What the hell is happening? It feels like the whole world has gone mad. You were doing okay, not great, but managing. But now it seems like you can’t catch your breath. Every five seconds there seems to be a new headline or ping bemoaning something else horrible that’s happening. You try to tune out the noise, ignore the fear-mongerers, reduce doomscrolling, try to focus on what you can control, keep your head down. But then that pesky doubt and worry start trickling back in.
So you double-down. Self-care time! You get outside, you take a brisk walk or maybe even go for a run. You focus on your breath. And yet those nagging thoughts leak through. The what ifs and existential dread. The constant swirl of worst case scenarios. They show up and start blocking out your ability to sleep, your ability to focus on anything else. You notice the urges to self-destruct are growing stronger. You can feel yourself edging closer to the brink…of shutting down? Imploding? Or maybe exploding.
Things are not okay. You are not doing okay.