How do you deal with the horrors you see and hear?

So, I’m starting this thread in the hope that maybe—just maybe—the little coping mechanisms you all use in your daily "struggle against reality" might offer some inspiration or a bit of encouragement to me.

It’s happening to me again... I log onto Facebook just to check a quick notification or finish some paperwork, and then—boom—the avalanche hits. It’s like this endless flood of news about everything going on in the world, and it just leaves me feeling bitter. It’s that heavy sense of helplessness... and more often than not, it just turns into pure sadness.

Whether I’m scrolling through some news site, flipping through channels on the TV, or just catching up with my neighbor on the sidewalk... it doesn't matter. Anywhere, anytime, with anyone—the conversation always hits the same wall. It's just the same endless cycle of daily or weekly horrors unfolding across the world.

Since I’m someone who wears my heart on my sleeve—honestly, I’ve always been pretty emotional and high-strung—it hits me so hard sometimes that I just can't seem to pull myself together. It leaves me feeling totally shaken. I keep asking myself: Have I taken things too far? Is this all weighing on me because I’m overthinking everything, or am I just struggling to handle this massive tidal wave of emotion hitting my psyche? 🙂

It’s honestly so hard for me to come to terms with living in a world like this.
I’m not depressed. Honestly, I still find plenty of joy in the little things that happen every single day... I’m fully aware that there’s a silver lining to everything. But, you know, there are just those days where everything feels heavy and I just shut down.

I recently came across this beautiful poem by Jack Gilbert, and I have to say, it actually helped me see things through a slightly more optimistic lens—even if that lingering sense of helplessness hasn't quite faded away yet...

How much does the daily flood of news about all those horrors happening around the world actually weigh on you? Honestly, I find myself wondering how everyone else manages to process it all. How do you even begin to control that influx, or find some way to accept the sheer weight of it?

Thanks in advance for every single post.

Yeah, maybe some people would actually find comfort in reading this poem:

A Brief for the Defense

Sorrow everywhere. Slaughter everywhere. If babies...
It isn’t that people are starving somewhere else—it’s that they are starving right here.
Somewhere else entirely. Just drifting through life with flies stuck in their nostrils.
But honestly, we find joy in our lives because that's exactly what God intends for us.
If things were any different, those quiet mornings right before the summer sun starts to peek over the horizon just wouldn't feel the same.
It’s just been crafted so perfectly. Even The Bengal tiger wouldn't be able to resist it.
It’s just been crafted so incredibly well. The poor Women AT The fountain ara laughing together between The suffering They have known and The awfulness in their futur.
The poor Women AT The fountain ara laughing together between The suffering They have known and The awfulness in their futur
The poor Women AT The fountain ara laughing together between The suffering They have known and The awfulness in their futur.
In their future, they're just there, smiling and laughing even while someone else...
The whole town feels like it’s falling ill. Everything is just... heavy. But even then, there is laughter.
There is Laughter every day in The terrible streets of Calcutta , and The Women laugh in The cages of Bombay
There is Laughter every day in The terrible streets of Calcutta , and The Women laugh in The cages of Bombay.
If we choose to turn our backs on our own happiness—if we actively push away any sense of fulfillment or satisfaction—what are we actually gaining? It feels like a hollow victory, doesn't it? We spend so much energy fighting against the good things, almost as if we're afraid that enjoying ourselves will somehow invite trouble. But resisting joy isn't some kind of moral high ground; it’s just self-sabotage. I can't help but wonder why we do this to ourselves. Is it fear? Or is it just a habit of staying in the struggle because it's all we know?
We tend to downplay just how much they’re actually losing.
We have to be willing to gamble on delight. Sure, we can survive without pleasure, but what's the point?
It isn't about finding some fleeting moment of pure delight or simple enjoyment. That’s not the point at all. What we actually need—what we truly must have—is something much deeper than that.
It takes a certain kind of stubbornness, doesn't it? That refusal to let go of our own joy, even when we're surrounded by something completely ruthless. It’s like a quiet act of rebellion against a world that just wants to grind us down.
The furnace of this world. To make injustice the only...
It seems like we’re all just measuring our own focus by how much we end up praising the Devil.
If the locomotive of the Lord runs us down,
Honestly, we really ought to be grateful that when the end finally comes, it actually carries some weight. It shouldn't just fade out into nothingness; it needs that sense of scale.
We really have to face the fact that, even when everything else is falling apart, there’s still going to be music.
Once more, we find ourselves standing right at the edge, peering out from the bow of a tiny little vessel.
Anchored deep in the night within that cramped little harbor.
Gazing out toward that sleeping island: the waterfront.
It’s just three boarded-up coffee shops and a single, lonely streetlamp flickering in the dark.
To catch that faint, rhythmic splash of oars cutting through the absolute silence... just you and the rowboat.
It’s that slow, agonizing crawl toward something meaningful—reaching out, getting just close enough to touch, only to have it pull back again. You have to wonder: is that hesitation actually worth the wait? Is there value in that rhythmic coming and going, or are we just spinning our wheels?
All those upcoming years of pure heartache.

It honestly weighs on me when I read or hear news delivered in such a gloomy, heavy-handed style. I try not to dwell on it too much; I usually just skim through the headlines and don't get bogged down in the details, unless it’s something massive happening globally that actually requires me to stay informed.

Well, I suppose those traces of everything you read and hear still linger somewhere inside. But hey, isn't it good news that I'm actually managing to train my brain to lean toward more positive vibes?

Music is an absolute lifesaver for me. Lately, I've been sticking to lighter tunes, and they really help me pull myself out of that gray funk I occasionally fall into when I dive too deep into certain topics.

