I’m 43, almost 44, years old and went through a bought of alcoholism during the early part of the pandemic. I went through treatment and have been fine since. However, I can’t help but feel that all the news in the last few months is just the worst. Between the AI bullshit, the wars, the effects of capitalism, and the political situation in general it’s just the worst. Is it just me or have other folks noticed the same trend?
Edit: I should have also mentioned the enshitification of everything tech related.
Edit 2: Thanks for all the thoughtful replies. For some more context, yes I’m American and live in a state that’s about to ban the wearing of masks in public. I haven’t had a drink in over year and have been in therapy for 3 years. I don’t watch any news sources and rarely read media websites. But yet, that information seeps into my life somehow. I donate blood, I make charitable donations, and try to live a good life. I have 2 amazing kids and a great wife. It’s just hard to not end up in a doomer mindset at times. A Bitcoin company bought a power plant up here that has an existing lease to use a lake as cooling water, and it’s heated up the lake to the point that it’s killing fish.
I think on a global scale we are all dealing with unresolved trauma from the pandemic, related catastrophes and the general economic roller coaster that we all live in every day. The severity of the pandemic lessened over time but there was no definite point where it ended and we all got to go “Wasn’t that nuts? Is everyone doing okay?” Instead it was just a slow crawl back to business as usual. We feel like we shouldn’t complain because it could be a lot worse but all of the other non-pandemic problems still exist and nothing seems to indicate that things will ever get better.
It’s not just you that feels this way, but that doesn’t mean things are hopeless. There are a lot of people out there fighting tooth and nail to build a better future in spite of all the challenges. Try to find a way to improve the world in your own small way. It really goes a long way to quieting those feelings of helplessness and despair.
I think you make a great point that we didn’t really get to an ending point from the pandemic trauma. For some of us, our nervous systems are still in panic mode.
But we also have the threats of climate collapse, global food and water shortages, a shift to the right or alt-right in several governments around the world, and technology being weaponized against us at an increasing rate. These threats to us are real. There are too many to list here.
To OP, please know that you are not alone. There are a lot of us who look at the state of the world and recognize the severity and criticality of these problems. My advice would be to get involved in something --anything – that helps or gives back to the community in some way. I started with donating blood. Will it change the world? No, but it helps someone, somewhere, and that helps my brain find peace.