Asklemmy

First:

You are dying. Let that in; dwell on it.

Being alive can be pretty amazing; the world, people, life… But the price of entry is that your time is limited, and will end. oh, and you have no idea when. :)

So “being alive” is, by definition, to be actively dying.

Second:

Anxiety (worry, dread, etc) is always and only ever based on an imagined future. This is where you are right now, imagining outcomes you have no way of knowing. Sadness (regret, self doubt, etc) is entirely focused on a remembered past. We all experience both.

Right now is all you really ever have. Learning to put (and keep) your attention there takes work, but it’s worth it!

I'd suggest getting therapy. Perhaps explore anxiety medication. Having anxiety over conflict across the world that you have no control over and have little effect on you is not healthy.

Getting high is not effective self-medication.

I can’t even smoke weed anymore

Good. That shit isn't good for you.

As another commenter already mentioned:

There is a technique I call circles of influence.

You have „close“ things you can directly influence like things in your home, „near“ things which you can indirectly influence like your friends, family and local politics. Then you have the weather which you cant influence in any significant way.

The best approach I‘ve seen myself, friends and even clients do was prioritizing close over near and forgetting about the weather.

In other words: go ahead rn and change something in a positive way which you can absolutely influence. You will feel less anxious and more in control. If you have done enough in your immediate vicinity, you will feel a lot better. Then start influencing friends and family to do the same. Dont let up. Just repeat yourself and dont bother about the weather.

I‘m doing the exact same rn with you, stranger. Have a good one.

There are problems in the world, but it's important to remember that both news and social media get way more engagement when showing you doom and outrage, so the most extreme takes rise to the top.

It's good to be informed, but don't let the doomsaying scare you out of living your life.

Yes, and no. It will likely continue to get worse before it gets better, but as things ramp up, eventually the band will snap and change will happen.

It's up to us to work towards that change being positive, rather than negative.

When ever I get like that, with my dad being into conspiracy theories, I just drive out into the country for a while. No matter what happens, it will always be there. You may just need to drive farther, but the grass and trees will always be there. (Im sorry for spelling)

I'm enjoying peace everyday ol shaky ass dude 😎

I’m more worried about global warming, personally.

Not sure if you can switch your Facebook to Canada but because of a recent law Facebook stopped serving Canadian all news. I swear it's less anxiety inducing.

Look I'm not saying you're wrong in your assessment of global affairs, but believe me when I say that there is more to life than that. I'd advise you to spend some time each day looking at the world at a different scale than that, for example the life of insects, or the world of classical music or mathematics. Perhaps pick up an interest from your childhood. We're not dead yet! It may also be advisable to see a doctor and tell them about your wanting to spend all your time in bed and your panic attacks while smoking. Hope you feel better.

Rest assured If it happens, it'll be over in a flash.

The best cure for this is to read more news about people. A healthy dislike for people in general makes you worry less about the future of humanity ;-)

are you worried about nuclear war? why? you've got reminded that russia has nukes? everyone has, everyone has been keeping everyone else at gunpoint (missilepoint?) since 60s in giant mexican standoff. have you died in the meantime? i don't think so. what makes you think it's gonna change anytime soon?

here you have well informed take on escalation ladder (tldr: it's nowhere near putin's interest to actually do a massive escalation) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWKGYnO0Jf4 and a writeup https://acoup.blog/2022/03/11/collections-nuclear-deterrence-101/

i, for one, will enjoy one day of peace when russian regime falls. not holding my breath for this tho

Very. But, if you can aloofly accept that you have very little control over the big stuff, it can help free you from having to worry about it. Shrink your world down to what you can control and try to have a positive effect and let go of the big stuff. I suspect that something catastrophic during my own lifetime seems inevitable. Why worry about that when I can enjoy today?

I can’t even smoke weed anymore without having a near panic attack.

Funny, it's the exact opposite for me. I get panic attacks when I run out.

Yes

Only worry about the things you can change right now. Everything else is a waste of energy.

You can't fix stupid in anyone else no matter how hard you try or how much you want it.

News and the media in general preys on fear. They want you to be terrified because it makes you watch the news and read the papers and their websites. They hype up anything that will scare you.

The whole COVID period proved that.

We are probably fucked sooner or later and I feel terrible for what family and friends and good people will go through. But also I think Earth will bounce back and would be better off without humans. Only issue is I don't think humans will be eradicated.

Otherwise just try to vote for the best choices and try not to follow the news too much, it's mostly negative because that sells.

Live your life and enjoy what you can.

Be glad that you got to experience what you did.

If you have the funds, go tour things we know are vanishing, so that you at least have a living memory of them.

Not an answer to your question, but for a long time I couldn’t enjoy smoking weed anymore due to the anxiety. After my state legalized recreational weed, I could talk to pros about it. Find either a strain that has equal or maybe even higher amounts of CBD to THC, or have a cbd tincture in your system before you smoke.

I missed smoking weed. It had been years. But I’m very glad to report that I fully enjoy it again, no anxiety. No shitty feeling associated with it. It’s all nice.

I also got my feet wet on this journey by just smoking hemp, which has a really, really nice effect all on its own. Just something to consider if smoking weed was something that used to help you.

I think it's largely just news that is sensationalized to get additional advertising revenue. It's there to get you worried so you constantly check for updates. IIRC this concept was started by CNN back in the 80s or 90s, when 24/7 news became a thing. Now that the Internet is around fear mongering is everywhere. It's what makes money. And if you don't pay for the news, you are the commodity. Frequently a conduit for advertising.

Do not worry about the things you cannot control. You'll be regretting not using the most peacetime if it ever ends or never happens and you look back. To not live your life to the fullest when you have the freedoms others do not would be a terrible shame.