I guess I'm just not ready for the year to end, which may sound strange as you'd think I'd want it to, but I think it's just that I have a fear of change because I have come to associate change as a negative thing. I just want things to be able to stay the same because it's more comfortable that way, and I don't know what next year will bring and I feel like I have to go into things with as low expectations as possible just so I'm not disappointed. I feel like everything has to be either absolutely perfect or absolutely horrible, there is no in between which is an unhealthy thing to think about, but that's how I've been lead to feel. ... View more

I'm just feeling overwhelmed that the years almost over and it'll be a new year soon, because I don't think I'm ready to move on. And honestly I don't know if I can, because I'm worried about people dragging 2020 around with them to the point where they let it ruin every other year for them for the rest of their lives. People have said 2020 has brought out the worst in everyone, and it really upsets me to see people being horrible to each other, wanting to physically and mentally harm them and break down innocent people. My sister says I should be proud that I've come so far, but honestly I don't feel like I've accomplished anything; I'm still suffering from anxiety and stress, and I still worry obsessively about what other people think; and I'm worried they think the future looks bleak and 2020 has ruined the rest of their lives, because they'll never be able to move on from it. It makes me really afraid of how much meaner and violent society's gonna be from here on out because now they have 2020 as an excuse to be angry, hateful people. I think I'm paranoid of society and that's another problem of mine. ... View more

Counselling was productive for me I guess because I talked a good amount about some things, but tonight I felt depressed because I'm worried that 2020 will poison humanity for years to come, in the sense that people will not be able to move on and will continue whining about 2020 and let it ruin the rest of their lives; I've seen how people cling to only the bad parts of the past to an unhealthy degree and refuse to move on, and so I'm worried that in 2021 everyone will be so busy moping about their 2020 trauma that the year will go to waste because people refuse to embrace it. It makes me wonder if I should look forward to the new year at all; people over the world have said they're gonna commit suicide over the economy because they're so cynical they believe money is the only thing that matters in their lives; others have said that there is nothing to look forward to anymore except watch the world fall apart. They're convinced things will never get better, and so it'll be a self fulfilling prophecy where people's negative attitudes will only lead to negative results, as we saw this year and many years before where we've gone down a dark and depressing path that's ended up in tears. I feel like no one's looking forward to 2021 anymore, and it makes me feel like an idiot for having even the slightest bit of excitement for what the new year could bring. 2020 has made people more cynical than ever, and I don't want to live in a cynical, miserable world where everyone hates each other. ... View more

Well right now I'm feeling a bit better, I've decided to take a break from news for a while until things die down, but I understand there are times I'll need to look up the news myself to get full context because with big stories I'm gonna find out one way or another, so id rather get the full picture to try and reduce my catastrophising, although that's still a problem for me as I'm sure you know. Tomorrow I'm going to counselling again so I can talk about all this stuff I'm feeling, it is hard for me to open up to someone about this verbally but last session my counsellor said I was doing a good job talking about it. ... View more

Well I still feel like there's the possibility that Covid could be the big one that ends humanity for good if it somehow got worse. I feel like there is this immense pressure that next year I need to turn my life around, because otherwise if I can't, it'll be too late for me. All year I have been told to be patient and wait for next year, so you can't expect me to be able to wait for next year again. Each year for me has just been one disappointment after the other, to the point where I deliberately try and go in with low expectations because I don't want to go through the disappointment anymore. It even feels like there's less hope for a vaccine now, because no one knows when it'll happen and I'm worried it won't be able to; what if it turns out a vaccine for covid is impossible and were stuck with it? I would like if it's ready by at least the second half of the year, but again, I've just learned to expect the worst thing to happen because it always does. ... View more

The good news is that even in NSW there have only been around 30 cases as opposed to being in the hundreds and they seem to be acting fast to bring it back down, I can hope it will work out and it won't affect the rest of Australia but it's not really up to anyone to determine what happens, it depends on what fate wants to happen. ... View more