At the end of the day, you have to remember that everything is fleeting. The real focus should be on the present—just trying to squeeze every bit of good out of right now. And if things aren't going well? Well, at least you leave behind some kind of mark showing that, once upon a time, you were making it happen.

Staying busy is my survival strategy... hobbies, kids, daily chores...

Honestly, lately I’ve been feeling like social media is doing way more harm than good. It’s just weighing me down. I find myself wanting to shut out everything living, and when the TV is on, I can't move away from the kids' programming. 👍

Thankfully, during the day we try to make sure nothing violent or upsetting pops up on the screen, so we stick to Discovery, science shows, or cartoons... But then, in the evening, we "catch up" by sitting down in front of the news or scrolling the web... and poof.
Everything just goes south... you get hit with a wave of pure gloom.

Ebem, I have this one friend who is a bit of a radical alternative to all this. Her circle is always making jokes at her expense, and the latest "joke" was about how she doesn't even have a TV at home. At all. Let alone the internet & stuff. To everyone around her, it seems bizarre, weird... they're actually horrified.
But honestly, screw them, because that woman always has a smile on her face. Even on the grayest days, she’s constantly chirping about something positive... home cooking, the weather, her plants, music... I get the impression she has some sort of internal shield against all the horrors surrounding us.

I wish I had that kind of grit and persistence—to somehow isolate myself and opt out of everything I can't contribute to constructively...

And I will never, ever understand where people get the motivation to blast negativity all over social media and news sites... as if the world isn't already infinitely saturated and overwhelmed by the exact same thing. 😠😠

Why on earth do I have to deal with this while having my morning coffee on (let's say, Facebook), where I want to see what my family is up to in other states, only to be slapped in the face by a video (that starts playing immediately without even clicking it!!—so incredibly irritating!) showing a father in a war zone hugging his deceased children...

And kill me now, those few seconds of that video literally killed my day. Dead.

I'm off to delete Facebook. 🙂 🙂

Jerry Wilson13 said:Staying busy is my survival strategy... hobbies, kids, daily chores...

Honestly, lately I’ve been feeling like social media is doing way more harm than good. It’s just weighing me down. I find myself wanting to shut out everything living, and when the TV is on, I can't move away from the kids' programming. 👍

Thankfully, during the day we try to make sure nothing violent or upsetting pops up on the screen, so we stick to Discovery, science shows, or cartoons... But then, in the evening, we "catch up" by sitting down in front of the news or scrolling the web... and poof.
Everything just goes south... you get hit with a wave of pure gloom.

Ebem, I have this one friend who is a bit of a radical alternative to all this. Her circle is always making jokes at her expense, and the latest "joke" was about how she doesn't even have a TV at home. At all. Let alone the internet & stuff. To everyone around her, it seems bizarre, weird... they're actually horrified.
But honestly, screw them, because that woman always has a smile on her face. Even on the grayest days, she’s constantly chirping about something positive... home cooking, the weather, her plants, music... I get the impression she has some sort of internal shield against all the horrors surrounding us.

I wish I had that kind of grit and persistence—to somehow isolate myself and opt out of everything I can't contribute to constructively...

And I will never, ever understand where people get the motivation to blast negativity all over social media and news sites... as if the world isn't already infinitely saturated and overwhelmed by the exact same thing. 😠😠

Why on earth do I have to deal with this while having my morning coffee on (let's say, Facebook), where I want to see what my family is up to in other states, only to be slapped in the face by a video (that starts playing immediately without even clicking it!!—so incredibly irritating!) showing a father in a war zone hugging his deceased children...

And kill me now, those few seconds of that video literally killed my day. Dead.

I'm off to delete Facebook. 🙂 🙂

Ugh, yeah, it's interesting to watch that play out. I guess some people live by the rule of "it could be worse elsewhere, so let's talk about that!"

Personally, I'd much rather like a motivational page than some depressing feed. At least then I get some decent quotes popping up—even if they follow a similar pattern—but hey, at least I'm reading something useful for once.

So, yeah, I really think you can avoid the negativity. I've found that if you focus on positive events—reading about them, talking about them, listening, writing—they stay in your mind much better than diving headfirst into the gloom.

Carl Rivera43 said:It honestly weighs on me when I read or hear news delivered in such a gloomy, heavy-handed style. I try not to dwell on it too much; I usually just skim through the headlines and don't get bogged down in the details, unless it’s something massive happening globally that actually requires me to stay informed.

Well, I suppose those traces of everything you read and hear still linger somewhere inside. But hey, isn't it good news that I'm actually managing to train my brain to lean toward more positive vibes?

Music is an absolute lifesaver for me. Lately, I've been sticking to lighter tunes, and they really help me pull myself out of that gray funk I occasionally fall into when I dive too deep into certain topics.

At the end of the day, you have to remember that everything is fleeting. The real focus should be on the present—just trying to squeeze every bit of good out of right now. And if things aren't going well? Well, at least you leave behind some kind of mark showing that, once upon a time, you were making it happen.

Well done, master craftsman. 👍

Jerry Wilson13 said:So, I’m starting this thread in the hope that maybe—just maybe—the little coping mechanisms you all use in your daily "struggle against reality" might offer some inspiration or a bit of encouragement to me.

It’s happening to me again... I log onto Facebook just to check a quick notification or finish some paperwork, and then—boom—the avalanche hits. It’s like this endless flood of news about everything going on in the world, and it just leaves me feeling bitter. It’s that heavy sense of helplessness... and more often than not, it just turns into pure sadness.

Whether I’m scrolling through some news site, flipping through channels on the TV, or just catching up with my neighbor on the sidewalk... it doesn't matter. Anywhere, anytime, with anyone—the conversation always hits the same wall. It's just the same endless cycle of daily or weekly horrors unfolding across the world.

