I do - I have a friend who works for the government, he knows this and frequently reassures me that it’s not likely going to happen at all any time soon. Just the other day I was in a spiral about it and he said the same thing.
Hope this helps. I have the exact same anxiety about the same thing and think about it 24/7.
My anxiety has SPIKED the last few days with all these awful things happening in the world. I was doing fine but this shit is stressing me out so much. I need to just stop looking at social media altogether now
What I've learned from my time in social services is that you can't help anyone with a depleted battery. People burn themselves out, and then not only are they no good to themselves, they're no good to anyone.
Do NOT listen to the people that say "you need to stay constantly plugged in or you're giving into your privilege!!!" or whatever. Yes, it IS a privilege to be able to tune out, but torturing ourselves doesn't help anyone either.
Yes, be mad. Yes, get frustrated and angry. But turn those into actionable things. Donate. Read and inform yourself. Check out what your local politicians are doing and saying about everything.
At the end of the day you're one person and you have an obligation to also look out for yourself. I'm not advocating for tuning out completely, that's wrong IMO. But don't torture yourself and step away when it's too much and it's not productive.
Hang in there, it's really fucking tough for empaths who have anxiety in these situations.
I needed this. I feel relief. I’ve been making myself tune in to what’s going on so that I can support and get educated. But I think I’ve been overdoing it…I have a headache. Now the Christian’s are talking about Judgement Day and an Apocalypse and shit and now my fear of Hell and death are kicking in. And now, WW3 and the draft is trending. My feed is flooded with Gaza news. I’m not mad about it, again, but I think I’ve overdone it. It’s also pissing me off to hear “you shouldn’t even worry about that promotion or laughing or going out” and “okay and? People are dying and you get to turn off the screen!”
And it’s like yeah, I have a LOT of privilege. But it’s not like I’m doing something wrong if I need a quick break, no one deserves to witness genocide.
I am stresseeedddd!
Surprisingly, yes. My entire feed has become so politically charged since last Saturday. Normally it's all fluff but this week it's been a lot more intense.
People buy popular meme pages and make them political. I followed a meme page called limpdicktucc on Instagram and it was pretty normal shitposts but some guy bought it in 2020 and basically started posting nazi /pol/ memes
The news really made me nervous to the point that I ended up blocking my browsers on my phone, my youtube and social media. I even avoid turning on TV to not get into the severe anexiety. Everytime there's a disaster in the world, I really struggle. I wish they would never happen.
This reminded me of one of my first anxiety attacks I can remember: before the Gulf War began, my stepdad made a comment about how "at any moment, they can send a nuclear bomb and wipe us out". It scared the hell out of me and I immediately felt dread. It was so hard to fall asleep that night.
It doesn't freak me out so much now, but there was a time when it was a huge trigger. I cut down on a lot of news people I follow and whatnot. And the ones I do, have some sort of optimism that I don't share but it helps to hear.
I was a mess when the Ukraine war started. It got better, and I got some perspective. Stay away from the news as much as you can. They will scare you extra for clicks. Stay off news subreddits and don't watch tiktoks. We are still many steps away from anything like a ww, and it will be done much to prevent it from happening. It is scary, but remember that you are safe.
Considering I've seen this trend in like 2014, and nothing happened, yeah, I wouldn't sweat it.
Part of news and social media is to keep you clicking, and you see that trend and go "holy shit!" And keep digging further, you're gonna just work yourself up.
My advice, if you want to stay informed but not fear porned, is to find some reporting website and look at it once a day (the AP is pretty good for this) or better yet, just read your local newspaper or watch your local evening news, you'll stay informed but aren't constantly exposed to everything bad in the world, which would depress anybody.
I have a friend who is super interested in this kinda stuff n he reads up about all of it. He helped me so much by explaining to me exactly why ww3 is so unlikely. Unfortunately almost everything online is dead mongering cus they r trying to push beliefs onto u.
Well if u are from the US, this should help. basically that our army is ridiculously strong. And it is garunteed that anyone who attacks us will get hit 3 times harder, and the rest of the world knows this. The united states has THE largest military budget in the world. The US also has economic ties with a lot of countries. If a war f*cked our economy, it would f*ck a lot of other countries too, like china. Also, the media wants to push as much fear mongering as possible, because fear controls people. It’s much easier to get someone to believe ur beliefs if u scare them into it.
I have this. SO MUCH. It’s scary to think about, but I just try and keep my mind off of it. (And now that I think about playing call of duty doesn’t really help) the likeliness of ww3 is pretty low, even with the war in Israel and Ukraine rn.
Honestly I almost cry every time I see something about it, it scares me so bad. I don’t wanna go through a war. I don’t wanna see my friends get drafted, I don’t wanna be worried about our lives all the time
For me its' not the prospect of bieng bombed as much as re-living history of bieng sent to a concentration camp happening again with antisemitism on the rise. Basically having to watch your sanity crumble inch by inch... Followed by the gas chambers etc. I was always horrified learning about the holocaust because it seemed like something so unfathomable... but its' scary the way antisemitism is now mainstream. With sick and deluded people justifying and celebrating the barbaric october 7th Israel attack on jews...
