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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To be terrified of ww3

59 replies

Rubytuesday77 · 19/11/2024 14:18

i know worrying won’t make a blind bit of difference but I feel so uneasy and just plain scared. Things seem to be ramping up. Sorry to unburden, I know nobody has a crystal ball but I suppose im just wanting some reassurance I could be wrong itms.😳

OP posts:
EarthlingHere · 22/11/2024 16:12

Well with headlines like this who would blame you? Bloody daily fail scaremongering again

To be terrified of ww3
Viviennemary · 22/11/2024 16:14

According to the DM today it's already started. Honestly, they are idiots printing this stuff.

Miracle29 · 22/11/2024 16:38

EarthlingHere · 22/11/2024 16:12

Well with headlines like this who would blame you? Bloody daily fail scaremongering again

This is the first one I saw this morning...is daily mail not a good news outlet then. I've seen these headlines on daily mail, mirror and the sun.

SweetSixty · 22/11/2024 16:48

Miracle29 · 22/11/2024 16:38

This is the first one I saw this morning...is daily mail not a good news outlet then. I've seen these headlines on daily mail, mirror and the sun.

The Daily Mail is a sensationalist, right-wing leaning, racist, misogynist news paper owned by people with a vested interest in keeping the very rich rich. They repeatedly print inaccurate scare stories a in order to whip up culture wars or further their own agenda.

Not reading the Daily Mail is one key way to lower anxiety levels.
Most of what they print is utter bilge.

PrivacyPussyPasta · 22/11/2024 16:50

Meh, if we get nuked we wont know about it, we'll be dead.

I'm far more concerned about the NHS/economy/climate change and what a shit show life is going to be for the next generation. At least if we're nuked that will be the end of us.

Wonderwall23 · 22/11/2024 16:53

OP I suffer from anxiety too so I mean this kindly, but I think you need to stop watching and reading the news. At least currently, if you wanted to, you could literally switch off and go about your life knowing absolutely nothing about this and not worrying.

SweetSixty · 22/11/2024 16:56

@Wonderwall23 has a real point about switching off the news if you're anxious.

So much news is inflammatory, click bait or opinion and comes to absolutely nothing. If you switch off the news for a week you miss a whole lot of nonsense, spin and fear mongering and are calmer for it. 99% of the threats/comments/reports come to nothing and can pass you by completely.

Miracle29 · 22/11/2024 16:56

Oh I've always read the daily mail and the sun and they both said similar things. I'm my own worst enemy because I then Google and see more and I felt sick to my stomach. Obviously made worse by the fact I'm sick at the moment and grieving a loss and then read this. When I read uk were threatened months ago I thought here we go again another threat but this morning it all seemed more real. If we got nuked and it was fast I wouldn't be as worried it's the fact of a slow death for my children that makes me anxious and sick. Maybe I'll lay off daily mail though.

SweetSixty · 22/11/2024 17:13

@Miracle29 So sorry to hear about your loss and I hope you'll soon be feeling better.

The Sun is exactly the same as the Daily Mail in that it's known for sensationalist headlines, gutter journalism and poor ethics.

Neither publication seeks to provide a balanced, honest report of the news, merely to served their own agendas i.e. making money and political orientation.

My anxiety is hugely helped by laying off the news for weeks at a time. When I do want to know what's going on in the world I read the headlines of the Financial Times. They seem to capture the facts with less spin and, as I don't understand a lot of the financial technicalities in the articles, I just get the headlines and don't go down a worrying leafy lane of fear inducing opinions and spin.

tuvamoodyson · 22/11/2024 17:21

Eightdayz · 19/11/2024 16:28

Fishing for reassurance over something so futile is not a good look. Unhealthy in fact.

I'm not surprised her partner reacts this way tbh. Living with a partner with unreasonable levels of anxiety is emotionally draining.

Exactly…they’re NEVER reassured! It’s endless, no amount of listening or trying to reassure them works, it’s just constant ‘but what if…’ it’s exhausting.