Since I’m someone who wears my heart on my sleeve—honestly, I’ve always been pretty emotional and high-strung—it hits me so hard sometimes that I just can't seem to pull myself together. It leaves me feeling totally shaken. I keep asking myself: Have I taken things too far? Is this all weighing on me because I’m overthinking everything, or am I just struggling to handle this massive tidal wave of emotion hitting my psyche? 🙂

It’s honestly so hard for me to come to terms with living in a world like this.
I’m not depressed. Honestly, I still find plenty of joy in the little things that happen every single day... I’m fully aware that there’s a silver lining to everything. But, you know, there are just those days where everything feels heavy and I just shut down.

I recently came across this beautiful poem by Jack Gilbert, and I have to say, it actually helped me see things through a slightly more optimistic lens—even if that lingering sense of helplessness hasn't quite faded away yet...

How much does the daily flood of news about all those horrors happening around the world actually weigh on you? Honestly, I find myself wondering how everyone else manages to process it all. How do you even begin to control that influx, or find some way to accept the sheer weight of it?

Thanks in advance for every single post.

Yeah, maybe some people would actually find comfort in reading this poem:

A Brief for the Defense

Sorrow everywhere. Slaughter everywhere. If babies...
It isn’t that people are starving somewhere else—it’s that they are starving right here.
Somewhere else entirely. Just drifting through life with flies stuck in their nostrils.
But honestly, we find joy in our lives because that's exactly what God intends for us.
If things were any different, those quiet mornings right before the summer sun starts to peek over the horizon just wouldn't feel the same.
It’s just been crafted so perfectly. Even The Bengal tiger wouldn't be able to resist it.
It’s just been crafted so incredibly well. The poor Women AT The fountain ara laughing together between The suffering They have known and The awfulness in their futur.
The poor Women AT The fountain ara laughing together between The suffering They have known and The awfulness in their futur
The poor Women AT The fountain ara laughing together between The suffering They have known and The awfulness in their futur.
In their future, they're just there, smiling and laughing even while someone else...
The whole town feels like it’s falling ill. Everything is just... heavy. But even then, there is laughter.
There is Laughter every day in The terrible streets of Calcutta , and The Women laugh in The cages of Bombay
There is Laughter every day in The terrible streets of Calcutta , and The Women laugh in The cages of Bombay.
If we choose to turn our backs on our own happiness—if we actively push away any sense of fulfillment or satisfaction—what are we actually gaining? It feels like a hollow victory, doesn't it? We spend so much energy fighting against the good things, almost as if we're afraid that enjoying ourselves will somehow invite trouble. But resisting joy isn't some kind of moral high ground; it’s just self-sabotage. I can't help but wonder why we do this to ourselves. Is it fear? Or is it just a habit of staying in the struggle because it's all we know?
We tend to downplay just how much they’re actually losing.
We have to be willing to gamble on delight. Sure, we can survive without pleasure, but what's the point?
It isn't about finding some fleeting moment of pure delight or simple enjoyment. That’s not the point at all. What we actually need—what we truly must have—is something much deeper than that.
It takes a certain kind of stubbornness, doesn't it? That refusal to let go of our own joy, even when we're surrounded by something completely ruthless. It’s like a quiet act of rebellion against a world that just wants to grind us down.
The furnace of this world. To make injustice the only...
It seems like we’re all just measuring our own focus by how much we end up praising the Devil.
If the locomotive of the Lord runs us down,
Honestly, we really ought to be grateful that when the end finally comes, it actually carries some weight. It shouldn't just fade out into nothingness; it needs that sense of scale.
We really have to face the fact that, even when everything else is falling apart, there’s still going to be music.
Once more, we find ourselves standing right at the edge, peering out from the bow of a tiny little vessel.
Anchored deep in the night within that cramped little harbor.
Gazing out toward that sleeping island: the waterfront.
It’s just three boarded-up coffee shops and a single, lonely streetlamp flickering in the dark.
To catch that faint, rhythmic splash of oars cutting through the absolute silence... just you and the rowboat.
It’s that slow, agonizing crawl toward something meaningful—reaching out, getting just close enough to touch, only to have it pull back again. You have to wonder: is that hesitation actually worth the wait? Is there value in that rhythmic coming and going, or are we just spinning our wheels?
All those upcoming years of pure heartache.

Let’s be real for a second here.
How much does it actually matter to you that 200 families lost loved ones in Paris a few days ago? How much does a refugee crisis impact your day-to-day existence? What's the point of letting yourself be bombarded by bad news that has zero impact on your mood and absolutely nothing you can do about it? When you're carrying the weight of bad thoughts, info, and associations—especially during a rough patch in life—you simply lose the ability to feel in control of your own fate. That sense of POWERLESSNESS is a straight shot to depression. A depressed person is someone who feels like all their ships have sunk; they've lost any sense of agency over their destiny. You need to ask yourself if that feeling of helplessness comes from actual, heavy life circumstances, or if it's coming from irrational fears where you shift your focus from your own life—the only thing you can actually influence right here, right now—onto a massive global scale that you can't control.