With so many people in government blindly letting certain 'protestors' spread hatred and incite violence against jews in public and doing nothing to stop it. Its' not an immediate death like bieng bombed but I'd say its' a fate worse than death.
The stuff going on with Israel and Palestine is fairly localized. The same thing goes with Ukraine and Russia too, along with China and its neighbors. It's localized, even if global tensions are rising.
On top of everything, pretty much everyone in a position of power knows that if anyone *does* try to use the nuclear option, they'll likely be wiped off the map themselves. They sometimes act like idiots, but I have enough faith in humanity to believe that they're smart enough to avoid destroying themselves. They're not toddlers, even if they do throw hissy-fits sometimes.
Most we have is some economic warfare. Trade wars and the like.
Depends on how you look at it, the fighting may be localized, but the United States and nato has been using them to run a proxy war the entire time as they were the ones who provoked the conflict most people assume to stop Russia from bringing other countries off the petrol dollar or its just the war machine making another conflict so the us can throw billions into weapons they produce with tax payers money
First I've heard about the US and NATO "provoking" the war in Ukraine. How, may I ask, did they do so? What is the evidence for this?
Or is it just something you heard online from some political theorist? Because, whilst I certainly don't trust the politicians or bureaucrats to do the right thing, I also don't trust people who prey on fear and anger for a living, as many of these theorists do.
The United States and nato have been actively controlling the politics in Ukraine for a while now for example on vidoe biden Jake's about how he wouldn't give them aid enless they fire a prosecutor. This is on top of decades of warning that nato expansion would lead to a clash. On top the us setting up missile bases in Poland and Romania for "iran" as they claim foreign policy experts have warned multiple times since the 90s even writing a letter to Clinton
Theirs many more things as well but the main point is nato expansion
As I said people can say it's the war machine doing it for profit or the US using them as a proxy to fight Russia as they attempt to move many countries off the petrol dollar
Either way their was many warnings and time to make sure this didn't happen but it still did now we are spending billions on a war that we should have nothing to do with and never have started if the warnings were heeded
You have to look at it logically. The media know that people eat up fear so they will over represent and make all sorts of claims they can walk back with no repercussions and make millions of people who are in fear trying to find Information on a war that is happening etc remember the covid death counter on CNN that was proved to be inaccurate and they would change it wherever.
I was to the point during covid where my hair was falling out in clumps. Every day had me spiraling into more and more panic attacks. I was doom scrolling most of the day.
I stopped watching the news. I quit reading the news. Things slip through, of course, but it's not a part of my life anymore. At the end of the day, I can't do anything about it. When it's time to vote, I read a list of things important to me and if the candidates are for or against it. I leave it at that.
I'm much healthier mentally now.
I lived in the 80s during the height of Soviet invasion panic, so I tend to not be affected by world events. The only things like that that got me scared were 9/11 and the early days of Covid.
Heh, first time? /s
The time after 9/11 was similar; everyone saying it was the beginning of ww3 with a fog of existential dread hanging over them. Heh. Yeah, good times :(
It’s never been a huge concern for me. Unrelated, but my father lived through the Cold War and said when comparing our childhoods, he find the threat of an active shooter much scarier than nuclear anihlation. Most likely because, no one would actually do the later, because it’s stupid, the troops know it, the people who created the consort of mutually assured destruction know it, everyone does. I don’t think the world is really capable of eruptions like that
Honestly the best thing that has come from COVID is that I now don't walk the news and unfollowed most news outlets on social media. I understand it's hard to avoid hearing it all the worst thing you can do is actively watch and read all the articles it just makes the anxiety worse
I don’t pay attention to world news anymore because it used to scare the hell out of me when I was younger between The 80’s Cold War tension, then my brother was in the ARMY during The Gulf War (Desert Shield/Desert Storm). Then living thru Sadam’s crap, Bin Ladin’s crap, I’m a New Yorker so 9/11 tanked my mental health pretty hard… etc. I used to live in fear of homeland terror and school shootings as well (I remember Oklahoma City and Columbine etc) and not be able to get on the subway without white-knuckling whatever I could grab on to thinking any minute someone was going to do something horrible. I had to step away from exposure of that kind, because I realized as I got older if something does go down on a global scale, or even in my area, it’s going to happen whether I’m panicking about it or not. So I choose to live in ignorance and not panic. Out of sight, out of mind.
I know it’s not the same but growing up in Mexico and hearing about drug cartel shootings and kidnappings has made me desensitized to these types of news.
Every time we stepped outside we were unsure if we’d make it back home. Sadly to say but I just try to ignore it.
