Having anxiety over climate change

[MaryLouFreebush]

This really isnt like me, I feel stupid even posting this.
I feel really anxious about what's been in the news recently about climate change. I can't get it off my mind, I've been thinking about it constantly. I keep imagining all the potential, horrible ways we're all going to die, what's going to happen to the planet etc etc.
I'm constantly googling for news about it. It's stressing me out.
I think since I had my DS things like this really get to me a lot more, I fear so much for his future.
Are my fears & worries totally justified? Is everyone else worrying like this? Or am I being hysterical & ridiculous? I haven't told anyone how I feel, but when I bring up climate change in conversation with friends/family no one seems to give a toss & it certainly isn't playing on their minds like it is on mine.

I was a bit mental after having children too. Only starting to calm down and see things rationally now. I think it was sleep deprivation-I couldn’t really distinguish the extent of a risk so I would get o we anxious about everything, even if it was very remote.

I think the last year has been a bit of an eye opener for many and the reports that have come out are pretty scary. I have a toddler myself and it has been worrying me a lot as well. It gave me the push to do something about it within my household (reduce waste, electricity and such) as at least then I can be confident I am doing what I can, and even in one household it is amazing how much plastic and general waste is produced!

I will add that you do sound like your on the extreme end of the spectrum, being worried is one thing but that level of anxiety could signal something else

I think I'm being extreme too but I can't seem to help it. Normally I can see/hear something on the news & think 'shit, that's not good, those poor people' etc but then just get on with my day (as callous as that sounds). But this seems to be really affecting me. Maybe I've just had too much time on my hands the past few days & am overthinking it.

How old is your little one? Could it possibly be post natal depression? It’s possible it could present like that. I am unlucky enough to have suffered with PND after my LO (currently still on meds) and I was a wreck including having extreme worries about my little ones safety and even some disturbing dreams where he got badly hurt - it was really upsetting

Hello MaryLouFreebush. I hope you see this, as the responses you got were pretty rubbish if I'm honest. You are not alone in your anxiety. Fear and pain is a natural response for a world in trauma.

I can't get over how many people are like 'oh no it's not that bad', but that response says more about them, they are in denial. Their denial is fed by the failure of our governments and media to accurately communicate and respond to the tragedy, and the fact that the truth is terrifying and we as a society are very good at avoiding terrible truths.

If we continue as business as usual, 5C of warming is locked in before the end of the century. This is not something that will make England a bit more like Spain, this a catastrophic ending of civilisation as we know it. This is massive global crop failures, water wars, and a mass migration of humans that will make the current migration issues look like a sunday picnic outing.In our children lifetimes and our own.

So yes, you are right to feel anxiety. I grieve and rage for my daughter's future, but I'm not letting it overwhelm and crumple me. There is still time to avert the worst of it. The next decade is critical and we need an informed and engaged citizenry to push our system into something that will survive and sustain us for generations to come. We can't just roll over and drift off to sleep, while thinking that "oh I've recycled and the government will fix it". That inaction will do nothing but condemn our children to death, and wipe all that is beautiful from the face of our planet.

Start educating yourself, start talking about this with your friends, we don't have time to worry if they think we are being Debbie Downers. Start organising and agitating. People are starting to do this, and when you find them and connect with them, some of that anxiety will start to melt away a bit, and you will glimpse the kind of world that is possible. Check out Extinction Rebellion, they are doing great things and they are popping up all over the world.

Don't be afraid of your fear and anxiety, let it flow through you, you are feeling the pain of our world in pain, listen to what it is telling you to do, it's telling you to get to get to work!

It seems to me that many in the Western affluent countries were not concerned about climate global events as it didn't affect them.
Now the UK and USA are experiencing shifting weather patterns people suddenly care.
The planet and mother nature does not care about anyone's bank balance.
People were just too arrogant to realise it before.

Bellabonkers - I don't disagree with you, post WWII capitalism has turned society's focus to the individual, and corporate control of our media and governments have aided in that myopia. But more people are waking up, and for all of humanity's faults, we are adaptive little buggers, we have capacity to change.