Miracle29 · 22/11/2024 17:26

SweetSixty · 22/11/2024 17:13

@Miracle29 So sorry to hear about your loss and I hope you'll soon be feeling better.

The Sun is exactly the same as the Daily Mail in that it's known for sensationalist headlines, gutter journalism and poor ethics.

Neither publication seeks to provide a balanced, honest report of the news, merely to served their own agendas i.e. making money and political orientation.

My anxiety is hugely helped by laying off the news for weeks at a time. When I do want to know what's going on in the world I read the headlines of the Financial Times. They seem to capture the facts with less spin and, as I don't understand a lot of the financial technicalities in the articles, I just get the headlines and don't go down a worrying leafy lane of fear inducing opinions and spin.

Thankyou. Months ago I was in a place where i could say whatever happens happens and whatever i can't change i need to let go but once faced with a headline so in your face and scary and felt myself back to being a child again. I think I may give the news outlets a miss for a while which is a shame because there are some things I do like to read.

HelpMeGetThrough · 22/11/2024 17:27

Zero fucks given about it, as there is nothing we can do about what's going on. No point giving it any headspace.

SweetSixty · 22/11/2024 17:29

@Miracle29 I've just broken my rule and had a look at the Daily Mail website.

They're focusing on 'ideas to stop you waking up at 3am', absolute tripe about Gary Lineker and printing photos of someone called Megan and another woman putting on 'a very busty display' in their bras and pants.

Their WW3 nonsense is pushed well down the page and kinda loses it's sting under all that crap. Even they don't believe it - they just want mugs like me to click on their page.

It's a comic best ignored.

Miracle29 · 22/11/2024 17:31

SweetSixty · 22/11/2024 17:29

@Miracle29 I've just broken my rule and had a look at the Daily Mail website.

They're focusing on 'ideas to stop you waking up at 3am', absolute tripe about Gary Lineker and printing photos of someone called Megan and another woman putting on 'a very busty display' in their bras and pants.

Their WW3 nonsense is pushed well down the page and kinda loses it's sting under all that crap. Even they don't believe it - they just want mugs like me to click on their page.

It's a comic best ignored.

Your headlines made me giggle. I'd much rather read about the busty displays...only in jealousy as I have none to display lol. Better than reading a headline that makes me want to hide in a cupboard with a tin hat and beans.

Gunnersforthecup · 22/11/2024 17:32

I think that conflict in Eastern Europe and the Middle East has caused increased concern that we might be involved in another war in the years to come. That is where we are. But I don't worry about it, because there is nothing much I can do about it.

Dramatic · 22/11/2024 17:33

VimesandhisCardboardBoots · 19/11/2024 14:50

Eh. Either we're all going to die in a fiery nuclear apocalypse, or a fiery climate apocalypse. There's not point worrying about it either way. Just get on with life.

Well the climate thing certainly won't happen in our lifetime.

Westofeasttoday · 22/11/2024 18:01

Catastrophising and doom scrolling need to stop.

You are talking yourself into something to worry about for worrying sake. Accept the things you cannot change.

Also, consider that your worry is felt by those around you especially since it isn’t anything you can control and isn’t nice to constantly be around.

Ch0cDr0p · 22/11/2024 20:00

Please could people share where they advise getting balanced news from? I have always gone to BBC for main news but have found that's anxiety inducing the last few days - are they considered a reliable news source? I've stupidly looked at DM a few times and that sends me to instant panic.

But on the flipside, watching Ch5 this evening and their hourly news updates haven't once mentioned any of this. I've been on to the Telegraph website and that has no related headlines either. So I'm inclined to think that there is some balance out there. I don't want to bury my head in the sand but don't feel we need this non stop doom mongering with every quote blown into a full analysis and speculative article.

Miracle29 · 22/11/2024 21:03

Ch0cDr0p · 22/11/2024 20:00

Please could people share where they advise getting balanced news from? I have always gone to BBC for main news but have found that's anxiety inducing the last few days - are they considered a reliable news source? I've stupidly looked at DM a few times and that sends me to instant panic.