I don't know, because honestly it just feels to me like negativity is all around me; it's not like I have to go out of my way to make myself upset, most people I have heard from believe that absolutely nothing positive has come out of 2020 and the world is a worse place because of it. I wish I could view the pandemic as an opportunity to step back and reevaluate where life is headed and learn to be grateful for what I have, but it just feels like a total loss to me. I'm also worried about the news of covid cases in NSW causing people there to freak out, making me worry that this is a prelude to things getting worse than ever, and in the end we never had any real hope of stopping the spread and getting things back to normal, it was all just false hope. Despite what the PSAs have said about us being responsible for stopping the spread, I feel like it was never up to us, because we were powerless to determine whether things could get better or worse, it was just up to complete fate. Lately I've become more and more convinced that we as a society have no control over our lives, that we are just passive observers to our pre determined fates that we can't change, and attempting to resist our fate will lead to us being cosmically punished. I know it sounds crazy, but it's gotten to a point where I genuinely believe that because I sure feel like I haven't had any control over anything that happens in my life. ... View more

To start with, one instance of something I'm worried it's too late for is conventions, because I still don't know if I'll be able to go to any next year, and I really don't want to have to wait for 2022. I feel like people are talking about 2022 when we still have a whole other year ahead of us and it's really stressing me out and making me feel like 2021 is over before it's even begun. I want to do some short courses next year and I've been looking a bit, and I need to look into finding work, and I should also join a gym to get healthier and do more exercise. Also I'm worried that people will frown upon me for trying to have a positive attitude when around me I can't help but notice people being cynical and hateful. It seems like 2020 has really brought out the worst in some people and they have learnt nothing from the experience other than to be more bitter and angry than ever before. Even before Covid I noticed a lot of bitterness and toxicity going around from the very start of the year making it feel like 2020 was gonna be unhappy no matter what happened. And now in the years to come, they will never change and just bring down other people who are just trying to survive from day to day. I really do feel like the world is a very hostile, toxic environment and all our loathing and being horrible to one another will be the cause of our self destruction, and we can't do anything about it because people just refuse to change for the better. And when I feel so strongly about something like that it takes more than just reassurance to make it go away. ... View more

The thing that makes everything even harder for me is that it's not just this year where I haven't felt normal; I've pretty much never had a normal, peaceful year ever since I entered teenage years. It's just having been in many unfortunate situations that has warped my mind and made it impossible for me to have a normal life. And now I'm worried that next year will be my last chance ever to get my life back on track, because by 2022 it will be too late because I'll be too old and a lot of things I wanted to do may not be around anymore. It's just so frustrating for me because it feels like this year the world is still moving forward and leaving people behind in the dirt even though they literally have not been able to do anything about it all year. Does that make sense? It just really feels like the world is so impaitent and moves on whether or not we're ready, with no consideration for things that might be holding us back. And also, I should mention I've been told by many different people this year that I really need to stop worrying about what others think, because that is still a problem for me that I let manipulate me, because I've gotten to a point where I'm afraid of other people's judgement. ... View more

Throughout the year I have witnessed a lot of negative attitudes that seemed to indicate to me that people had just given up and have been reduced to whining with no intention of making things any better, to the point where some people have said they now want global warming to happen as soon as possible so they can all be put out of their misery. It's so heartbreaking to see so many people just lose the will to live in 2020, to the point where they no longer care about anything positive that happens. Time and time again people seem to deny good things that happen because they think it doesn't matter, and they self-sabotage and make things worse, making me worry that people actively want bad things like wars and conflict to happen. I'm also worried about next year because it doesn't seem like I have much to look forward to and it's gonna be pretty empty at this rate. I haven't found anything I want to study, i don't know if I'll be able to get a job and I've never had one before, which makes me worry I'm unemployable because no one wants to hire someone with aspergers when there are more competent people out there, they won't even give me a chance to prove myself before they just dismiss me for my disability. I also don't know if there will be many events throughout the year because only two conventions in Melbourne have confirmed dates for 2021, which I hope they'll be able to go through with (one is in April and the others in July), especially since New Zealand was able to have a convention in October which has given me some hope for conventions to return. Other than that though, all other conventions that had to be postponed/cancelled have gone completely silent with no word on when they'll come back, making me worry they won't be. I just don't want next year to be another long, slow and tedious year having to wait for the year after, especially since with every year I get older and I feel like time is running out for me. The world makes me wait around for it to be ready, but by the time I'm ready it won't wait for me. ... View more