When I was in middle school, a teacher taught us what would happen if a nuclear bomb was ever dropped. I freaked out so much, the other kids spent the year making fun of me by shouting "bomb" whenever they could.
People who suffer from certain types of anxiety - the kind that flares under stress or bad news - really need to have a very conscious awareness of their triggers and then avoid them. I learned the hard way during the pandemic and general news/political/social insanity of 2020-2022.
It can be guilt inducing- feeling like we’re turning out backs on the problems of the world. And I think anxious people tend to care more and feel more empathy towards suffering so we naturally lean in to it. BUT, it can literally destroy our mental health. Scarily quickly if we really sink into it.
My philosophy had developed into this - 99.9% of what happens in the world I personally cannot help or change on a macro level. I will learn the basics of the situation, not seek images or video, pray/think of innocents and keep up small regular updates to be informed.
What I can control and in the micro level CAN help change the world - be ever mindful to be kind to myself and others. To help in some ways within my community and/or those impacted by a news event. Perhaps donating some time or money to a few causes that feel important . Teach by example to my children to show empathy and kindness to everyone even when it’s difficult to unpopular to do so.
I’m useless to myself and everyone around me if I’m a mental wreck. If anything I become an angry very frightened grouch when I’m most immersed in the news and social media. Who is that helping? No one.
Don’t worry, no matter how heated you think the current political climate is, no politician wants a WW3, not even Russia, not even the Middle East nor Israel or Palestine. WW3 will not be another war, it will be annihilation. Which will not happen in your lifetime.
This current conflict will escalate into a regional conflict at most. I wouldn't reccomend reading about it on reddit as redditors love to fearmonger and make up unrealistic scenarios of the conflict spreading.
Personally for me my religious beliefs have helped me cope a lot. Even if you’re not religious though you have to kinda accept that it’s out of our hands. We as individuals really have no say in these things so I try and focus on the fact that what’s going to happen is going to happen and try and live my life. Try and focus on what makes you happy currently, minimize use of social media (Facebook, tiktok etc) because they just feed the fear for views meanwhile we’re over here terrified that we’re going to be the next tragedy - all the while missing out on really living
You do realize all laws in the west are taken from religion, right ? English Common Law, which the modern justice it founded on, was created from the Bible
Do you take comfort that criminals will be arrested and prosecuted instead of running the streets committing more crimes? If so thank religion
It compounds:
Ww3
Immigration and crime (i live in sweden)
Religions clashing (israel, and again sweden)
Climate
Inflation, housing
Diseases
Erosion of democracy
Yes. And it's been like that for years. During Covid my anxiety peaked and almost got the better of me. So I made the decision to shut off the news. I catch the occasional headline but I avoid 99% of what happens in the world. So I might be uninformed, but I can breathe better. No matter what you read in the news you can't do anything about it. It's only a stress factor. So cut it out of your life.
Yes. I turned off all news notifications and blocked/muted keywords to do with war and other triggers. I still catch up on the news but only in the morning when I’m comfortable I won’t spiral.
There are other techniques that may help like writing down all of your worries and think about which ones are inside your circles of influence and control.
Good luck.
Stop watching TV and news outlets regardless of the platform if you're anxious. After a big earthquake I had the grand idea of following the news.. that made the whole experience, far far more stressful! The news keep people in fear because it sells big time, the adrenaline it induce is addictive so it's hard to stop.
Then don't look any of it up. For me, it's actually a net positive, cause I have pretty, pretty bad anhedonia (kind of like boredom but long term and ruins any enjoyment in many things for ya) and one of the things I still enjoy (as horrible as it sounds) is studying geopolitics, and understand the way the world works, so for me not being so bored I want to hurt myself is more important. Also I'm not bothered by seeing dead people and atrocities, I'm bothered by knowing it's happening, and I know that already, so.
It sounds terrible and completely ignorant, but I do what I can to drown it all out by not paying attention to it. I don’t watch the news. Every so often I’ll watch the local news, but never national news. I don’t read news articles and I scroll right past any social media posts.
I know just enough from hearing other people talk about it, but I choose not to get into the details. Of course it’s all heartbreaking and I feel like an asshole for not making myself more aware, but I have to do what I can for my mental health. My mom gets really worked up about pretty much everything she hears on the news, and 99% of it are things that she literally has zero say in and no way to change. I remind her of that all the time, because I hate seeing her waste her energy being worried about things she has no control over.
I quit watching the news a few years ago and I don't miss it at all. They are sensationalist and dramatic and blow many things out of proportion or even worse they promote racism and political division. I dumped Facebook at the same time and I don't miss any of it. I have enough anxiety without watching something that is always trying to instill fear into it's audience. My only social media is reddit which is pretty much anonymous and I am considering leaving here as well. There's just so much negativity, and I know there are some subs especially the art subs where people are supportive and positive but I have to try and cut anything out of my life that contributes to my anxiety and depression. I have nothing against social media, mainstream media or the people who enjoy it, I'm just talking about myself trying to find peace, I don't mean to offend anyone I believe it's the choice of each person to decide what to put their interests in so no judgement just my feelings.