If news stories that are basically irrelevant to your life are upsetting you, weighing you down, and draining your energy, then just turn off the TV. Switch the channel. Take back control over what you want, over what uplifts you and makes you happy. Skip the politics and the economic junk; nobody is forcing you to talk about it. You choose which people and what information you let into your space. You are the boss of your own feelings and your own life. You decide. You are free, and that is where true strength, self-confidence, and happiness come from.
Stop stressing over windmills, the whole world, and everyone else. Turn inward. Listen to yourself. Love yourself. Express yourself and do something nice for yourself. Only a person who is satisfied with themselves and full of positive energy can share that energy with others—their kids, their family, their friends. Depressed people, victims, and the desperate can't even help themselves, let alone give anything to others. Those types of people actually need victims to feed on so they can suck out positive energy. They crave tragedy and bad vibes because they feel the need to justify why their lives are so heavy, and they can't stand seeing someone else happy—it clashes with their whole definition of life. Such people feed on bad news, wars, politics, and tragedies. Without that stuff, their lives wouldn't even make sense to them...😉

Look, don't get me wrong—I’m not saying anyone should live in some pink-tinted bubble. Reality sucks. But you have to accept that life is hard and fundamentally unfair. It's a constant grind. If you hear about some tragedy and there isn't a damn thing you can actually do to fix it, just realize that your feelings and your frantic reactions are completely irrelevant. So, stop weighing yourself down with it.

Seriously, just stop watching the news—the second someone starts yapping about it, they’ve already lost the battle.
Go ahead and pick up a hobby—knit some sweaters, crochet something cool, make some jewelry, delete Facebook, meditate... whatever works! Just tell yourself: "Whatever happens to everyone else, happens to me too."
I honestly don't let any of that stuff get to me at all.

Ronald Hall5 said:Let’s be real for a second here.
How much does it actually matter to you that 200 families lost loved ones in Paris a few days ago? How much does a refugee crisis impact your day-to-day existence? What's the point of letting yourself be bombarded by bad news that has zero impact on your mood and absolutely nothing you can do about it? When you're carrying the weight of bad thoughts, info, and associations—especially during a rough patch in life—you simply lose the ability to feel in control of your own fate. That sense of POWERLESSNESS is a straight shot to depression. A depressed person is someone who feels like all their ships have sunk; they've lost any sense of agency over their destiny. You need to ask yourself if that feeling of helplessness comes from actual, heavy life circumstances, or if it's coming from irrational fears where you shift your focus from your own life—the only thing you can actually influence right here, right now—onto a massive global scale that you can't control.

If news stories that are basically irrelevant to your life are upsetting you, weighing you down, and draining your energy, then just turn off the TV. Switch the channel. Take back control over what you want, over what uplifts you and makes you happy. Skip the politics and the economic junk; nobody is forcing you to talk about it. You choose which people and what information you let into your space. You are the boss of your own feelings and your own life. You decide. You are free, and that is where true strength, self-confidence, and happiness come from.
Stop stressing over windmills, the whole world, and everyone else. Turn inward. Listen to yourself. Love yourself. Express yourself and do something nice for yourself. Only a person who is satisfied with themselves and full of positive energy can share that energy with others—their kids, their family, their friends. Depressed people, victims, and the desperate can't even help themselves, let alone give anything to others. Those types of people actually need victims to feed on so they can suck out positive energy. They crave tragedy and bad vibes because they feel the need to justify why their lives are so heavy, and they can't stand seeing someone else happy—it clashes with their whole definition of life. Such people feed on bad news, wars, politics, and tragedies. Without that stuff, their lives wouldn't even make sense to them...😉

Look, don't get me wrong—I’m not saying anyone should live in some pink-tinted bubble. Reality sucks. But you have to accept that life is hard and fundamentally unfair. It's a constant grind. If you hear about some tragedy and there isn't a damn thing you can actually do to fix it, just realize that your feelings and your frantic reactions are completely irrelevant. So, stop weighing yourself down with it.

Thanks to everyone for the comments.
You're totally right.

All of those things are completely out of my hands...

It's just... the world is such a mess precisely because everyone feels too powerless to actually step up and change anything... Sometimes my conscience pricks me, making me wonder what I *should* be doing to make things better instead of just sitting here...

I wasn't talking about being powerless in my own life. In my own world, I am incredibly capable and meaningful to my family... I was talking about looking at everything from a global perspective.

I ended up logging off Facebook. I just don't have the stomach for hanging out around that kind of stuff anymore. Maybe I'm a coward, maybe I'm just taking the easy way out... but it is incredibly hard to find joy in a day when you've spent it watching so many ruined, broken lives.

Let's see what time it is... Big Brother is about to start on my channel 😁🤦 And I am going to watch it! Me, the person who used to look down on reality TV, will be glued to the screen for once. And Stephanie 🤣 I seriously need some crackers and spread to go with this...

Honestly, I don't really let things get under my skin until they are practically knocking on my front door. It doesn't matter how much filth or pure horror is being reported out there; I’ll certainly condemn it, but it won't move the needle for me until it's right in my backyard.

I mean, look, I am well aware of all the tragedies and horrors unfolding across America, so whatever news I read or hear, it rarely catches me off guard anymore. It’s just part of the landscape. It’s only when a crisis actually reaches my own doorstep—when it starts affecting my immediate community—that it truly begins to impact me personally.

Jerry Wilson13 said:So, I’m starting this thread in the hope that maybe—just maybe—the little coping mechanisms you all use in your daily "struggle against reality" might offer some inspiration or a bit of encouragement to me.

It’s happening to me again... I log onto Facebook just to check a quick notification or finish some paperwork, and then—boom—the avalanche hits. It’s like this endless flood of news about everything going on in the world, and it just leaves me feeling bitter. It’s that heavy sense of helplessness... and more often than not, it just turns into pure sadness.

Whether I’m scrolling through some news site, flipping through channels on the TV, or just catching up with my neighbor on the sidewalk... it doesn't matter. Anywhere, anytime, with anyone—the conversation always hits the same wall. It's just the same endless cycle of daily or weekly horrors unfolding across the world.

