To be frightened for the future...

[wingingmumlife]

I don't want this to be a doom and gloom thread, I want to try and reassure myself and others that things will be ok in the end.

I suffer massively with anxiety (particularly health anxiety but it's stemming into other forms of anxiety now).

I am 22 and I try to educate myself as much as possible when it comes to politics, global warming etc so please go gentle on me

I have a 18 month old daughter and I'm shit scared of my future and her future and what it holds.

I'm terrified of loosing the NHS. I feel like this is the slow start of human extinction (irrational I know given we have survived world war 1 & 2) but it just feels this way to me. Every time I go food shopping there are gaps in the shelves everywhere, then there has been the total carnage of "petrol shortages". It just seems to be one thing after the other and I'm finding it very overwhelming.

I am just hoping someone can come on here and give me a glimpse of hope that things will be ok and that whilst I know things do need to change - it will all be for good in the end.

I don't want to get flamed for sounding stupid but this is a genuine feeling I have right now and I'm losing sleep over this at night

It will be fine

I was born in a developing country where many people have so little and yet not only do most survive, they thrive.

I won’t list the things I’ve seen but having seen the things people overcome, I’m sure we will be ok.

Thank you for that @SharonasCorona it may sound ridiculously daft but I can't begin to explain how the way of the world is frightening me at the minute and reassurance really does help me. That's my way of coping

You need to read/watch/socialise differently. Thee are many Malthusians and others who predict our imminent doom but you need to get a broader view and see things in perspective.

There's been one scare or another in nearly every decade, this isn't new.

There may be changes, but we will adapt, as we always do 😊

Lots of what you describe aren't the world, they're the UK. Not many countries have a health system like the NHS - and most do pretty fine without.

The petrol thing, its just stupid. I'd love to start a rumor that there was a shortage of sand at the beach just to see how many people turned up with tubs. It's all a bit silly really.

@wingingmumlife

Thank you for that *@SharonasCorona* it may sound ridiculously daft but I can't begin to explain how the way of the world is frightening me at the minute and reassurance really does help me. That's my way of coping

Not daft at all. You’ve got a lovely life ahead of you I’m sure.

Future Crunch is a really good website and has a newsletter to sign up to - its like positive news from all around the world, I find it helpful.

Gosh, that sounds a lot like me! I used to google everything, always listen to the news but since July last year I stopped listening to the news and it did help. I just got on with it. But, now whenever I'm a work and a colleague mentions something or if I'm out with a friend and they say "Have you heard about ....?" I go into panic mode and search the news, Mumsnet or google to see what's happening and it does me no favours whatsoever.

Some days are better than others but I think right now, it seems to be one thing falling apart after another and it terrifies me. The main thing I'm worried about is healthcare for me and my daughter but everything else is contributing to me anxiety. Thank you for that @Ionlydomassiveones

Thank you for those who have replied so far, reading these replies really do help me.

@lochmaree I will look for this

My Grand parents lived through WW1, Grandfather and his brother served on frontline and did not get a scratch.
My Father served through WW2, not a mark. Grandfathers and Dad lived to 80+. I was born in the dire austerity years when rationing was worse and fuel and electricity was more restricted than during the war.
Then when I was at school there was the Cold War and the dread of "The Bomb".
Never broken a limb, I rode a motorcycle and I am fine, and complete. I hope to live into an old age. I am not unique, many others lived through as our working class family did in our terrace house without electricity.
These things always seem bad at the time and until we get the perspective of time.
Look up the diet and food allowances for 1946. That will give you comparisons.
You and yours will thrive, hold your head up and look the world in the face square on.
Good Night

.

I too suffer from health anxiety and I also have moments where I panic about the world for my children. I'm currently doing an online cbt course for health anxiety perhaps something like that might help? But one thing I started doing afew weeks ago Is keeping a journal of things I am grateful for each day. List 3 new things your grateful for. I find this makes me look on the positives of the day and life abit more. We can all only do our best and so much of life is out of our control. Take care and try to be kinder to yourself.

Did your anxiety increase after you had dc?

Sometimes the mothering instinct is so strong that we can get into a spiral and instead of worrying about things that are ‘now’ things that are totally relevant (did I clean the bottles properly, did I buy enough nappies etc) they worry about future things, global things, aliens, rainforests, all sorts of things. It’s a mum thing.

You can’t change it but you can learn to stop spiralling. Just catch yourself thinking about things which are future things and note that you’d like to stop the rainforests being destroyed (or whatever) but right now your priority is dc and that’s ok. You can do something next week/month/year etc.

And give yourself permission to not think about it any further. You can jot it down in a notepad for this purpose if you feel it will help. Sometimes a diary also helps. When you read back over it you will see that the things you were worried out your head about six months ago are of no significance now as things have changed. That can be reassuring.

When it comes to now type things like food shortages or petrol shortages, remind yourself that we’ve been through this before and it will sort itself out. Just have a coping strategy. Like you have enough time as a backup if you fear food shortages. And you have cash in the back of your purse for an emergency taxi if you can’t get petrol or whatever one day.

Speak to yourself when you’re spiralling like you’re speaking to an eight year old needing reassurance. It’s ok to be kind. It’s ok to not worry about things you can’t change just now.

You need to get your anxiety down and get some perspective on the life you lead.

Take a break from social media.

Stop reading the news for a while.

Read a history book set in wartime like Nella Last’s war. This is nothing. Things are much much easier than they used to be. Things are cyclic, sometimes they are better sometimes worse but never on a steady irreversible decline.

There’s a place on the Thames called Dead Man’s hole because that’s where the current carries things to. In Victorian times every morning they used to have to fish the bodies of suicides out if it. Now it’s a pretty spot. I like to sit there and watch the Thames and remind myself that London used to be a smoggy plague-ridden cesspit with bodies in the river floating every day and now it’s a tourist destination.

Also we’re not currently in an ice age. So that’s another win.

Go to gp
Refer to CBT
Or do online
You are catastrophising
While the big picture is gloomy
Day to day you get through and break down challenges
Look at how you vote next time.
Do something to change the world in a small way or just your world
People get through wars pandemic etc... some don't but if you are alive you can take it day by day
And look at ways to manage your anxiety
And do something positive to change things locally

www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/things-change-the-world-even-you-can.html

Everything will be fine. We had it worst at the beginning of the pandemic. Now we have a backlog of things that need catching up after Covid and Brexit.