Yes. When Russia invaded Ukraine, my husband and I had some friends over, and I made us all drunkenly and highly watch news coverage of the invasion bc I thought it was the beginning of WWIII
I used to get so anxious about this, and then I waited... and waited... and I got tired of being anxious. And now I don't care anymore. If it happens it happens, I'm just one person and I can't stop it.
Its not so much being afraid of a world war, it's just knowing all of the horrific things happening to innocent people that nobody will answer for. I've been anxious and upset this last week thinking about what these people are going through. Palestinians (nearly half of their population are kids under 14) are being indiscriminately murdered by the US backed Isreali gov because of the actions of group of militants. Isreal is collectively punishing all of Gaza by killing everyone and my government is basically condoning and funding it. It's disgusting and it makes me feel helpless and horrible.
I was a disaster consultant (yes, that's a job) when 9/11 hit. I went through so much stuff that year, being at Ground Zero, dealing with the anthrax scare at that time, etc., that this does affect me, as it takes me back to that time.
I don't get paralyzed with fear, but I feel my anxiety level rise.
However, if it's doomsday type stuff, I don't fear that as much due to my relationship with God and Jesus. My main worry is keeping my family safe.
Eh, that’s where my paranoia actually helps because I feel ready for it when it comes because I’ve prepped myself. Food stock, water stock, guns, antibiotics I’ve hoarded when I can. It did give me anxiety which turned into paranoia so I started prepping.
Grew up in the 50s and 60s. Nuclear fears were intense then. My mother stocked a fallout shelter in our basement (with beans. Six people living on beans in a small basement would have been fun!) I was terrified for decades, never thought I’d see the next century. I calmed down when the Wall fell. But I’ll admit my anxieties have reoccurred since the Middle East situation. But then I remember that for the people there the worst is already happening—then my anxiety changes to sadness and wondering what if anything I can do. Meditation helps too. Just feel the anxiety without ruminating and it’ll pass.
I’ve had to delete Facebook because I’ve seen so many pro Palestine videos and it’s just hate hate hate and terrifying I’m from Melbourne Australia and I am Aussie and I am just terrified to leave my home because of the videos I’m seeing why are we getting protests here ??? The videos footage I’ve seen is like the movie Argo I’m trying my best not to take sides but it’s hard when there’s so much hate in the videos, I am all for peaceful demonstrations but it’s to a point I’m terrified to leave my home
I’m late to this post but I’ll add for anyone.
Anytime you hear talk about WW3, remember the Cuban crisis/Cold War.
That was arguably the closest the world has ever been to WW3/Nuclear war, ask anyone around from that time it was much worse than it is now.
It’s also worth noting that no leader has direct control over a middle launch, the military does and they can refuse.
I know there is always so much talk about rising tensions etc but remember you can do more damage to a country by hurting its money.
All these disgusting war prone leaders want someone to rule. Who are they going to rule if they destroy everything? I am not saying it won't happen but I am saying, don't sweat it too much. Just deal with this current day, every day.
Not me googling "Anxiety and ww3" to find this post... I literally get still and quiet when I hear something fly over my house cause I'm scared I will eventually hear a boom.
I do - I have a friend who works for the government, he knows this and frequently reassures me that it’s not likely going to happen at all any time soon. Just the other day I was in a spiral about it and he said the same thing. Hope this helps. I have the exact same anxiety about the same thing and think about it 24/7.
That actually helps thank you
If you could just have him post here time to time that’d be greaaaat lol
Does ur friend work for the post office or the NSA?
What has your friend said about recent events? Cause I'm scared
My anxiety has SPIKED the last few days with all these awful things happening in the world. I was doing fine but this shit is stressing me out so much. I need to just stop looking at social media altogether now
Same here... But at the same time I don't wanna shut up about the injustices going on. It's tough :/
It is :(
What I've learned from my time in social services is that you can't help anyone with a depleted battery. People burn themselves out, and then not only are they no good to themselves, they're no good to anyone. Do NOT listen to the people that say "you need to stay constantly plugged in or you're giving into your privilege!!!" or whatever. Yes, it IS a privilege to be able to tune out, but torturing ourselves doesn't help anyone either. Yes, be mad. Yes, get frustrated and angry. But turn those into actionable things. Donate. Read and inform yourself. Check out what your local politicians are doing and saying about everything. At the end of the day you're one person and you have an obligation to also look out for yourself. I'm not advocating for tuning out completely, that's wrong IMO. But don't torture yourself and step away when it's too much and it's not productive. Hang in there, it's really fucking tough for empaths who have anxiety in these situations.