Since I’m someone who wears my heart on my sleeve—honestly, I’ve always been pretty emotional and high-strung—it hits me so hard sometimes that I just can't seem to pull myself together. It leaves me feeling totally shaken. I keep asking myself: Have I taken things too far? Is this all weighing on me because I’m overthinking everything, or am I just struggling to handle this massive tidal wave of emotion hitting my psyche? 🙂

It’s honestly so hard for me to come to terms with living in a world like this.
I’m not depressed. Honestly, I still find plenty of joy in the little things that happen every single day... I’m fully aware that there’s a silver lining to everything. But, you know, there are just those days where everything feels heavy and I just shut down.

I recently came across this beautiful poem by Jack Gilbert, and I have to say, it actually helped me see things through a slightly more optimistic lens—even if that lingering sense of helplessness hasn't quite faded away yet...

How much does the daily flood of news about all those horrors happening around the world actually weigh on you? Honestly, I find myself wondering how everyone else manages to process it all. How do you even begin to control that influx, or find some way to accept the sheer weight of it?

Thanks in advance for every single post.

Yeah, maybe some people would actually find comfort in reading this poem:

A Brief for the Defense

Sorrow everywhere. Slaughter everywhere. If babies...
It isn’t that people are starving somewhere else—it’s that they are starving right here.
Somewhere else entirely. Just drifting through life with flies stuck in their nostrils.
But honestly, we find joy in our lives because that's exactly what God intends for us.
If things were any different, those quiet mornings right before the summer sun starts to peek over the horizon just wouldn't feel the same.
It’s just been crafted so perfectly. Even The Bengal tiger wouldn't be able to resist it.
It’s just been crafted so incredibly well. The poor Women AT The fountain ara laughing together between The suffering They have known and The awfulness in their futur.
The poor Women AT The fountain ara laughing together between The suffering They have known and The awfulness in their futur
The poor Women AT The fountain ara laughing together between The suffering They have known and The awfulness in their futur.
In their future, they're just there, smiling and laughing even while someone else...
The whole town feels like it’s falling ill. Everything is just... heavy. But even then, there is laughter.
There is Laughter every day in The terrible streets of Calcutta , and The Women laugh in The cages of Bombay
There is Laughter every day in The terrible streets of Calcutta , and The Women laugh in The cages of Bombay.
If we choose to turn our backs on our own happiness—if we actively push away any sense of fulfillment or satisfaction—what are we actually gaining? It feels like a hollow victory, doesn't it? We spend so much energy fighting against the good things, almost as if we're afraid that enjoying ourselves will somehow invite trouble. But resisting joy isn't some kind of moral high ground; it’s just self-sabotage. I can't help but wonder why we do this to ourselves. Is it fear? Or is it just a habit of staying in the struggle because it's all we know?
We tend to downplay just how much they’re actually losing.
We have to be willing to gamble on delight. Sure, we can survive without pleasure, but what's the point?
It isn't about finding some fleeting moment of pure delight or simple enjoyment. That’s not the point at all. What we actually need—what we truly must have—is something much deeper than that.
It takes a certain kind of stubbornness, doesn't it? That refusal to let go of our own joy, even when we're surrounded by something completely ruthless. It’s like a quiet act of rebellion against a world that just wants to grind us down.
The furnace of this world. To make injustice the only...
It seems like we’re all just measuring our own focus by how much we end up praising the Devil.
If the locomotive of the Lord runs us down,
Honestly, we really ought to be grateful that when the end finally comes, it actually carries some weight. It shouldn't just fade out into nothingness; it needs that sense of scale.
We really have to face the fact that, even when everything else is falling apart, there’s still going to be music.
Once more, we find ourselves standing right at the edge, peering out from the bow of a tiny little vessel.
Anchored deep in the night within that cramped little harbor.
Gazing out toward that sleeping island: the waterfront.
It’s just three boarded-up coffee shops and a single, lonely streetlamp flickering in the dark.
To catch that faint, rhythmic splash of oars cutting through the absolute silence... just you and the rowboat.
It’s that slow, agonizing crawl toward something meaningful—reaching out, getting just close enough to touch, only to have it pull back again. You have to wonder: is that hesitation actually worth the wait? Is there value in that rhythmic coming and going, or are we just spinning our wheels?
All those upcoming years of pure heartache.

Honestly, the constant barrage of negativity just does something to my head, so I’ve completely opted out. I skip everything—news broadcasts, daily reports, informative talk shows, you name it. It’s all just too much noise, and frankly, it’s bad for my mental state.
It’s become an absolute pattern lately: every single news segment or feature story released over the last few months regarding refugees has left me in tears. I find myself completely overwhelmed by the sheer tragedy of their circumstances; seeing the heartbreak these people endure is simply gut-wrenching.
Look, I’ll be blunt about my approach to this: if there is a way for me to step up and help—if it’s a genuine humanitarian effort where I can make a difference—then count me in. But if there isn't a practical way for me to contribute? Then I'm out. I don't follow the news, I don't watch the coverage, and I certainly don't read the endless stream of tragedy. I’ll occasionally skim through some posts on Facebook just to stay somewhat informed, but that's the extent of it. Quite frankly, I simply do not have the mental bandwidth to sit around absorbing that much suffering. It’s a matter of self-preservation at this point.

