To ask how you rationalise the worry about the economy etc to cope with every day life

[NameChangeLifeChange]

I am naturally a bit of a worrier and really struggled with PND during covid so got into downward spirals worrying about the future for my children.
I feel recently the worries about cost of living, economy, future for the UK have sparked similar worries for me but day to day most people seem fairly calm, crack on with life and genuinely seem quite happy and care free. I know it may be different behind closed doors but for a number of reasons but mainly family moving abroad isn’t really an option for us.
How do you just crack on without feeling sick with worry about the future? I don’t know if it’s mumsnet but it feels like the UK is headed for absolute disaster while the rest of the world is coping fine. We do have desirable jobs abroad so would consider that but I love the Uk (for now!) and being close to family. I worry I’ll wake up in a year in this terror landscape with awful schools, no healthcare and not affording anything. I’m really worried but don’t want to be.

I think a lot of people just keep busy and focus on the here and now.

It’s so beyond our control that I have to force myself to let go and take the “cross that bridge when we come to it” attitude. Don’t get me wrong, am doing everything I can to prepare for winter- a bit of worry is good kick up the bum to prepare as best you can. A wise man once said to me too much worrying is like being in a rocking chair, lots of to-ing and fro-ing, but ultimately you are stuck in place. There’s some truth in that. Too much worry only harms you and once you’ve gone down your list and done what you can, try to just sit back and take one day at a time. I also do remember the 1970s and rolling energy blackouts and so on, so that gives me a bit of reassurance.

I focus on the fact that I can only control what I can control. Nothing more or less. I can control the immediate environment that my child is in; I can make my home a warm, loving, safe space as a haven for them from the world, should they need one. I can bring them up as best as I can, helping them to develop resilience and the skills to cope as they go forward into the future; and that's about it. Whether I'm doing the right thing, who the fuck knows. 😂 But it's what I've got.

If you really think the rest of the world is "just fine" you haven't been paying attention .

People have lived through far worse. I think we psychologically downplay things like WW2 because we know it turned out ok but people lived through years of it looking like it was going to be far from ok and they survived. My great grandfather lived through both WW1 and WW2. I cant really imagine that- being 20 and there's a 4 year war and then you're 45 and there's another one! Then there's the Cuban missile crisis.

Most of us have been fortunate to live through a period of unprecedented post war stability. That period may be coming to an end, or this may just all settle down in a bit. Either way, there's little we can do about it.

I sort into three piles:

Shit I can do something about and will
Shit I can't do something about
Shit I can do something about but won't.

Only think about the first. I'm not a Russian oligarch so <shrug> what's to do? I'm not an MP so <shrug> again.

I am very productive in the areas I have power over.

I was born into a family without anything; you get on with it. There are always going to be bad times, but there are always going to be better times. It's how I've dealt with anything in life.

Within my friends group (who all just seem to be happily cracking on) I would say 100% of them think the onLy problem facing the U.K. is higher energy bills. Nothing else, just that. They can’t seem to see any other problem.

Genuinely and kindly, get off mumsnet.

i am not a worrier by nature but an evening of doom scrolling on here and I am ready to start shooting squirrels, milking cows by hand with a torch behind the farmer’s back and getting prepared for a nuclear attack.

I agree. I’m off for a bath (which I probably can’t afford) but am going to sink into a Baileys from last Christmas to try to stop thinking it through - too scary.

Thank you for all the wise words.
the sensible side of me knows all that is true- I’ve been lucky enough to live, work and volunteer abroad which has made me very grateful for the UK in many ways. Perhaps it is mumsnet but there’s definitely a sense of things are going to be worse now indefinitely and everyone feels so hopeless which I’ve never encountered anywhere really, even in places really struggling.

Watch something funny

Don’t worry about it

Oh and mn is doom tastic so avoid here

Perhaps it is mumsnet but there’s definitely a sense of things are going to be worse now indefinitely and everyone feels so hopeless which I’ve never encountered anywhere really, even in places really struggling.

Well, we’ve had Brexit, Covid, Russia invading Europe and 4 awful Tory PMs in 6 years, it’s no wonder we feel hopeless. I keep reminding myself that History is full of awful times and people just had to get on with it. Also, as you say there are people at the moment suffering terribly, so I think switch off the news, give SM a break for a few days and go and get on with living life.

Just take each day as it comes. This is how our world and our economy works - there are good times and bad. Like the tides, they come and go. Things will get better.

There are always going to be bad times, but there are always going to be better times.

This is it basically. You take what you can from each day, and appreciate what you have.

I don’t read the news every day and I also find getting out in a green space like a park or Forest is very calming, I realise this isn’t possible for everyone. I do worry about the state of the UK but i try and think about things on a day to day moment whilst making some cut backs so that I will have a bit of spare money to fall back on. I’m at home most days due to ill health so I can’t keep that busy but I think that helps plus watching something funny.

Excellent summation. I’m sure half of it is Russian bots from that Simon Pegg cyber hack series on channel 4

I’m in my 60’s and bad things have happened to me as an individual and to the country during my lifetime.
But I’m still here and have managed to cope with what has happened. So based on past performance I will survive. If I’m dead I certainly won’t be worrying about anything at all.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change
The courage to change the things I can
And the wisdom to know the difference.

On your substantive point though, how you feel the UK is doing depends on where you are looking from. Yes, some people are struggling, but vast numbers of people and families are doing well. If I look round the street here there are still new cars, children on new bikes, and in the local village the pubs and restaurants are still booming.

It's a cycle and we are at the crap end of it now unfortunately. Has been predicted to occur in the 2020s by a number of people. Hopefully we will move into a better one soon.

MN is not representative of the population as a whole. It was interesting to watch Covid and Lockdown unfold on here. Which incidently wrapped up quite quickly without all of the people dying like everyone on MN said they would.

Times are hard. Bad shit is coming our way. But what can you do? Drive yourself mad worrying about it or keep your head down and crack on?

😂

People didn't die from covid?

OK then

@scaredoff that is not what @Lawazzalawoo said. Mumsnet loved lockdown and said millions would die. Which they didn’t.

I seem to be taking in my stride. Oddly not panicking, which isn’t like me.

I think it’s cause my mum died last December. Felt like the world ended then and I am a bit numb to everything else.

I have to pretend everything is fine when it’s not. Get my head down and crack on. The fact that I probably won’t be able to afford my mortgage next year, is just stacked on top of everything else.

Not something I recommend.

Just tell yourself that shit happens in cycles and it's our turn now but it's temporary.