As someone in the US it’s so easy to see so many depressing issues from the ravages of capitalism, to war, imperialism, and genocide. How can one care about these issues and hope for change without allowing themselves to be affected mentally?
I’ve been considering this for the past week, connecting it with Buddhist compassion towards the world and a need for mindfulness. But it’s so easy to fall into emotionlessness.
I’ve also thought through the world has always had issues and though some are getting much worse some are getting better.
I have gone to counseling before but they just make it an individual problem when it’s the world.
Edit: doesn’t have to be US centric. Just I’m writing from that pov
Recognize the problems which you have the power to solve, and the ones you don’t. Fix what you can with mindfulness and compassion, accept what you can’t with emotionless calm. Reevaluate periodically.
Let someone curate your news for you and don’t doomscroll. I suggest PBS Newshour or one of the three major broadcast news programs.
The cure for grief is action. Go to a DSA meeting, join a mutual aid society, volunteer at a community garden. Help out at a food pantry. Put the values you believe in back into the world.
You know you’re going to die right ? How do you deal with that ? Philosophically, Stoicism has some of what I need for coping.
I’d also suggest that journalism is mostly interlectual trash that clutters your mind. Really important events will find their way to you.
An example, I’m not an American (i did live there back in the mid 1990s, before I relaised it wasn’t for me) and I will likely Vote Green until I die. I’d prefer a livable biospbere and little better treament of minorities. Others prefer the opposite but their entreaties to get me to think their way won’t work so why would I bother listening?
Build community locally, spend time with friends and family cultivating relationships, do something generous for someone else, volunteer for a charity or activism, build an interest in a creative hobby that exercises your imagination. Follow your curiosity and our common interests in discovery and exploration through education and experimentation.
I’ve blocked as much news out of my life as I can manage with the exception of some financial news. That includes blocking all the news communities on Lemmy. Things still slip through, but I also push myself to just ignore the bits that I still see and move on with my life. I’m much happier as a result. In terms of being aware of big news, if its a big enough deal, the fine folks here at Lemmy will create memes to let me know.
I spend a ton of my time working in my community. It really helps. It’s a lot of work and a lot of time and I’m exhausted all the time but it’s worth it
As we scroll through the endless inbox of our news feeds, there’s a tendency not to want to spend a lot of time on most items, because there’s an endless stream of them. So we tend to process each thing quickly, react instantly, and move on to the next one. Training yourself to slow down the reaction part and focus on just observing the information first, can help not build up an ever-growing mountain of depression and cynicism.
I look at it as it’s going to get worse. Guaranteed. But, as long as I can stand up and be ready for the people who are going to be persecuted when they need it. Helping my local community. Just maybe I can make a difference to the people around me who need it.
Donating and volunteering works great.
Join a political party that aligns with the change you want to see. Also belonging to a few leftist orgs to effect your local city.
If your a right winger then sorry its a case of living with that low mood.
Compassion fatigue is a thing. You can try for some Buddhist state of Nirvana that would likely take a lifetime to pursue… Or you can start curating your input. Stop doom scrolling, look for positive science news and the like. There’s plenty of positivity out there still, it’s just not algorithm friendly.
I’m only one person. I cannot fix all of these problems because these problems have to be fixed by a collaborative effort through a unified group to make anything we want work. I did what I thought I could by voting, I did what I could by spreading the message with my own voice about the things I know with what I saw going south in this country. But again, I can’t fix everything.
So, I can’t worry about things I have no power in fixing, as much as I’d like.
Don’t fall into doomerism - news companies are companies, and negativity gets people on their platforms for much longer than positivity, it’s easy to get addicted to it. Set time limits or limit the amount of news you consume per day/per week.
Recognize that caring about something requires mental energy - if you had 1 friend who asks you to care about their hobby or learn a bit more, then you might agree, but if you have 20 friends with different hobbies asking the same thing, then there’s no way you can care about all of them. Similar thing applies to the news, recognize that you can’t care about everything and try learning how to stay informed without giving up lots of mental energy stressing about things you can’t really influence.
It’s admirable wanting to keep up with the news, but it also can be a bit of a trap and does require a degree of skill to not fall into what you describe in your post.
Act to change it and be at peace mentally knowing that you have dedicated your life to the struggle and you have done all you can.
