“I’m really struggling with the amount of negative news at the moment. It just seems like there is so much death and misery around. I get so cross about it but I feel so powerless to do anything about it. It’s definitely having an effect on my mental health. What can I do?”
Thank you so much for your question and your feelings are definitely something I experience. I can find myself getting so angry at people and organisations, governments and so on. The more empathic you are, the more you are affected by the emotions of others so hearing and seeing ‘bad news’ stories will affect you. The fact that you are recognising it is having an impact is a good thing. Being aware of your emotions and what is affecting your mental health is such an important skill.
There are several steps you can take in this situation. Firstly, think about limiting your exposure to negative news. Perhaps just checking the news once a day and reading it from sources that don’t sensationalise news. Talk to other people about how you’re feeling and discuss what you can do. Focus on what you can do to help and also how you can make a positive difference locally. Stay away from sources that you know inflame news, even it is agreeing with you – it can still whip up emotions.
Also remember that there is a lot of good news taking place in the world, seek out good news sources and make they are part of your daily practice. Also make sure that you are engaging in activities that make you feel good and support your resilience – this will help you be able to ‘manage’ negative news better.
There has always been, and always will be, bad news and conflict in the world. But there is also a lot of good and reasons to be hopeful. We can’t fix the world but we can, in our own way, make the world a little bit of a better place.
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