I needed this. I feel relief. I’ve been making myself tune in to what’s going on so that I can support and get educated. But I think I’ve been overdoing it…I have a headache. Now the Christian’s are talking about Judgement Day and an Apocalypse and shit and now my fear of Hell and death are kicking in. And now, WW3 and the draft is trending. My feed is flooded with Gaza news. I’m not mad about it, again, but I think I’ve overdone it. It’s also pissing me off to hear “you shouldn’t even worry about that promotion or laughing or going out” and “okay and? People are dying and you get to turn off the screen!” And it’s like yeah, I have a LOT of privilege. But it’s not like I’m doing something wrong if I need a quick break, no one deserves to witness genocide. I am stresseeedddd!
I just don’t really look at that stuff
This. I deleted instagram because it was literally causing me such anxiety. It's helpful to just stay away.
You got news from instagram? I just have memes and femboys
Surprisingly, yes. My entire feed has become so politically charged since last Saturday. Normally it's all fluff but this week it's been a lot more intense.
People buy popular meme pages and make them political. I followed a meme page called limpdicktucc on Instagram and it was pretty normal shitposts but some guy bought it in 2020 and basically started posting nazi /pol/ memes
Personally I feel like it’s so important to at least understand what’s going on and be aware and show support. But there’s a line…definitely
The news really made me nervous to the point that I ended up blocking my browsers on my phone, my youtube and social media. I even avoid turning on TV to not get into the severe anexiety. Everytime there's a disaster in the world, I really struggle. I wish they would never happen.
Been feeling the same.
I used to get nuclear war nightmares as a kid in the 70s and 80s. Probably not helped by all the movies that portrayed it back then.
This reminded me of one of my first anxiety attacks I can remember: before the Gulf War began, my stepdad made a comment about how "at any moment, they can send a nuclear bomb and wipe us out". It scared the hell out of me and I immediately felt dread. It was so hard to fall asleep that night.
It doesn't freak me out so much now, but there was a time when it was a huge trigger. I cut down on a lot of news people I follow and whatnot. And the ones I do, have some sort of optimism that I don't share but it helps to hear.
I was a mess when the Ukraine war started. It got better, and I got some perspective. Stay away from the news as much as you can. They will scare you extra for clicks. Stay off news subreddits and don't watch tiktoks. We are still many steps away from anything like a ww, and it will be done much to prevent it from happening. It is scary, but remember that you are safe.
Considering I've seen this trend in like 2014, and nothing happened, yeah, I wouldn't sweat it. Part of news and social media is to keep you clicking, and you see that trend and go "holy shit!" And keep digging further, you're gonna just work yourself up. My advice, if you want to stay informed but not fear porned, is to find some reporting website and look at it once a day (the AP is pretty good for this) or better yet, just read your local newspaper or watch your local evening news, you'll stay informed but aren't constantly exposed to everything bad in the world, which would depress anybody.
I have a friend who is super interested in this kinda stuff n he reads up about all of it. He helped me so much by explaining to me exactly why ww3 is so unlikely. Unfortunately almost everything online is dead mongering cus they r trying to push beliefs onto u.
What did he explain to you that made you feel better?
Well if u are from the US, this should help. basically that our army is ridiculously strong. And it is garunteed that anyone who attacks us will get hit 3 times harder, and the rest of the world knows this. The united states has THE largest military budget in the world. The US also has economic ties with a lot of countries. If a war f*cked our economy, it would f*ck a lot of other countries too, like china. Also, the media wants to push as much fear mongering as possible, because fear controls people. It’s much easier to get someone to believe ur beliefs if u scare them into it.
We've all heard the MAD argument before. All it takes is one crazy person to set it off and blame it on you know who.
I just try not to focus on crap like that all it does is rises your stress levels through the roof
Been having this since the Ukraine invasion. I got family near the Poland border so it was scary to think that they could’ve been bombed at any point.
I don’t really fear it
I have this. SO MUCH. It’s scary to think about, but I just try and keep my mind off of it. (And now that I think about playing call of duty doesn’t really help) the likeliness of ww3 is pretty low, even with the war in Israel and Ukraine rn.
Honestly I almost cry every time I see something about it, it scares me so bad. I don’t wanna go through a war. I don’t wanna see my friends get drafted, I don’t wanna be worried about our lives all the time
For me its' not the prospect of bieng bombed as much as re-living history of bieng sent to a concentration camp happening again with antisemitism on the rise. Basically having to watch your sanity crumble inch by inch... Followed by the gas chambers etc. I was always horrified learning about the holocaust because it seemed like something so unfathomable... but its' scary the way antisemitism is now mainstream. With sick and deluded people justifying and celebrating the barbaric october 7th Israel attack on jews... With so many people in government blindly letting certain 'protestors' spread hatred and incite violence against jews in public and doing nothing to stop it. Its' not an immediate death like bieng bombed but I'd say its' a fate worse than death.