Yes I was able to enjoy my time away, it was at Lorne which is one of my favourite holiday spots. I just wish we could have stayed longer, but I plan on going back and we can take Maggie (my labrador) with us next time since I want her to see Lorne too. Unfortunately since then, a lot has happened that has made me slide back into feeling extremely stressed. The day before yesterday was really awful for me because there was some drama in the video game industry going on on social media and a lot of people were furious and I was terrified. The video game community is a very toxic community sometimes and I hate that it's like that, because I just want to be able to enjoy games as an escape from reality and good casual fun, but some people completely miss that idea and start conflict with each other over games; it's the same for movies, anime and many other fiction. Its supposed to be an escape from reality, but people just use it to start wars over social media. It makes it very hard for me to be able to enjoy games the way they're supposedly meant to be. I'm especially worried that my generation seems to have become the most cynical; they are using 2020 as an excuse to be horrible to each other and give up on the world. I'm worried that, in the years to follow, they will be more whiny and bitter than ever because they won't be able to let go of 2020, they will just let the past ruin the rest of their lives and make it everyone else's problem. I've heard things like how thousands of people aged 18-30 refused to vote in the US election because they believed they were powerless to do anything and they have given up trying to protest for change, and how on new years eve they're gonna cry themselves to sleep because they believe things are only gonna get worse. It makes me really ashamed of my generation, we have gone from standing up and fighting to make the world a better place to giving up and bringing everyone down with our whining, and I just don't want to be a part of that. I would like to hear about stories of positivity and hope from my generation this year, but it's hard to find that when most of the stuff I notice on the internet is toxicity and hate. ... View more

I'm sorry I haven't replied in a while again. The other weekend I went away with Mum for the weekend and we had fun, but now I've slid back into being stressed out all the time. The other day I tried putting on several pairs of shorts and they didn't fit me anymore because I've put on weight this year from stress eating. When I realised this, I had an outburst, and I feel like in hindsight it was inevitable given the severe amounts of stress I have been through over the course of the year, and continue to go through, to the point where I don't even feel like I can take responsibility because this was bound to happen. My first instinct was that now id never be able to lose the weight I put on, because I seriously doubt my ability to improve myself when I've shown an inability to learn from mistakes time and time again. I feel like i need to work twice as hard to get half as far as other people in life. I feel like I will just continue to be stressed and mentally unhealthy for the rest of my life because the world will continue to be a very toxic, stressful place for me and millions of others and being stressed out is just a part of me, it's my fate to be like this and I can't go against that. ... View more

I feel a bit better now, but of course I know by now it's better to be safe than sorry. The past week I've actually been in a pretty good mood most of the time. Last night we visited some family for the first time in a while, and I was being chatty and sociable, having a good time with the others. I've still been mostly hanging out at home, doing things like drawing, playing games and watching anime, so the usual. It was just today suddenly a wave of sadness overwhelmed me as I started thinking back on the year and how distressed I felt, and clearly I haven't been able to get over it yet. But the good news is in a week me and my Mum are going away for the weekend, because we've been waiting a long time to be able to go away and destress. Also I'm going to see a live concert in January, it will be the first one I've seen in a year and a half, so hopefully that will be fun. Also I'm happy that it's Christmas time, because I still have a soft spot for Christmas; I like getting gifts for the family and just the vibe of the season in general. I know for a lot of people Christmas is a time where they feel more depressed and it can be a hard time for them, but thankfully for me I associate Christmas as a positive thing that I have to look forward to at the end of each year. ... View more

