Ask Lemmy

Touch grass.

No, seriously. I know most people use this as an insult but in this case I think there is a lot of benefit to re-balancing your time and getting offline. As a general rule, the further away the turmoil, the less impact you can actually have on its outcome. So why build up anxiety over something that is limited to your ability to control? Take that anxiety and put it in your immediate world. Your home, your physical health (diet, meditation, sleep, exercise). Get new hobbies like learning a musical instrument, go out on hikes. Find locla community.

I get one may not wish to bury their head in the sand but you need to strike a balance. If you still want to get active, then go to protests and join local political communities that align with your beliefs. It helps a lot. Focus on what you have more agency over and you'll feel better. Things like diet and exercise and getting out into nature all directly reduce anxiety and improve mood; that's a fact.

you aren't that important.

the sooner you realize this, the happier your entire life will be.

Read lots of history. Humans have not changed in thousands of years. Though the details of our current problems may be new, the underlying motivations and mechanisms are the same as the have always been. And despite all of our problems, the trend line of humanity is moving in the right direction. Try to remember that progress is not linear. Rather, it is a constant pattern of three steps forward, two steps back.

Compartmentalize. Focus on things you can directly control first. Yourself, the people you care about, and your surroundings. Then put everything else into different compartment tiers. Put a priority number on each compartment based on how you are able to actually influence/change the things there. Don't waste your time/effort/emotions on the last priority compartments. Only give it them the time if you have any left after the highest priority ones.

I don't know how good of advice this is, but I'll share what I'm doing.

I believe in "don't be scared; be prepared" and "I'm not paranoid; I'm ahead of the curve."

TL; DR: make a hobby out of your fear.

Basically, there's some comfort in learning about how to secure your well-being, whether it's by having safe places to turn to, learning how to protect your home and family, securing your tech from spying, having a "kill switch" for your phone, etc. (like GrapheneOS's duress pin).

Join like-minded communities. Do things that give you back peace of mind.

Edit: I don't mean to make it an obsession, though; I'm saying that you can turn what frightens you into your motivation to seek positive outcomes.

Your feelings of dread are legitimate, but they should pick you up, not push you down.

I also have many significant concerns that bother me constantly

Ask yourself this on a regular basis: Does what I see happening in my never ending doomfeed reflect the reality of what I see in my everyday surroundings?

Media tends to be negative. News outlets use fear and anger to keep you engaged and manipulate your opinion. It’s a proven and demonstrable psychological tactic. Places like this tend to be populated by people who have been manipulated and are regurgitating and amplifying the negative talking points. Once you stop being one of those people, the self-perpetuating feedback loop of doom becomes very evident, and you begin to understand that it’s a microcosm of very skewed perceptions that don’t reflect the real world.

Is there bad shit happening in the world? Of course. Is there good shit? Absolutely but you’re not going to read nearly as much about it because positive stories don’t generate clicks and revenue. Are there bad people in positions of power and influence? Absolutely. Are there good people pushing back against them? Yes, and again…clicks and revenue.

You are hooked into a device that feeds you mostly negative information, convinces you that there is little to no positivity to be found, and encourages you to spread that message to others. This is the source of your anxiety.

History has shown that people continue to survive and prosper through turbulent times. Governments rise and fall. Borders are drawn and redrawn. Wars break out and then end. New technologies develop, disrupt, and eventually integrate. We take notice, mourn tragedy when appropriate, and get on with our day to day lives.

Society isn’t going to collapse. Put this thing down and go spend the rest of the day on a hiking trail.

just have to understand the world has always been a place where things are always rapidly changing that stress us out. the difference between now and 100 years ago is the pace of communication today, so I understand the frustration.

I guess there is no real easy answer for your question, but developing relationships with people offline and just accepting the things you cannot change will do wonders for your mental health.

we didn't start the fire,

it was always burning since the worlds been turning!

You can just take a day, week, month, year, whole life, and literally just ignore ALL of that shit. Just turn off your shit and go outside.

Action.

Get organised. Find a group to join, action to take, a specific cause you feel passionate about.

I won't pretend it's easy - social anxiety is real and really difficult - but we're social mammals and we do better as part of a group. Helping others is always the best way to help yourself.

Get perspective. We are living in one of the best times in the history of the human race. Tell me a time before 1950 going back 300 000 years that you'd rather live in.