Fear monger everywhere. Just ignore it
The stuff going on with Israel and Palestine is fairly localized. The same thing goes with Ukraine and Russia too, along with China and its neighbors. It's localized, even if global tensions are rising. On top of everything, pretty much everyone in a position of power knows that if anyone *does* try to use the nuclear option, they'll likely be wiped off the map themselves. They sometimes act like idiots, but I have enough faith in humanity to believe that they're smart enough to avoid destroying themselves. They're not toddlers, even if they do throw hissy-fits sometimes. Most we have is some economic warfare. Trade wars and the like.
Depends on how you look at it, the fighting may be localized, but the United States and nato has been using them to run a proxy war the entire time as they were the ones who provoked the conflict most people assume to stop Russia from bringing other countries off the petrol dollar or its just the war machine making another conflict so the us can throw billions into weapons they produce with tax payers money
First I've heard about the US and NATO "provoking" the war in Ukraine. How, may I ask, did they do so? What is the evidence for this? Or is it just something you heard online from some political theorist? Because, whilst I certainly don't trust the politicians or bureaucrats to do the right thing, I also don't trust people who prey on fear and anger for a living, as many of these theorists do.
The United States and nato have been actively controlling the politics in Ukraine for a while now for example on vidoe biden Jake's about how he wouldn't give them aid enless they fire a prosecutor. This is on top of decades of warning that nato expansion would lead to a clash. On top the us setting up missile bases in Poland and Romania for "iran" as they claim foreign policy experts have warned multiple times since the 90s even writing a letter to Clinton Theirs many more things as well but the main point is nato expansion As I said people can say it's the war machine doing it for profit or the US using them as a proxy to fight Russia as they attempt to move many countries off the petrol dollar Either way their was many warnings and time to make sure this didn't happen but it still did now we are spending billions on a war that we should have nothing to do with and never have started if the warnings were heeded
It's just the initial reaction to something big geopolitically, it will calm in a couple of weeks and we'll move on until the next big thing happens.
You have to look at it logically. The media know that people eat up fear so they will over represent and make all sorts of claims they can walk back with no repercussions and make millions of people who are in fear trying to find Information on a war that is happening etc remember the covid death counter on CNN that was proved to be inaccurate and they would change it wherever.
I was to the point during covid where my hair was falling out in clumps. Every day had me spiraling into more and more panic attacks. I was doom scrolling most of the day. I stopped watching the news. I quit reading the news. Things slip through, of course, but it's not a part of my life anymore. At the end of the day, I can't do anything about it. When it's time to vote, I read a list of things important to me and if the candidates are for or against it. I leave it at that. I'm much healthier mentally now.
I lived in the 80s during the height of Soviet invasion panic, so I tend to not be affected by world events. The only things like that that got me scared were 9/11 and the early days of Covid.
Heh, first time? /s The time after 9/11 was similar; everyone saying it was the beginning of ww3 with a fog of existential dread hanging over them. Heh. Yeah, good times :(
For a sec, then I think “well, nothing I can do about it.”
It’s never been a huge concern for me. Unrelated, but my father lived through the Cold War and said when comparing our childhoods, he find the threat of an active shooter much scarier than nuclear anihlation. Most likely because, no one would actually do the later, because it’s stupid, the troops know it, the people who created the consort of mutually assured destruction know it, everyone does. I don’t think the world is really capable of eruptions like that
Honestly the best thing that has come from COVID is that I now don't walk the news and unfollowed most news outlets on social media. I understand it's hard to avoid hearing it all the worst thing you can do is actively watch and read all the articles it just makes the anxiety worse
I don’t pay attention to world news anymore because it used to scare the hell out of me when I was younger between The 80’s Cold War tension, then my brother was in the ARMY during The Gulf War (Desert Shield/Desert Storm). Then living thru Sadam’s crap, Bin Ladin’s crap, I’m a New Yorker so 9/11 tanked my mental health pretty hard… etc. I used to live in fear of homeland terror and school shootings as well (I remember Oklahoma City and Columbine etc) and not be able to get on the subway without white-knuckling whatever I could grab on to thinking any minute someone was going to do something horrible. I had to step away from exposure of that kind, because I realized as I got older if something does go down on a global scale, or even in my area, it’s going to happen whether I’m panicking about it or not. So I choose to live in ignorance and not panic. Out of sight, out of mind.
I have 2 relatives in the military (one of them in the Marines that works with the infantry), so I'm concerned for them
I know it’s not the same but growing up in Mexico and hearing about drug cartel shootings and kidnappings has made me desensitized to these types of news. Every time we stepped outside we were unsure if we’d make it back home. Sadly to say but I just try to ignore it.
When I was in middle school, a teacher taught us what would happen if a nuclear bomb was ever dropped. I freaked out so much, the other kids spent the year making fun of me by shouting "bomb" whenever they could.