Actually, you know what? I'm not feeling all fine now. Because I know that people will still not be happy, and everyone still hates 2020 even as it's coming to an end; I'm worried that it will be too hard to move on. I've tried so hard to survive the last 12 months and stay strong, but now I have to wonder if it was worth it when I now have to deal with the long term trauma. I've become a more cynical and stressed person than ever before, and nothing good that has happened this year can even come close to redeeming the year in the eyes of the public; whenever something bad happens everyone brings attention to it, but people almost never acknowlegede when something good happens. Its like they just take it for granted, dismissing it as insignificant, and wallow in all the terrible stuff. What if I come out of the year exactly the same as I started it? I really want to be less stressed next year, and adopt a more calm and clear mindset. I don't really believe in New Years resolutions because I think that if you want to change something about yourself, do it now instead of putting it off. But I have literally not had a chance to destress all year, and I don't know if next year I'll have much more luck. And of course many people have been screwed over this year, possibly forever, and they might never be able to do all the amazing things they really wanted to do, but are too late. Life is not fair; all too often I hear of good honest people having their life fall apart when they've done nothing wrong; they've just been betrayed by the world. It makes me wonder if I'll end up like that too, and even if I don't, I'll feel too bad for all the people who just got rotten luck to feel truly happy. ... View more

Hey, sorry I haven't replied in a while, I just felt anxious about it and I've also felt embarrassed about some things I've written. I was wondering if I can delete this forum so I can put it behind me, because with things returning to normal in Victoria I feel more calm and positive. I feel like now I'll be okay approaching the end of the year and beyond. I can still make another forum, but it can just be one for sharing positivity happening in our lives. Thanks for putting up with me, I'm sorry for being negative before but I feel a bit better now. ... View more

I also realise I have a problem worrying about things that aren't a threat to me personally at all, and it shouldn't affect me, but I let it anyway because I feel like people make it my problem. It's to the point where I'm more concerned with issues in the world I can't do anything about than personal things happening in my life; do you think it shouldn't be that way? I know I'm not alone in this because time and time again I keep seeing others, mostly around my age, be severely emotionally affected by things they're powerless to do anything about, and I think that's really sad because it makes us feel like we can't control anything in life, and we're just at the mercy of fate. I know it's had an impact on my self esteem, and only recently have I been thinking about how it shouldn't have to be this way. It feels hard to imagine what it will feel like to be mentally healthy for the first time in many, many years. I hope it's possible. ... View more

I've just anxious that the year's almost over because I don't know what next year will bring, and if I can be happier then. Having gone through a year that's been so upsetting has been really heartbreaking for me; there have been points where it's felt like this is it, things can't possibly get better from here on out. At some points in the year there have been waves where it felt like everything was falling apart at once, though that's also felt that way in the world with previous years. I feel like the election news is really intense with it being so close, I really just want it to be over with because I can't stand the suspense much longer. I really just want things to be better mainly so people will stop their whining that's bringing me down; throughout the year there's been a lot of conflict being escalated by people's hate, and I'm worried that nothing good can come from negative attitudes. I don't want to think that the majority of people are negative, and some people have done really great jobs at holding it together and staying hopeful during extreme times. I just hope all our optimism pays off and there are happier times ahead, because I think while not everyone deserves it, there's a lot of us that do. ... View more

I've been taking a break from drawing lately, but I wanna get back into it at some point. I've been doing other stuff lately. But today I've been feeling anxious all day, so much that I my heart feels like it's been beating heavily for most of the day. I've been trying hard to keep it together, but not knowing what will happen has been really scaring me lately and I don't think I'm ready to find out. I'm tired of people's negative attitudes, but I know I can't change them; it's just a matter of me rising above it, which will be hard. I don't want life to stay this scary, I want it to go back to being fun and exciting soon. ... View more

