How do we stay sane despite the craziness that is sweeping the world? For myself I try to maintain that there’s really no point worrying about things I have no control over. If the news is bad, then I stop looking at it. In today’s connected world this is sometimes easier said than done!
At times it feels like we have very little control over anything. However this is not true. We do have agency. We can chose where we shop, and what we buy when there. We chose whether to be involved in our local community, or what we plant in our gardens. We chose who we bank with, or whether we use cash or card. We chose our social circles. We chose how long we spend on social media channels (although they are designed to draw us in). We can also chose what we believe.
Choosing what to believe is quite hard these days. With computer programme manipulations and AI, complete fabrications can appear authentic. There is an incentive for fossil fuel companies to spread false truths. (Stakeholder profits are a powerful thing.) Videos from sites that include names like ‘real’, ‘truth’, ‘honesty’ and ‘daily’ often have an agenda and may not be what they purport to be. Oddly enough the far left are joining with the far right to discredit global warming. As a friend says “politics is a hoop. Go too far to the left and you’re at the right.” Divide and conquer is a well oiled machine.
We can believe what we see though, and we can see positive effects from the things we do. Notice how joining community events brings happiness, how pollinator friendly planting in your garden attracts wildlife, how using cash makes it easier to spend less. You can acknowledge negatives and work out a positive to counteract it.
So in a nutshell immerse yourself in what is immediately around you rather than being drawn into a global sinkhole. It will help to give you strength when you most need it.