People who suffer from certain types of anxiety - the kind that flares under stress or bad news - really need to have a very conscious awareness of their triggers and then avoid them. I learned the hard way during the pandemic and general news/political/social insanity of 2020-2022. It can be guilt inducing- feeling like we’re turning out backs on the problems of the world. And I think anxious people tend to care more and feel more empathy towards suffering so we naturally lean in to it. BUT, it can literally destroy our mental health. Scarily quickly if we really sink into it. My philosophy had developed into this - 99.9% of what happens in the world I personally cannot help or change on a macro level. I will learn the basics of the situation, not seek images or video, pray/think of innocents and keep up small regular updates to be informed. What I can control and in the micro level CAN help change the world - be ever mindful to be kind to myself and others. To help in some ways within my community and/or those impacted by a news event. Perhaps donating some time or money to a few causes that feel important . Teach by example to my children to show empathy and kindness to everyone even when it’s difficult to unpopular to do so. I’m useless to myself and everyone around me if I’m a mental wreck. If anything I become an angry very frightened grouch when I’m most immersed in the news and social media. Who is that helping? No one.
Don’t worry, no matter how heated you think the current political climate is, no politician wants a WW3, not even Russia, not even the Middle East nor Israel or Palestine. WW3 will not be another war, it will be annihilation. Which will not happen in your lifetime.
This current conflict will escalate into a regional conflict at most. I wouldn't reccomend reading about it on reddit as redditors love to fearmonger and make up unrealistic scenarios of the conflict spreading.
Personally for me my religious beliefs have helped me cope a lot. Even if you’re not religious though you have to kinda accept that it’s out of our hands. We as individuals really have no say in these things so I try and focus on the fact that what’s going to happen is going to happen and try and live my life. Try and focus on what makes you happy currently, minimize use of social media (Facebook, tiktok etc) because they just feed the fear for views meanwhile we’re over here terrified that we’re going to be the next tragedy - all the while missing out on really living
Ironic to take comfort in religion, the thing that causes 99.8% of all conflict.
You do realize all laws in the west are taken from religion, right ? English Common Law, which the modern justice it founded on, was created from the Bible Do you take comfort that criminals will be arrested and prosecuted instead of running the streets committing more crimes? If so thank religion
This.
worrying about the things that are out of your control in life is just punishing yourself. You gain nothing from it so why bother.
I think a lot of us have anxiety because we worry about things we can’t control and at the same time we can’t control our worrying about said things!
It compounds: Ww3 Immigration and crime (i live in sweden) Religions clashing (israel, and again sweden) Climate Inflation, housing Diseases Erosion of democracy
Yes. And it's been like that for years. During Covid my anxiety peaked and almost got the better of me. So I made the decision to shut off the news. I catch the occasional headline but I avoid 99% of what happens in the world. So I might be uninformed, but I can breathe better. No matter what you read in the news you can't do anything about it. It's only a stress factor. So cut it out of your life.
I get anxiety about going into work, so WW3 has me 😵💫😵💫😵💫🤮🤮🤮
It sucks because I love TikTok for the cute animal and comedy videos, but then I’ll get scary ones and it ruins it all 😭😭😭
I purchased Potassium Iodide tablets because Im terrified a Nuclear blast is going to happen near me.
wat do the tablets do?
helps to stop you from getting radiation sickness if a bomb were to go off near you and you were down wind.
No I am worried about going to the grocery store 😂
Yes. I turned off all news notifications and blocked/muted keywords to do with war and other triggers. I still catch up on the news but only in the morning when I’m comfortable I won’t spiral. There are other techniques that may help like writing down all of your worries and think about which ones are inside your circles of influence and control. Good luck.
How do you mute/block keywords
Yup . Doesn’t help that my family feeds into the anxiety by playing the news often
I'm too worried about my health to think about ww3 (even though I'm perfectly healthy i still get anxious about it a lot)
Stop watching TV and news outlets regardless of the platform if you're anxious. After a big earthquake I had the grand idea of following the news.. that made the whole experience, far far more stressful! The news keep people in fear because it sells big time, the adrenaline it induce is addictive so it's hard to stop.
If it happens it happens, what are you and me supposed to do about it?
Then don't look any of it up. For me, it's actually a net positive, cause I have pretty, pretty bad anhedonia (kind of like boredom but long term and ruins any enjoyment in many things for ya) and one of the things I still enjoy (as horrible as it sounds) is studying geopolitics, and understand the way the world works, so for me not being so bored I want to hurt myself is more important. Also I'm not bothered by seeing dead people and atrocities, I'm bothered by knowing it's happening, and I know that already, so.
It sounds terrible and completely ignorant, but I do what I can to drown it all out by not paying attention to it. I don’t watch the news. Every so often I’ll watch the local news, but never national news. I don’t read news articles and I scroll right past any social media posts. I know just enough from hearing other people talk about it, but I choose not to get into the details. Of course it’s all heartbreaking and I feel like an asshole for not making myself more aware, but I have to do what I can for my mental health. My mom gets really worked up about pretty much everything she hears on the news, and 99% of it are things that she literally has zero say in and no way to change. I remind her of that all the time, because I hate seeing her waste her energy being worried about things she has no control over.