The good news is I feel a lot better than I did about a week ago. I was in a dark place emotionally because I felt hopeless and trapped, and I told Mum I was worried about having a mental breakdown. But a good thing that came out of it was that I had a bit of an epiphany that I shouldn't have to feel this way anymore. I just my mindset stays like that. I'm gonna have to keep it up by talking about it in counselling, but I won't be able to do that right now and I kinda need to talk to somebody about it sooner rather than later. I can try talking about it with Mum in the meantime. ... View more

Yes, right now I've been feeling really unsure of what's gonna happen. I think that this year I have experienced the most uncertainty and anxiety for the future I've ever had. The good news is that if I can survive the end of the year still standing there will be very little that can give me trouble in life ever again. I really just want to live in a normal world that's not so stressful, because I'm not sure how much longer I can deal with everything. But at the same time I also feel powerless because there's nothing I can do to help make things better. I'm tired of feeling like I'm at the mercy of the outside world. I think the reason I worry so much about people's negativity is because I've experienced trauma from my time in special school as a teenager. There were some very dysfunctional people in my class who had serious anger problems and picked fights with each other, making the classroom feel really unsafe and caused me extreme levels of stress, and I didn't take it well at all. I pretty much had to put up with it because I couldn't just not go to school, so I just spent every day locked in another room, not wanting to join in because I was too afraid of a fight breaking out. In the years since then I've neared witness to much more hate and toxicity from people, which has made me become jaded and frustrated with how people are. I think if I could see more of the good in people it would make me feel better; it'll take a lot of positivity to help me rebuild my trust in humanity. ... View more

Happy Halloween! A good day for me because I have a soft spot for Halloween themed stuff. Today me and Mum went to meet up with my sister and her bf at a park, and then we went to the shops for the first time in something like 3-4 months. So I'm getting back out there a little bit more each time to readjust to the outside world, it's nice to be able to go out again; I just hope it stays that way. I'm feeling a bit nervous though, because tomorrow is the start of November, and I feel like the last 2 months of the year will be make or break. I was thinking before how I want to try and take back control of my emotions, which means not letting my feelings be dictated by things I can't control. I know that's gonna be a challenge, especially since a lot of people seem to be deeply affected by bad things happening. I wish I could find a "safe" news source where I can get informed about news and politics I should know about without the risk of being triggered because I can't handle it. Some news sources seem to be mostly neutral and fair-minded, but others write about opinions that they treat as facts, presenting a very biased view. All these sources push and pull me in different directions and I don't know who to trust, it's just too confusing. Especially because some news sources can be really scary and hostile. There have been plenty of times where reading/watching the news has given me terrible anxiety and I don't know how to react to something so scary; no one should have to feel that way about the world they live in. I think the world should be a more mentally safe place for such an emotionally vulnerable generation such as ours, and I'd like to be part of an organization that aims to work towards that. ... View more

Today I felt a little excited that stuff's opening up so we can get out a little more. I still might wait a while longer before I feel sure about city outings and the like, but at least i can sit in a cafe or go to the shops, little things like that. Last night, I had a bad dream. In it, I saw news of people on the streets clashing in a violent massacre because of their division from politics. I remember feeling really scared and couldn't calm myself down. It was only a brief part of a bigger dream, but that stood out to me when I woke up. I think it really says something about what I'm worried about; seeing all this division and conflict among people all because of governments. I think it's sad how we let our differences pit us against each other, and label people as evil and let their hate for them take over their life. I've been thinking a lot about how it gets to a point where it's so pointless to go through life with so much negativity all the time. Life can't always be sunshine and rainbows, but we all need to make time for the things that really matter. Devoting all your time to hating people just gives them more power over you. So I've decided I don't want to live in such negativity anymore, but I feel like the greater public won't meet me halfway on that one because there'll still be so much fury among people, and it's really stressful and makes it hard for me to think calmly when it feels like everything's falling apart. The other day I found a hypnotherapy place in town near where I live, and they say it can help with anxiety. It's a bit expensive for a session, but should I give it a try? ... View more

