access.