Let’s be honest: The world can be a pretty terrible place. From personal losses to national tragedies and global disasters and everything in between… It’s easy to feel depressed about the state of the world.
Just thinking about the sheer amount of awfulness around us can be completely overwhelming—even paralyzing. The problems are far too big for any single person to solve them. So what can you do? Should you do anything? Should you give up? Is there any “should” to begin with?
It’s normal to feel discouraged about the world.
You may have heard this expression: “If you’re not angry, you’re not paying attention.” It’s not just anger—the same goes for depression. Research has shown that people who feel depressed often make more accurate predictions of events than people who don’t [1]. Lots of bad things happen in the world, and feeling bad about them is a normal reaction. It’s okay to feel:
- Grief about what’s been lost
- Anxious about what’s going to happen next
- Overwhelmed by how big the problems are, or how much work it will take to solve them
- Disillusioned by the people in positions of power
- Guilty for not doing more
- Paralyzed by all these feelings
These feelings are all normal. Of course, they’re not fun. And they’re not always particularly useful. Depression may help you clearly see how terrible things are—but it’s also the leading cause of disability in the world
Equally unhelpful: being told to “just stay positive.” Ignoring the horrible things you see around you won’t make them go away, any more than getting depressed about them will. If you want to function in the world and make it a better place, you need to take care of yourself—and then find ways to help however you can.