Thanks for the encouragement and doggo. I think one of the big problems for me is that I've become paranoid that people will deliberately go out of their way to crush people's positivity. While I can't deny there will always be people out there like that, whether they just want to lift themselves up by beating others down or it's a much more complicated, malicious reason, deep down I think the big problem is that people feel like they have to let it get them down. I've been lead to believe that most people let themselves be psychologically manipulated because they feel they're not strong enough to resist it, which is how I feel too. You don't really hear about people being more resistant towards that kind of toxicity because they don't really say anything, but we should be talking more about developing resilience to normalize that kind of positive mentality. And even though for now it seems like everything's getting better and there's more hope for next year, I've deliberately tried to predict the worst case scenario will happen because it's so hard for me to imagine such positivity. I really hope that this kind of improvement will stay this way. I'm still afraid of people deliberately infecting others to get the number of cases back up to how it was before and undo all our hard work, but I might feel better if I had reassurance that something like that is highly unlikely to happen. ... View more

Yes, I've been thinking a lot today about how I really want to value my life because it should be a precious thing that no one should have to throw away. It feels so hard for me to live a life in freedom and positivity instead of fear of all the negativity in the world, but I hope it can be done. When I'm socializing with other people I really notice myself feel much happier and livelier. Like when my sister and her boyfriend come around and we play games together, I become much more chatty and sociable, and I have more of a sense of humour. So I know that being around good people does help me feel better. I just want to be able to feel like that more often. Sometimes when I watch videos of dogs and their owners and seeing the happiness and love they have it makes me want to cry from how sweet and wholesome it is. It's things like that that help me realize that there are good things in the world and there are people full of love rather than hate. My view on the world has become skewed because it feels like an overwhelming majority of people are cynical and bitter, so if I could see more positivity and kindness it could rub off on me and make me feel better. I want to be able to trust people again and love myself. ... View more

Oh, I was under the impression my last message didn't go through. I'm sorry, I'm nervous talking to people about this. After having a talk with Mum today and working some things out I feel a little better. Right now I'm just going through another low point because I'm so uncertain of what's gonna happen. I think one thing I need to do is surround myself with more positivity so I can see the joy in life more and learn to be happier again. ... View more

Hey again, I'm sorry I took a while to write back. I was going to reply the other day, but my internet disconnected on me just as I was sending the message and I got really upset because I wrote so much and I really wanted to talk to someone about it. In the day and a half since then I've had an emotional rollercoaster because I've been thinking about a lot and I'm still feeling scared about things. I've been worried about the last two months of the year because I'm worried that something bad might happen at the end and ruin everything we have worked for during this time. I've been feeling upset because even if I can go back into the outside world just like before (for the most part), I'm worried I'll be worse off now than I used to be. Before the restrictions began I was already struggling to cope with the world, and I felt like I couldn't function in society because the outside world was so stressful and harmful to my state of mind, and I felt like I couldn't have a normal, peaceful life. I haven't been able to take care of that problem all year, so I'm worried that things will be exactly the same as before with me being scared of everything. I've been upset because I've felt like all year people have been bitter, hateful and miserable, and I've dismissed people's positivity and kindness during these times because I've viewed it as insignificant compared to all the hate. I feel like I'm powerless to the negativity of people around me and that I have no choice but to let them beat me down. A part of me realises most people I see on a daily basis are pretty happy, but I'm paranoid of the bad people in the world who want to hurt others. I've been thinking that life should be precious and mostly happy; I know not every second of life can be perfect, but no one should have to feel too afraid to live. And for me and a lot of other people it hasn't just been this year that's been unhappy; it's been many other years before it. I've been lead to believe that the world is full of cynicism, violence and hate, because I don't have many people in my life outside of my family that are positive influences, so I've come to have a very jaded view on the world. I should be excited for my future when I can go back to doing all the things I love, I don't want to be constantly scared of horrible things that might happen. I want to be able to have a happy fulfilling life, but I feel like all the horrible things happening in the world are stopping me from enjoying my life. Please, somebody help me. ... View more