Andrew Doyle said:Honestly, the constant barrage of negativity just does something to my head, so I’ve completely opted out. I skip everything—news broadcasts, daily reports, informative talk shows, you name it. It’s all just too much noise, and frankly, it’s bad for my mental state.
It’s become an absolute pattern lately: every single news segment or feature story released over the last few months regarding refugees has left me in tears. I find myself completely overwhelmed by the sheer tragedy of their circumstances; seeing the heartbreak these people endure is simply gut-wrenching.
Look, I’ll be blunt about my approach to this: if there is a way for me to step up and help—if it’s a genuine humanitarian effort where I can make a difference—then count me in. But if there isn't a practical way for me to contribute? Then I'm out. I don't follow the news, I don't watch the coverage, and I certainly don't read the endless stream of tragedy. I’ll occasionally skim through some posts on Facebook just to stay somewhat informed, but that's the extent of it. Quite frankly, I simply do not have the mental bandwidth to sit around absorbing that much suffering. It’s a matter of self-preservation at this point.

That... that was me.
This morning at work, I was scrolling through my first few news feeds on Facebook before actually starting my shift... and then I saw that awful video. My god, it broke me right there on the spot. I spent the next half hour hiding out in the restroom, trying to pull myself together so people wouldn't think I'd completely lost it.

It feels like these tragedies are just jumping out at you from everywhere. It’s like everyone is feeding off the horror, desperate for their daily dose of "breaking news," but I just can't handle it the way they do. I'm not built to just shrug my shoulders and move on. The only way for me to survive is to not look. Not listen. And I am seriously going to try my hardest to make that my new reality...

So yeah, those associations just hang around somewhere. You’ve got those heavy, gloomy vibes that really drag you down, but then those beautiful memories hit too hard with all that nostalgia. When they mix together like that? That's usually when you feel your whole life rhythm just grinding to a halt.

And honestly, look at how a huge chunk of those paparazzi will dive headfirst into someone's private life just to get people talking. Information moves incredibly fast these days—I mean, I think things move even quicker than {even with all these tech advancements}.

It's interesting, though. Your brain subconsciously absorbs certain things, and it's almost impossible to dodge if you fall into those exact same old routines. So, yeah, I figure it's better to try and shake things up bit by bit at a steady pace. Bring some movement back in. Dream a little, tinker with stuff, and actually listen to what you want.

Jerry Wilson13 said:Thanks to everyone for the comments.
You're totally right.

All of those things are completely out of my hands...

It's just... the world is such a mess precisely because everyone feels too powerless to actually step up and change anything... Sometimes my conscience pricks me, making me wonder what I *should* be doing to make things better instead of just sitting here...

I wasn't talking about being powerless in my own life. In my own world, I am incredibly capable and meaningful to my family... I was talking about looking at everything from a global perspective.

I ended up logging off Facebook. I just don't have the stomach for hanging out around that kind of stuff anymore. Maybe I'm a coward, maybe I'm just taking the easy way out... but it is incredibly hard to find joy in a day when you've spent it watching so many ruined, broken lives.

Let's see what time it is... Big Brother is about to start on my channel 😁🤦 And I am going to watch it! Me, the person who used to look down on reality TV, will be glued to the screen for once. And Stephanie 🤣 I seriously need some crackers and spread to go with this...

People feel powerless because they're out of sync with how they perceive themselves versus the world. We get bombarded every single day by propaganda telling us we're huge, powerful, and invincible, when in reality, compared to everyone else, we're practically invisible. When you walk down a street in New York, nobody knows you; people pass you by like you're part of the scenery, and that's how little our power is to influence others or change the world. Kids live in that illusion of greatness, but as we grow up, we realize how tiny our lives actually are compared to the rest of the planet.
But we can't let that feeling of helplessness or insignificance crush us just because we set the wrong goals and built illusions around our lives..

What we *can* change—which takes a massive amount of effort, work, and soul-searching—is ourselves. Everyone is way too focused on others and not enough on themselves, and even when we are, it's usually just out of narcissism and ego. What we really need is to be able to feel the power and beauty in our own lives, our own experiences and feelings. We need to accept the reality of life: the helplessness, the sickness, our own limitations, and the fact that we can do very little to control other people. Our greatest strength lies in our own little corner of the universe. Locally, it might seem insignificant, but it isn't. Our happiness, our satisfaction, our ability to accept others—both the good and the bad—and our capacity to live positively despite how heavy life gets, is the highest value we can achieve on a local level. If we were all capable of working on ourselves like that globally, it would create a massive wave of positive energy that generates real change. After every war, there is hope, a desire, a will for positive change, growth, and acceptance—a longing to choose a better, different path... and that starts at the individual level and works its way up to the global one...😉

Like I said, none of us should miss the chance to realize we've been taught wrong our whole lives. We've been targets of propaganda, and there is another way to live a better, happier life—one that involves self-respect and searching for happiness in an emotional and creative sense, not just a material one...

I basically curate my own feed—nothing touches me, really

For instance, I might scroll through Facebook once every few days, but I don't go hunting for news sites (unless I stumble onto something via Facebook), and I definitely don't watch Big Brother. Occasionally, I’ll catch the news on TV or listen to the radio, but that’s about it.

At the end of the day, I don't see how I can influence those global events, so why waste the energy? Most of my time is spent right here on this forum, which I consider time well spent online—the rest is just looking up stuff I'm actually interested in. Basically, I'm the one calling the shots on where I go.

So, you're either actively seeking out that content or you've left the door wide open for it to find you. You mentioned deleting Facebook, which works, though you shouldn't have to delete an entire platform just to make sure it doesn't "own" you.

I usually catch the news on the radio or watch it on TV, though I tend to read everything online more often. Honestly, I don't think I could ever truly unplug—just live in some perfect little bubble where everything is sunshine and rainbows. That feels unrealistic to me, anyway; isn't it important to stay aware of what's actually happening in the world?
The real issue arises when the constant stream of horrors and tragedies—things that have existed as long as humanity itself—start hitting a little too close to home. It’s hard not to care, and ignoring it feels wrong, but you have to be rational about it. You have to ask yourself: how much can I actually change as one individual? How much does this situation really impact my own life—or does it even matter at all?
Fortunately, I'm not the type to let the daily barrage of bad news ruin my mood—nor do I feel driven to pull the plug on the internet or turn off the TV entirely.

