How to not let negativity affect you?

[LoraPiano]

I have had depression/anxety forever, but since the pandemic negative news has a much bigger impact on my psyche. It's hard to decribe but I feel like negativity is everywhere, from the war, to economic slowdown, to friends' personal issues and continuous moans. Everyone is busy, stressed, and tired. It's not possible for me to completely delete social media or never read the news. The problem is I can't just read/hear these and move on, every bit of these stay with me and I feel like I am drowning in despair and all the time I have to pull myself out. Does anyone feel the same way? That optimism has vanished from our lives and we are continuously pulling others down?

Yes, totally. In the last seven months though, I've started counselling to deal with childhood trauma and have been mentored in mindfulness and daily gratitude by a colleague. I've also started reading Mind Management - The Chimp Paradox by Professor Steve Peters.

I used to be terrible catastrophiser and always feel like I needed to fix everything and then I felt helpless and hopeless when I couldn't. The things above have really helped.

Re social media - I only do Instagram and it's tightly curated to only be positive, creative accounts so that it only brings me something inspiring or up lifting.