Yes I'm glad I came across that post by The Song Room, it's good to see people express hope for the future. I just hope it will stay that way... In Victoria some more things are opening up now that its safer, and we can mostly start going out again as normal from the 1st of November. But I'm worried that'll be too late for me to be able to enjoy being out, since that's right around the time of the US election, so I'm worried that there will be too much tension in the air. Before the pandemic I struggled being out because there was too much that was a hazard to my mental wellbeing. The outside world caused me a lot of stress and it was really hard to look after my wellbeing in such a chaotic world. I'm worried that I run the risk of going back to exactly where I was before. After being away from the city and most places that aren't nearby for so long, it's gonna be hard for me to readjust and face the outside world once again, especially if it's just as stressful as it was before. I feel like my anxiety has gotten worse each year because I haven't been able to tend to it properly. I haven't been able to find enough coping strategies in order to deal with it in a healthy way, so I'm forced to resort to avoidance which just makes it worse. I wish I didn't have to be so scared of the day of the US election, especially since I shouldn't have to worry about it, but I feel like people and the media make it my problem by stressing each other out. I hate what elections have turned into; many people these days cannot be calm, mature and level-headed about politics, so they resort to starting fights and bringing everyone down over it, turning elections into a terrifying thing that people have come to dread. I wish there were no elections because the amount of distress they cause people building up to it and after is not worth it. I fear it might be the single most stressful thing I have ever had to deal with and I literally do not know how i will be able to survive the day when it comes. What do I do??? ... View more

Sorry it took a while to reply, but yes, that's a good mentality to have. Even though I still feel sad that I don't have anything exciting happening for a little while longer, I've been making through each day by doing things to mentally occupy me and give me something to look forward to. I found this article from the charity group Song Room that I thought I'd share because it's only appropriate; it popped up in my e-mails just as we were discussing this, so it's perfect! https://www.songroom.org.au/media/latest-news/lessons-learned-through-covid-19/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2020-10-15 TSR eDM CEO Term 4&utm_content=2020-10-15 TSR eDM CEO Term 4+CID_1919d48c4bc5a8412a9142b0c51beb7d&utm_source=Campaign Monitor&utm_term=here ... View more

Oh, really? Well that doesn't give me much confidence, because I feel like I can't trust my own opinions if it's not popular enough, going back to my fear of having a "wrong" opinion that differs from the mainstream mentality. I don't think people should have to feel that way; we shouldn't have to have our thoughts molded by what the majority of people think, especially if it's negative. I feel like not enough people talk about stuff like that, and I think its a serious problem that we need to call out and encourage independent thought more. After all, people have always been fighting for freedom of speech, wouldn't this count as such? I also feel like having to hope that things get better that I have no control over makes me feel powerless because I can't do anything about it, I just have to pray that things work out. I hate having my mental wellbeing rest solely on outside factors, and it really shouldn't be that way. Political tension should not give someone so much anxiety and depression that affects their ability to cope in the world, especially if they're not even political people to begin with. Politics is a leech that sucks all the innocence and positivity out of the world. I wish it wasn't such a big part of society and we could all be able to just worry about our own personal lives and what we can control. Although every now and then, I do read some news on politics just to get me informed and sometimes it makes me feel a bit more secure. But then there's all the other times the news has made me feel absolutely terrified. And I'm going to vote in the Victoria council election to help with Victoria's recovery and protecting nature. ... View more