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
One person cannot fix every problem in the world. But you can do your part.
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.
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.
It’s indeed very difficult and my take is that the system wants us like this. To be depressed, full of fear and hopeless. Mainly of course through media.
What I considered one solution to fight back this is to discuss current events, solutions etc with a group of similar minded people. I don’t mean join a cult etc. No far from it. But finding people with same concerns by openly discussing them will bond them into bigger groups and this helps a lot. Gives a sense of fulfilment and hope.
No fear. Act.
You raised a very good point that I did not realize until now. In the past 8 years we actually stopped talking about politics to others, because it became so polarizing.
We absolutely need to talk about politics if we want to keep democracy. Hardliners likely won’t be converted, but at least, as you said, we should talk to like minded people.
Also, there’s indeed no point to worry about things outside of our control, and worry about things we can affect. Threat the things that happen, that we can’t control more as an obstacle that we have to deal with. Also support people who might have control and fight (governors, congress people, lawyers, judges, government employees, etc) so they know that aren’t doing it for nothing.
Correct. Also have in mind the all political sides, lefts, rights etc are all the same wearing different masks. True change comes from the base, from people, not from politicians placed by the system for people to vote. The base, the people when discuss and propose the most fit person to represent them , this is true democracy.
I’m in love with Stanford Beer and his saying “The purpose of a system is what it does”.
So yes, if most of us are depressed and anxious then that is what the system is for.
Get involved in direct action in your community. Linking up with an org or group that does real community service and solidarity can help prevent you from feeling helpless and falling into that depressive spiral.
Help at a soup kitchen, provide homeless care kits, work a food/clothing drive, work with a crew to clean up gang tags from walls, pick up litter, build bird boxes, etc.
Seeing your community get a little better can do a lot for your mental health.
Remember that dispite the horrors of our species, we have accomplished some pretty incredible things. Just 200 years ago, we were still putting leaches on people and not washing our hands before performing medical procedures.
Now, we use microscopic lasers to correct blindness, cure certain types or deafness by implanting magnets into skulls, we can deliver and grow infants that are born several months too early to full term with minimal complications, and we can treat scores of diseases that would have been a death sentence just 200 years ago.
The Capitalist scum would have you believe that nobody would have done those things unless they made money doing it, but that’s a lie and projection. They wouldn’t have done that if it didn’t make them money, because they are evil and without empathy.
But they don’t represent the human spirit, what we are truly capable of when we work together for the common good.
The greatest accomplishments of our species aren’t when we compete and fight each other. The greatest accomplishments happen when we cooperate with each other. Don’t let the rich and powerful convince you otherwise.
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.
That’s the neat part, you don’t.
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 stopped using social media so much, the internet is moved by clicks and panic content gets them, but I find it overwhelming.
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.
We are each just one person. We can’t save the world, and it would be unreasonable to carry that burden.
But we each can save a small piece of it. A kind word here, a forgiving of slights there, and work in some patience & understanding for others.
Little things can make waves. And if Six Degrees of Separation remains true, your little deeds affect more people than you realize.
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?
Journalism isnt really about reporting “news” but selling advertising.
I literally don’t understand people having kids in this “climate”. That’s how cynical and hopeless I feel about humanity’s future.
I wouldn’t want to inflict that… The heat, the natural disasters, the risk of nuclear wars. The genocides considering multiple were or are active at any point (Palestine, Syria…). The fall of journalism…
Many things I discuss with my friends but nobody could ever dream to fix. So all this shit stays with you. And seeing how our politics are reacting to climate change, this is lost. Because everything else is pointless if you don’t have a place to live.
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Yeah! Can’t understand why they believe checks comment…oh… climate change? Umm, sure. You got them, glad you gave them that mental check and brought them back to reality…weren’t just being insulting or anything.
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Simple: I’m just naturally deeply depressed and cynical, so there isn’t a big difference
born of it, moulded by it…
I have a personal petty war against the corposlop extortions in my life, I know it won’t stop them or bring about a revolution or smth, but at least I can be an example to others that they need us more than we need them and it makes me at least feel that I have some control, some things that I can take back from being corrupted.
So far I have:
- Stopped buying all fast fashion and buy far fewer clothes in general mostly off Etsy back in the day or indie online retailers
- Cancelled my subscription to Netflix for me and my gf, replaced with Jellyfin
- Cancelled Amazon Prime and stopped shopping at Amazon altogether alongside getting my friends off Wish, Temu etc.
- Stopped using all food delivery and ride-sharing apps
- Stopped eating fast food and at big chains
- Moved most my grocery shopping to Co-Op
- Eliminated all corporate and/or algorithm driven social media from my life (Insta, FB, Reddit, Discord, LinkedIn, YT (only via self-hosted proxies/ublock/sponsorblock/dearrow).
- Stopped using corpo LLMs, using only my homebrew refine of Mistral 7B sometimes
- Stopped using Chrome, cancelled Google one and my sub to GDrive
- Almost stopped using Windows
- Replaced almost all daily use software with FOSS alternatives
- Almost entirely stopped buying any tech that isn’t used and/or refurbished and/or old/junkyard material
Next steps are:
- Replace ISP router with junkyard rescue gear with FOSS software, mite b getting some from work soon
- Cancel Spotify as my last remaining subscription service (I have personal playlists I need to backup)
- Get rid of Google accs and host my own email
- Ascend past smartphones (already use only old flagships for less than a hundred bucks)
I feel like it’s still all just in the consumption framework and highly individualistic, but it helps me cope, it’s an outlet for anger that has bettered me as a person in every way imaginable.
This is an excellent list, that proves that as an individual there are things you can do to feel right about the world surrendering us. I’ll add, tho I’m pretty sure you are probably doing it already, that I don’t buy anything from Nestlé, Coca Cola, etc like you’re avoiding amazon. Not buying from megacorps goes hand-to-hand to not using meta/google/apple/microsoft services I think.
Yeee. I try my best to avoid both Nestle and Coca-Cola (drink of the death squads is too good a song to not at least try to) but it’s tough with how sneaky those bastards can get with all the brands they own.
Idk if I feel right exactly, I just feel more powerful, I can simply say “No” to being a victim of - or a participant in - what to me is an abuse of people, of lives on a scale beyond comprehension by the corporations. I can deny them the power they want so desperately to hold.
My only wish is more people were motivated to do this, whatever their expertise and possibilities and abilities, we could share so much if we shared the same goals.
