General Anxiety focused on climate change is one of the things I am seeing more and more in clinic. It isn’t just every once in a while, Climate Change Anxiety is becoming more prevalent for people!
We are 100% correct to be worried about the environment but sometimes if we over expose ourselves to catastrophic news about it we can cutting off our nose to spite our face.
Anxiety functions on what if thinking, black and white thinking and catastrophic conclusions. It whips us up into a frenzy where we lose our grounding and ability to function.
With climate change and similar issues people can tend to believe that they must be doing more and more to solve it.
While every one of us can play a part, the anxious person would be more likely to take on all of the responsibility personally and worry about things constantly.
I will say again yes climate change is a huge issue for Humanity and the Earth, but like any thing we over feed it grows bigger than it should be. For many people it reduces their quality of life and consumes their thinking.
I’m drawn to thinking about the serenity prayer: grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.
Like any issue or problem sometimes we need to put limits on how much we allow ourselves to think about it. Is the the issue worth 100% of our mental and physical energy. Is it worth 100% of our time?
I would imagine not! Yet someone saying oh don’t worry about it it’s grand is not going to help. However, giving ourselves a worry time of half an hour a day or one hour a week with a strict cut off point can be a good way to accept that yes the worry and issue is real, but I am not allowing it take over.
Likewise sitting down and measuring out what am I as one person able to do about this while still maintaining my happiness. Be that reducing meat consumption and plastics or recycling more.
Set a limit because if you write your anxiety a blank cheque to run riot it could bankrupt you!
At Anxiety Ireland we specialize in helping people of all backgrounds better manage their anxieties and fears.
I am always happy to chat to people about how life can be made less anxious.
Feel free to message the page here or call/text 087 063 0948!
Have a great day!
Michael
Anxiety is like a merry-go-round, going no where, it’s ok to step off.