Jerry Wilson13 said:Staying busy is my survival strategy... hobbies, kids, daily chores...

Honestly, lately I’ve been feeling like social media is doing way more harm than good. It’s just weighing me down. I find myself wanting to shut out everything living, and when the TV is on, I can't move away from the kids' programming. 👍

Thankfully, during the day we try to make sure nothing violent or upsetting pops up on the screen, so we stick to Discovery, science shows, or cartoons... But then, in the evening, we "catch up" by sitting down in front of the news or scrolling the web... and poof.
Everything just goes south... you get hit with a wave of pure gloom.

Ebem, I have this one friend who is a bit of a radical alternative to all this. Her circle is always making jokes at her expense, and the latest "joke" was about how she doesn't even have a TV at home. At all. Let alone the internet & stuff. To everyone around her, it seems bizarre, weird... they're actually horrified.
But honestly, screw them, because that woman always has a smile on her face. Even on the grayest days, she’s constantly chirping about something positive... home cooking, the weather, her plants, music... I get the impression she has some sort of internal shield against all the horrors surrounding us.

I wish I had that kind of grit and persistence—to somehow isolate myself and opt out of everything I can't contribute to constructively...

And I will never, ever understand where people get the motivation to blast negativity all over social media and news sites... as if the world isn't already infinitely saturated and overwhelmed by the exact same thing. 😠😠

Why on earth do I have to deal with this while having my morning coffee on (let's say, Facebook), where I want to see what my family is up to in other states, only to be slapped in the face by a video (that starts playing immediately without even clicking it!!—so incredibly irritating!) showing a father in a war zone hugging his deceased children...

And kill me now, those few seconds of that video literally killed my day. Dead.

I'm off to delete Facebook. 🙂 🙂

And there you have it—a perfect example of how easily one can be broken by the media machine's constant brainwashing attempts. ☕

.. well done 🙂 I suppose the next logical step is to just rip the TV out of the wall and live in total isolation from all of it... turn your back on those neighborhood gossips who spend their lives repeating every single thing they see or hear on the news, and maybe then you'll escape that influence... it isn't an impossible task, really; I guess it just comes down to a matter of willpower and genuine desire. 🙂

p.s. direct human contact—actual conversation—and the internet (though I personally never read the news) are the only things I find worth pursuing when interacting with the outside world... I don't see why anyone should dictate my perspective or tell me what kind of world I inhabit when I possess my own brain and enough intelligence to draw my own conclusions... if I were truly as dim-witted as they imply, all the media outlets in America wouldn't be able to help me, even if helping people was actually their primary objective—which, of course, it certainly isn't. 😂

It’s just tough sometimes, you know? There’s such an overwhelming wave of bad news hitting us all at once {it feels like it might just be our destiny}

Jerry Wilson13 said:So, I’m starting this thread in the hope that maybe—just maybe—the little coping mechanisms you all use in your daily "struggle against reality" might offer some inspiration or a bit of encouragement to me.

It’s happening to me again... I log onto Facebook just to check a quick notification or finish some paperwork, and then—boom—the avalanche hits. It’s like this endless flood of news about everything going on in the world, and it just leaves me feeling bitter. It’s that heavy sense of helplessness... and more often than not, it just turns into pure sadness.

Whether I’m scrolling through some news site, flipping through channels on the TV, or just catching up with my neighbor on the sidewalk... it doesn't matter. Anywhere, anytime, with anyone—the conversation always hits the same wall. It's just the same endless cycle of daily or weekly horrors unfolding across the world.

Since I’m someone who wears my heart on my sleeve—honestly, I’ve always been pretty emotional and high-strung—it hits me so hard sometimes that I just can't seem to pull myself together. It leaves me feeling totally shaken. I keep asking myself: Have I taken things too far? Is this all weighing on me because I’m overthinking everything, or am I just struggling to handle this massive tidal wave of emotion hitting my psyche? 🙂

It’s honestly so hard for me to come to terms with living in a world like this.
I’m not depressed. Honestly, I still find plenty of joy in the little things that happen every single day... I’m fully aware that there’s a silver lining to everything. But, you know, there are just those days where everything feels heavy and I just shut down.

I recently came across this beautiful poem by Jack Gilbert, and I have to say, it actually helped me see things through a slightly more optimistic lens—even if that lingering sense of helplessness hasn't quite faded away yet...

How much does the daily flood of news about all those horrors happening around the world actually weigh on you? Honestly, I find myself wondering how everyone else manages to process it all. How do you even begin to control that influx, or find some way to accept the sheer weight of it?

Thanks in advance for every single post.

Yeah, maybe some people would actually find comfort in reading this poem:

