Managing Fears in the Modern World

In the age of technology, we have been given the gift of global information. We can watch a touching moment between a newborn baby and her family on another continent, we can scroll through pictures of our friends and family enjoying their lives all over the country. We can even video chat with experts and professionals thousands of miles away to get help with local issues they also face. 

The other face of that coin is that we can also hear about tragedies. They loom at the top of our social media feeds and are always the loudest and most discussed aspect of our social lives. 

It can be difficult to regulate our emotions surrounding these heavy topics when everything seems so close to home. We see ourselves in parents struggling to escape war with their own children. We feel for individuals who have lost their homes as we sit in the comfort of our living rooms. Human empathy is important and special, it bonds us and helps us build a better world. 

We cannot help others, however, when our mental wellness is being threatened. We have to maintain a healthy distance between ourselves and the news. It’s not always easy, but the relief we feel can help us to process in more effective ways, raising our quality of life in the midst of our worldwide awareness. 

Homebase

In order to help with our mental wellness, we can strive to make home the place our families feel safest. This does not mean never discussing difficult topics, quite the opposite. When home is the place we can air out our worries, it also becomes the safe haven we need to process and release our anxieties. Children especially need to feel like they can have an open dialogue with their adults about what they may hear so that they can help them understand in a way that will not scare them. Grown-ups who love them are best suited to that job and will make them feel that they have somewhere to go when the outside world is scary.

Release

It is okay and, in fact, compassionate to be momentarily rocked by bad news. Humans are empathetic beings. It is in our nature. Trying to push down our feelings when something affects us is counterproductive and only gets more difficult the more we try to do it. Sitting, processing, and making the conscious decision to move on from challenging news means being able to heal. Practicing gratefulness for the things we have ends this action on a positive note and helps us to let go.

It’s Okay to Need Help

If ruminating thoughts are affecting our sleep or we are unable to process and move on, it can be helpful to seek care from a primary care physician. There are many solutions to how the news, the economy, and the political climate make us feel. In these elevated times, Clinicians are often able to share additional avenues of support.

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