But on the flipside, watching Ch5 this evening and their hourly news updates haven't once mentioned any of this. I've been on to the Telegraph website and that has no related headlines either. So I'm inclined to think that there is some balance out there. I don't want to bury my head in the sand but don't feel we need this non stop doom mongering with every quote blown into a full analysis and speculative article.

I didn't watch the news tonight i was too scared as I didn't want to hear it if it was on there and be even more panicked. My partner wouldnt be happy with me running around the hpuse preparing early hours lol. so it's reassuring if it wasn't as I'm sure it would be plastered over there aswell. I went on my Google news thing and nothing was on there but as soon as you Google it it comes up. A worry of mine is my kids seen it. My youngest I don't allow certain things anyway she only uses her phone for certain games, homework related or YouTube within reason but it doesn't stop it popping up and scaring them.

Ch0cDr0p · 22/11/2024 21:10

Miracle29 · 22/11/2024 21:03

I didn't watch the news tonight i was too scared as I didn't want to hear it if it was on there and be even more panicked. My partner wouldnt be happy with me running around the hpuse preparing early hours lol. so it's reassuring if it wasn't as I'm sure it would be plastered over there aswell. I went on my Google news thing and nothing was on there but as soon as you Google it it comes up. A worry of mine is my kids seen it. My youngest I don't allow certain things anyway she only uses her phone for certain games, homework related or YouTube within reason but it doesn't stop it popping up and scaring them.

Yeah that's tough to handle when you're anxious yourself, I feel the same. All we can do is reassure them and explain how press make money from the headlines.

But no, 3 news updates on Ch5 and nothing mentioned! I find that reassuring.

IAmNotAMorningPerson · 22/11/2024 21:22

It is not unreasonable to worry about war given the current state of the world. Sometimes I wonder if people who label everything as "unreasonable anxiety" and mental illness are the ones with the mental illness- it is not healthy to lose your preservation instinct to the point that nothing will worry you! There is a reason why any animal, us included, has the fear feature installed! Also, a news source is not unreliable just because they are saying things that make you feel bad!

To the OP: I can't remember where I heard this, but I found it comforting: generally speaking, in life both optimists and pessimists tend to be wrong. Most of the time the medium-bad scenario comes true. Take the pandemic for example. At the beginning, some people were in complete denial that it would be a thing. Others were extremely scared and fearing something on the scale of the Black Death. What happened was, well, serious disruption in society, and the amount of (ongoing) death and illness caused by Covid is not to be minimised, but it was very much a medium-bad scenario rather than an Apocalypse.

It will probably be the same in this case. Most likely, current conflicts will continue to develop and escalate, but things will stop short of global war or nuclear apocalypse. I don't believe the UK will be nuked, but disruptions in supply chains, power, communications are very likely due to cyber attacks, sabotage of underwater infrastructure etc. So instead of worrying, a good way to deal with it would be to prepare for, e.g. a situation where the Internet and/or the banking system are down for several days.

greengreyblue · 22/11/2024 21:24

(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.

VimesandhisCardboardBoots · 23/11/2024 00:03

Dramatic · 22/11/2024 17:33

Well the climate thing certainly won't happen in our lifetime.

I'm not so sure about that. We're sailing past the worst predictions, which meant "Unsuitable for mamallian life by 2100"

Will the UK be unliveable in my lifetime? Probably not. Will our standard of living drop hugely? Fuck yes.

ManhattanPopcorn · 23/11/2024 00:09

People have been worrying about WW3 since the end of WW2. It's nothing new.

JudgeJ · 23/11/2024 00:14

tinytemper66 · 19/11/2024 16:35

My son is in the RAF and if things-go pear shaped he could be involved. Am I worried? No.
Why? Because o doubt things will escalate to that extent. There could be conflict but our daily lives will probably not change.

I recall getting some serious briefings in the '80s, working with military in Germany, we even had a folder about it which we stuck in a drawer.

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