The world looks like it’s on fire right now.
I don’t blame you for being consumed by it. Life sure looks bad. We can’t have a global health crisis that locks us in our homes and not expect consequences.
I’m reminded of September 11th 2001. The aftermath of war took years to play out. And most don’t know, that the 2008 global financial crisis was caused by the 2001 attacks. It just took seven years for the risks to build up and nearly lead to a global meltdown.
The same is happening now with the events of 2020.
Here are a few reminders not to forget during these turbulent times.
There’s no news like bad news
The internet is driven and monetized by clicks.
Bad news gets more clicks than good news. Bad news sells. It makes media corporations and individual content creators a lot of money.
Someone asked me the other day how to go viral. I told them…
“Just tell people the end of America is coming.”
I could do it too and get rich. But I don’t because I give a damn about people’s mental health. Most, unfortunately, do not.
Unfollow bad news.
Elon Musk doesn’t care about your feelings
Yolo Elon has been busy lately.
Everywhere I turn is Elon’s overworked face. Many people feel outraged by everything he’s doing, especially the acquisition of Twitter. I don’t recommend you waste your time.
Elon can’t hear you.
He’s a rich man that can do whatever he wants. Being angry because of his grand plans gets you nowhere. If anything, it makes you a loser. If you don’t like Elon then turn him off. Simple.
Billionaires don’t care if we like them. Read that again.
Everything is temporary
Since 2020 it’s felt a bit like groundhog day.
There’s been so much craziness it’s hard to believe we survived it all. I always thought at the start I’d be stuck at home for a few weeks.
Since the beginning of this year I’ve been able to experience freedom again. Yet, the same way prisoners who get let out of jail crave to go back, I too have become a hermit crab. I don’t leave my home as much.
It can feel like these odd times will last forever. They won’t.
The world is constantly in a state of flux. Nothing stays the same. A new phase of life is always around the corner. For me it’s parenthood. For you it might be something else.
The recession will act as a reset button
…of egos, markets, and wealth.
We’re almost certainly heading to a global recession. The data is now obvious. It’ll hurt when it hits hard. Many people have been asleep at the wheel.
But recessions typically last 12-18 months and they’re gone. Recessions are the season of autumn/fall for the financial world. It’s when the dead leaves of overpriced tech companies will die off and new businesses will form to fuel the next raging bull market.
The biggest thing that gets reset is egos. The greedy become humbled. The already humble people get access to incredible life-changing opportunities because of their patience.
Loss and ruin are part of life. Humility is reborn in the process.
Things aren’t so bad
If you have a home and a job then things aren’t so bad.
In our quest to achieve fame, riches, and status we easily lose sight of what we already have.
We don’t need much to be happy. We just think we do. It’s an illusion, a fantasy. Wake up from this nightmare by being a little more grateful. No need to do some woo-woo gratitude practice either.
Just write down every so often what you do have. Take note of the small things in life. That’s how you turn what looks bad into good times again.
There’s still a lot humanity hasn’t done
For example most of us live on earth.
Only a handful of people at any one time are up in space on various missions. As the years and decades progress, more of us will live in space. Earth will potentially become one of many planets we inhabit.
If this doesn’t give you hope then I don’t know what will. It’s the other side of the climate change debate that gets forgotten.
Even here on earth less than 80% of the ocean has been explored. Who knows what weird and wonderful creatures are lurking underwater. Maybe there’s an entirely new species swimming on the ocean floor that we’ve yet to shake hands with.
Bottom line: humanity is only getting started.
Don’t let this into your mind
Hope is what gets us through hard times. It’s all we have.
It’s easy to sound smart and use the current events as evidence for the end of the world.
The truth is our biggest problems will get solved by solutions we haven’t even thought of yet. Never underestimate human ingenuity. Just because we don’t know how yet, doesn’t mean we won’t figure it out — we will.
We figured out previous wars. We figured out previous recessions. We figured out how to deal with previous controversial figures who said and did wild things.
Replace feeling off with hope. It’s all we got. It’s what drives humanity forward. Without hope we truly are screwed.
