Tobin Chin
Contributing Writer
At some points in my life, it has felt as if the world is slowly descending into a pool of cloudy uncertainty, a feeling which no form of escapism or distraction can lift me from. To me, it felt this way at the beginning of the pandemic; the panicked rush on stores and the slow reports of cases inching towards my state sent me into a feeling of helplessness. I caught myself feeling similarly about Ukraine, the same sense of foreboding, as the news reports over the radio and in the papers started to feel increasingly dire. There is a very strong sense that we should do something to help stop the conflict, atrocity and the pain which people across the world are experiencing, but there is little sense of what the best way is to do this. Today’s world is overwhelming to be a person in. With so much at our fingertips it is not a matter of if the things we wish to learn more about are available to us, it is now a matter of sifting through the causes which are important to lament and sorting them in order of our priority. Bombarded with things which seem overwhelmingly negative, I find it easy to slip into a state of being in which I simply marinate in all the negative stories I carry with me.
I have no foolproof method for beating this slump; I believe that it is a different process for everyone, and many solutions will not work for others depending on what you value and what you appreciate most. What I come back to each time is reminding myself of the things which are good and beneficial in my life, and rationalizing the issues around me in the context of my ability to affect positive change towards them. It is important to recognize that even in dark times, there is light in the world as well. Spring break is soon approaching with all its fanfare, spring itself has almost sprung with unusually warm temperatures and summer is close behind it. Find the events in your life which you are looking forward to, and if you cannot find any, there are plenty of ways to create some. Schedule dinner with close friends once a week, organize a movie watch party with friends one week or create a fun event which you’ll look forward to and can cling on to.
It is immensely important to care for the dangers and problems in the world, and our energy should be fully spent in rectifying them to the best of our ability. However, it’s not worth sacrificing your own personal wellbeing in order to bear the weight of the world on your shoulders. With events you can have little sway in, such as the current conflict in Ukraine, it is important to realize the point where you know enough about this situation that you can set aside the situation to focus on your own happiness. By increasing your own morale, you can increase the morale of others, and that in turn can have a positive effect on everyone around you.