A Brief for the Defense

Sorrow everywhere. Slaughter everywhere. If babies...
It isn’t that people are starving somewhere else—it’s that they are starving right here.
Somewhere else entirely. Just drifting through life with flies stuck in their nostrils.
But honestly, we find joy in our lives because that's exactly what God intends for us.
If things were any different, those quiet mornings right before the summer sun starts to peek over the horizon just wouldn't feel the same.
It’s just been crafted so perfectly. Even The Bengal tiger wouldn't be able to resist it.
It’s just been crafted so incredibly well. The poor Women AT The fountain ara laughing together between The suffering They have known and The awfulness in their futur.
The poor Women AT The fountain ara laughing together between The suffering They have known and The awfulness in their futur
The poor Women AT The fountain ara laughing together between The suffering They have known and The awfulness in their futur.
In their future, they're just there, smiling and laughing even while someone else...
The whole town feels like it’s falling ill. Everything is just... heavy. But even then, there is laughter.
There is Laughter every day in The terrible streets of Calcutta , and The Women laugh in The cages of Bombay
There is Laughter every day in The terrible streets of Calcutta , and The Women laugh in The cages of Bombay.
If we choose to turn our backs on our own happiness—if we actively push away any sense of fulfillment or satisfaction—what are we actually gaining? It feels like a hollow victory, doesn't it? We spend so much energy fighting against the good things, almost as if we're afraid that enjoying ourselves will somehow invite trouble. But resisting joy isn't some kind of moral high ground; it’s just self-sabotage. I can't help but wonder why we do this to ourselves. Is it fear? Or is it just a habit of staying in the struggle because it's all we know?
We tend to downplay just how much they’re actually losing.
We have to be willing to gamble on delight. Sure, we can survive without pleasure, but what's the point?
It isn't about finding some fleeting moment of pure delight or simple enjoyment. That’s not the point at all. What we actually need—what we truly must have—is something much deeper than that.
It takes a certain kind of stubbornness, doesn't it? That refusal to let go of our own joy, even when we're surrounded by something completely ruthless. It’s like a quiet act of rebellion against a world that just wants to grind us down.
The furnace of this world. To make injustice the only...
It seems like we’re all just measuring our own focus by how much we end up praising the Devil.
If the locomotive of the Lord runs us down,
Honestly, we really ought to be grateful that when the end finally comes, it actually carries some weight. It shouldn't just fade out into nothingness; it needs that sense of scale.
We really have to face the fact that, even when everything else is falling apart, there’s still going to be music.
Once more, we find ourselves standing right at the edge, peering out from the bow of a tiny little vessel.
Anchored deep in the night within that cramped little harbor.
Gazing out toward that sleeping island: the waterfront.
It’s just three boarded-up coffee shops and a single, lonely streetlamp flickering in the dark.
To catch that faint, rhythmic splash of oars cutting through the absolute silence... just you and the rowboat.
It’s that slow, agonizing crawl toward something meaningful—reaching out, getting just close enough to touch, only to have it pull back again. You have to wonder: is that hesitation actually worth the wait? Is there value in that rhythmic coming and going, or are we just spinning our wheels?
All those upcoming years of pure heartache.

I’m really liking this. 👍

If you’re looking to dive deeper into this area, I’d definitely recommend checking out some specific works. William Blake.

I realized a while ago that being constantly bombarded by half-truths and sensationalist news is just bad for my mental health. Honestly, I’ve started avoiding the media like the plague. I don't even own a TV anymore. I only check Facebook about once every three months, and if I end up on any news sites at all, it's usually just because Google sent me there.

I honestly think being "well-informed" is massively overrated. If I’m being blunt, it feels more like a form of snobbery than anything else. You aren't going to lose any status by stepping away from the constant noise and things that just drain you, and instead choosing to focus on something higher. And I don't mean that in some stuffy, organized religious sense—I just mean allowing yourself the shameless pleasure of immersing yourself in truly great art.

Just help the people who actually ask for it. There’s really no point in burning yourself out trying to fix things for someone who isn't even looking for a hand. At the end of the day, nobody wins when you waste your energy like that.

Joseph Bailey41 said:I’m really liking this. 👍

If you’re looking to dive deeper into this area, I’d definitely recommend checking out some specific works. William Blake.

I realized a while ago that being constantly bombarded by half-truths and sensationalist news is just bad for my mental health. Honestly, I’ve started avoiding the media like the plague. I don't even own a TV anymore. I only check Facebook about once every three months, and if I end up on any news sites at all, it's usually just because Google sent me there.

I honestly think being "well-informed" is massively overrated. If I’m being blunt, it feels more like a form of snobbery than anything else. You aren't going to lose any status by stepping away from the constant noise and things that just drain you, and instead choosing to focus on something higher. And I don't mean that in some stuffy, organized religious sense—I just mean allowing yourself the shameless pleasure of immersing yourself in truly great art.

Just help the people who actually ask for it. There’s really no point in burning yourself out trying to fix things for someone who isn't even looking for a hand. At the end of the day, nobody wins when you waste your energy like that.

We’re just burning through our own energy here. Honestly, at this point, I’m just saying God help them. 🙂

There’s this Bergman's movie about a guy who just loses it when he finds out the Chinese are building an atomic bomb—he can't handle the weight of it. His wife is pregnant and loves him, but it doesn't matter; his faith in civilization is so shattered by the bomb that he ends up taking his own life. This whole topic kind of hit me with those same vibes.

In my other thread, I mentioned how this weird emotional numbness basically protects me from stressing over stuff like the riots in Paris or things totally out of my control. I can't even say I feel bad, because honestly, I don't really feel regret anymore. Still, some things manage to slip through that armor, so I've realized it's better to be picky about what I let in. Nowadays, it's mostly the shallow, primitive stuff that gets under my skin—specifically "stupid" people who aren't even bothered by the fact that they're being clueless. All the emoji-only chats, the spam, the total lack of depth, and people just acting on impulse without thinking twice about what they're saying...

I gotta admit, I'm partly to blame here too, since I sometimes find myself wondering just how low things can go—so I keep reading and watching instead of just tuning it all out. It's like when you're driving and see a dead cat on the road; you know exactly what it's gonna look like, but you still slow down, stare, and then regret looking.

A bit of mental blocking is actually what works best for me. I stay away from news sites except for sports, and here on the forum, I even asked Carl Cox3 to filter out everything except the threads where this kind of mindless chatter is impossible. Sounds ridiculous, I know, but it actually works.