How do you reconcile the risks of the world with enjoying your children

[Nerv]

I admit I'm in an anxious spiral and this is partly to do with the age of my children and the happy and innocent phase they're in. But I was just listening to a podcast (on longevity ironically) where, unexpectedly, the host spoke about the dangers that face our children, citing biological terrorism and nuclear war. This has triggered worries that I've been working hard to ignore over the years. I can really struggle to be happy when I think about these possibilities and I just can't accept that they're possibilities. I can't reconcile that world with the one I want for my children. It sends me into a horrible depression and I just want to know how to live with the uncertainty and anxiety about their future

I suppose I consider that every era has had its hideous worries for the next generation. Some have been realised, some have not, but in many ways we are better off than previous generations (speaking purely for the UK here) - our children have access to healthcare services, education resources and technology which previous generations could only dream of, and by and large greater prosperity as well. There is still a ton of work to do in terms of feminism and equality, but our children will benefit so much from the efforts that have gone before and may be inspired to push things on themselves. Some careers will fall by the wayside but different ones will emerge (a good aphorism I heard was that AI will not steal your job - your job will be stolen by someone who knows how to use AI).

When you trace our family back, previous generations have gone through world wars, cold wars, influenza and smallpox, grinding poverty, subsistence living, being press ganged by the Navy - the next generation will have to go some to have it worse than that!

Please read Hans Rosling's Factfulness. Very cheering.

Thank you both for such comforting replies. I'll have a look at the book: wish it had been written post-Feb 2022 though!

I've ordered the book :-)

I just stick the the concrete avoidable dangers and concentrate on bugging the shit out of my kids about looking left and right before crossing the road every single time they leave the house. My eldest is 16 so I should really stop but I don't know if I even can now 😬

Every generation has thought this. What do you think Bacon meant by saying about someone who has children giving 'hostages to fortune'? He was born in the Renaissance!

The World is a difficult and often awful place but it’s also filled with unimaginable beauty and joy. The best thing you can do is raise your children to be good compassionate humans who are the change that the World needs.

Love this, thanks

Listening to podcasts like that is probably not a good idea if you tend to be an anxious person.

I recommend you try to find more cheerful material to listen to, and to see if cbt therapy would help with the anxiety.

I worry more about the vaping than the stuff that hopefully will never happen.

Other than that I agree, there is so much beauty in the world and I get out into nature as much as possible where it's easier to stay in the moment.
I don't watch the news and try not to read too much either of it comes up.

It was meant to be on health and longevity so I definitely wouldn't have known to avoid it. It wasn't what I was expecting, nestled among advice about supplements 😂

I do sometimes think I need to focus more on what's under my nose. I don't know why I can't and why I get in this spiral. It means I'm not as present with the kids, I know. I just need to train myself not to think and not to imagine horrible futures and just to have hope

This is what Rosling says about eg global war, but none of these things do seem to be happening in response to all of these likely stressors - instead, the stressors are clear to see but the appropriate response not so much!