Does anybody else feel like they can't care about anything else now?

[kevinbacone]

I'm not sure how else to say it but I feel as though I'm completely overwhelmed with all the things that I care about at the moment.

Not home things, they're alright, but bigger world things. Climate change, Brexit, Covid, HS2, refugees, BLM, shit government, homelessness. I'm finding it all overwhelming and I'm starting to feel drowned in it. Am I the only one?

@BalloonSlayer thank God for you!

I tried in the past, it wasn't good for me.
I now rarely watch the news. It may come on tv in the background, I generally only tune in for sport.
May hear headlines during the day but I don't search for or sit down to watch anymore.
My general overall mood is better as I don't have so many outlets screaming at me to stand up and fight or be angry for xyz, boycott this or that, sign xyz petition, join this or that march, are you offended by xyz.
There not an overall sense of doom and gloom. I worry about me and my family. Everything else is secondary background noise.

Honestly - just switch off. Turn off the news. Don't read the papers. Turn notifications off on your phone and just ignore it.

At the beginning of COVID I was so anxious (and I have GAD anyway) - checking the news multiple times a day etc. it was a awful and my mental health took a real nosedive.

Now I just don't. I ignore it. I have to be mentally well because I have to work and do my job. That has to be my priority. It's not wrong to focus on your own mental well-being - don't let other people and social media tell you otherwise

I get this.

I'm trying to give money to charity, go vegan and save the planet whilst also keeping my DC healthy and happy, keeping the house clean, working full time and not go insane.

Sometimes I just have to put Kisstory on the radio and dance around the kitchen, binge watch Dinner Date and watch videos of people falling over. Escapism I suppose.

I've always been interested in what's going on in the world and followed the news, but the tone has changed in the last 10, 15 years with the rise of social media and reduction of budgets. Everything is so reactionary, emotive and narrow. Especially since Brexit.

Watch TV in the daytime and it's wall to wall pleading charity adverts.

You can only care about the wider world if your physical and emotional world is secure. It is OK to retreat to self care.
It is OK to not be perfect. Any small difference you make to be decent is fine. No one can solve the world single handedly. Just do what you have the spare capacity to do, and when enough people do, positive changes happen.

Balloonslayer, you speak such logic actually. I like that there is your calming voice, there are two sides and your side is appreciated actually, so I won’t be piling on.

I also appreciate Balloonslayers post

Can we take the 'what is in my control' approach? As in, things in my control, are me and my reactions. Everything else isn't. So focus on the bits I can control.
I suppose like the prayer of serenity!

@Raimona

My Gran used to say if it’s raining you need to close your windows. Of course you need a basic awareness of what’s happening in the world, but there’s no point drowning in all these upsetting things that are out of your control. If you’re getting too wet you need to close your windows and stop letting the rain in.

I like your Gran.

Thanks everyone who has posted with perspective and thoughts. All appreciated. Especially those who give advice to ignore and focus on what's within my power. I know you're right. I just need to put your ideas into practice.

I watched the Margaret Thatcher film on TV last night and it reminded me of all the things going on in the 1980s, the NI attacks, poll tax riots, Falklands war etc the recession, things were bad then but we did not have the constant internet coverage which maybe made it somehow easier to switch off?

Another thing I have noticed, is that things such as overpopulation used to be a crisis, now the threat of the population falling is a crisis Everything is a crisis, and the news hardly ever gives a balanced report. Many things have a silver lining.

People's lives have always been terrible, and they've always suffered (wars, slavery, famine, serfdom, disease etc) the difference now is the 24/7 availability of news sent straight to your pocket.

If you need to, switch it off.
Do good where you can, enjoy your children if you have them, help others if possible but don't stress or worry about assistance that is beyond you or out of your control.
Try to detach from material goods, value relationships with others.
Smile as often as you can.
Live more slowly.

This is a well-known phenomenon.

The Germans call it Weltschmerz but we have no equivalent word for it in English because in English culture we have always prized impassion - the whole “stiff upper lip” thing.

You are probably an empath - someone who is unusually affected by the moods of other people, and so highly sensitive that even mood at several removes, perhaps via news or social media, can seriously destabilise you.

You need to tune out, through both avoidance of the triggers, and immersion in activities that require total concentration, such as high intensity sport or at the other end of the spectrum needlepoint.

Compassion fatigue?

www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/high-octane-women/201407/are-you-suffering-compassion-fatigue

I try and read about stoicism, that can be helpful.

Thanks for all these replies. They really are helping. I do suffer from the whole 'if good people do nothing' belief. But I can now see why good people have to do nothing for their own well-being.

orangeblossom I agree but hadn’t thought of it until recently. I’m Right now listening to an audiobook about ww2 soe opérative Vera Atkins. I’m finding it thought provoking and helpful in a practical way - what is possible and why in extraordinary circs.
Not suggesting we all have it in us to be decorated, remarkable heroine but it’s good to be reminded that we may all have a bit of our own version of it - every now and then.

@Doublevodka

No, you're not the only one. When I watch the news or think about the state of the world, I feel there's not a lot to be positive about. However I do wonder if this just happens as you get older. When i was a kid, my Nan would despair about the way society was heading, my mum does this as she has got older and I hear myself saying it too now. I wonder if things have actually got worse or it's just human nature, to feel this way as we age.

No, I know a few teens who feel the same way...

I feel like this. I don't give a shit at the moment about anything. Its the only way I can cope. Shit marriage, trapped, being a dreadful Mum, I'm obese, have money worries, coronavirus worries. I just go through the motions every day and look forward to bedtime as then I'm unaware, numb and don't have to expend any energy or be something to someone.

Sorry...can't even post properly. It was about world events not our lives.

@missmouse101 all worries are welcome here if they're making you feel as described. Read through the thread. There's some good advice on here regardless of why we're feeling this way. Hope things improve for you

I like the points form that article above. Easier to agree with than put into practice perhaps!

Limit the amount of daily news you watch or read about
Try to comes to terms with the fact that pain and suffering are realities of life over which we have little or no control
Be grateful for what is good in your life and in the world
Try to find some meaning in the suffering you see
If you must blame something, blame the situation, not the person
Show compassion to yourself by being kind, soothing, and comforting to yourself

Reading about Buddhism can also be helpful perhaps. The readings are a lot about being mindful with suffering.

Oh how awful the moment you wake up and realise you don't actually care anymore especially about homeless people how tragic for you