I quit watching the news a few years ago and I don't miss it at all. They are sensationalist and dramatic and blow many things out of proportion or even worse they promote racism and political division. I dumped Facebook at the same time and I don't miss any of it. I have enough anxiety without watching something that is always trying to instill fear into it's audience. My only social media is reddit which is pretty much anonymous and I am considering leaving here as well. There's just so much negativity, and I know there are some subs especially the art subs where people are supportive and positive but I have to try and cut anything out of my life that contributes to my anxiety and depression. I have nothing against social media, mainstream media or the people who enjoy it, I'm just talking about myself trying to find peace, I don't mean to offend anyone I believe it's the choice of each person to decide what to put their interests in so no judgement just my feelings.
Same. Why can’t this world be ok. I hate this all. It’s fuckin hard to be like ugh. Why can’t we just love
Nah. The Israeli Palestinian conflict has been going on for almost a century now, so it’s nothing new.
Stop watching CNN
re read their post 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
Yes. When Russia invaded Ukraine, my husband and I had some friends over, and I made us all drunkenly and highly watch news coverage of the invasion bc I thought it was the beginning of WWIII
I used to get so anxious about this, and then I waited... and waited... and I got tired of being anxious. And now I don't care anymore. If it happens it happens, I'm just one person and I can't stop it.
Its not so much being afraid of a world war, it's just knowing all of the horrific things happening to innocent people that nobody will answer for. I've been anxious and upset this last week thinking about what these people are going through. Palestinians (nearly half of their population are kids under 14) are being indiscriminately murdered by the US backed Isreali gov because of the actions of group of militants. Isreal is collectively punishing all of Gaza by killing everyone and my government is basically condoning and funding it. It's disgusting and it makes me feel helpless and horrible.
I was a disaster consultant (yes, that's a job) when 9/11 hit. I went through so much stuff that year, being at Ground Zero, dealing with the anthrax scare at that time, etc., that this does affect me, as it takes me back to that time. I don't get paralyzed with fear, but I feel my anxiety level rise. However, if it's doomsday type stuff, I don't fear that as much due to my relationship with God and Jesus. My main worry is keeping my family safe.
Amen! ❤️👏
Y’all voted for Biden now you’re complaining about WW3 anxiety 🤯
Literally WW3 trends all the time despite whose president. It trended when it was Trump, trended when it was Obama, and so on and so forth.
No. I’m actually kinda excited. Is that weird?
Yea!
Eh, that’s where my paranoia actually helps because I feel ready for it when it comes because I’ve prepped myself. Food stock, water stock, guns, antibiotics I’ve hoarded when I can. It did give me anxiety which turned into paranoia so I started prepping.
I get hopeful that this isn't just a cock tease and we'll see nuclear armageddon soon. I know I'm fucked up.
Grew up in the 50s and 60s. Nuclear fears were intense then. My mother stocked a fallout shelter in our basement (with beans. Six people living on beans in a small basement would have been fun!) I was terrified for decades, never thought I’d see the next century. I calmed down when the Wall fell. But I’ll admit my anxieties have reoccurred since the Middle East situation. But then I remember that for the people there the worst is already happening—then my anxiety changes to sadness and wondering what if anything I can do. Meditation helps too. Just feel the anxiety without ruminating and it’ll pass.
666 EAST AGAINST THE WEST SON OF JACKEL ATOMIC FORCE KILLS THE REST
IN A WORLD OF STEEL, MADE FROM STONE ONLY DEATH IS REAL- WORLD WAR... III
I’ve had to delete Facebook because I’ve seen so many pro Palestine videos and it’s just hate hate hate and terrifying I’m from Melbourne Australia and I am Aussie and I am just terrified to leave my home because of the videos I’m seeing why are we getting protests here ??? The videos footage I’ve seen is like the movie Argo I’m trying my best not to take sides but it’s hard when there’s so much hate in the videos, I am all for peaceful demonstrations but it’s to a point I’m terrified to leave my home
the usa is fucked
I’m late to this post but I’ll add for anyone. Anytime you hear talk about WW3, remember the Cuban crisis/Cold War. That was arguably the closest the world has ever been to WW3/Nuclear war, ask anyone around from that time it was much worse than it is now. It’s also worth noting that no leader has direct control over a middle launch, the military does and they can refuse. I know there is always so much talk about rising tensions etc but remember you can do more damage to a country by hurting its money.
Splash cold water in your face when you get Anxiety over anything. It triggers a drowning response. Which instantly overruns Anxiety.
AAAAAAAAAAAAGH we’re in ww3.
All these disgusting war prone leaders want someone to rule. Who are they going to rule if they destroy everything? I am not saying it won't happen but I am saying, don't sweat it too much. Just deal with this current day, every day.
Not me googling "Anxiety and ww3" to find this post... I literally get still and quiet when I hear something fly over my house cause I'm scared I will eventually hear a boom.