Ukraine. Fear or war. Please help

[MyNameIsTerry]

I can't remember exactly it was on Twitter possibly through Reuters/AP

Had It on my news feed. Russia threatens retaliation if NATO recognise Ukraine.

You are going to see a lot of sabre rattling. Have you seen a year of sabre rattling over things between us and the EU? Endless headlines about pulling out of the agreement? It's posturing. Tough talking. How often does anything actually happen?

As for Quora, got to love the "If Mike Tyson punched a silverback gorilla would he hurt it?"

[Pamplemousse]

I thought NATO had pulled back on Ukrainian membership back in 2014.

[Matthew1233]

Had It on my news feed. Russia threatens retaliation if NATO recognise Ukraine.

You are going to see a lot of sabre rattling. Have you seen a year of sabre rattling over things between us and the EU? Endless headlines about pulling out of the agreement? It's posturing. Tough talking. How often does anything actually happen?

As for Quora, got to love the "If Mike Tyson punched a silverback gorilla would he hurt it?"

I suppose 'retaliation' could mean anything but I doubt it means nuking nato

[Anxle]

You need to stop reading the news so often if it's causing you so much grief. You need to leave Twitter alone too.

Your brain is being trained it has to keep doing this to keep you safe. But keeping informed on these kind of situations won't in any way change things one way or another. In fact it's doing you active harm to keep focused on it in this way. You need to try pushing through the discomfort without checking, and showing your brain no bad will happen if you do.

[Matthew1233]

I thought NATO had pulled back on Ukrainian membership back in 2014.

Pretty sure they'll not be joining any time soon, due to boarder disputes

[Matthew1233]

You need to stop reading the news so often if it's causing you so much grief. You need to leave Twitter alone too.

Your brain is being trained it has to keep doing this to keep you safe. But keeping informed on these kind of situations won't in any way change things one way or another. In fact it's doing you active harm to keep focused on it in this way. You need to try pushing through the discomfort without checking, and showing your brain no bad will happen if you do.

I know I wish I could I just feel im missing out on the news if I don't check all the time like I need the constant updates and i actively look for bad news

[Anxle]

I know I wish I could I just feel im missing out on the news if I don't check all the time like I need the constant updates and i actively look for bad news

But why?

I'm not asking this as a criticism, but for you to think about this.

Do you enjoy reading the news? No.
Can you change anything in the news? No.
If something did happen in the news, would there be any action you had to take? No.
In the event something terrible did happen, do you think you'd not know about it because you'd left Twitter alone for a few hours to do something more fun? No.

I speak with all the respect of someone who's been through all this (and sometimes still do) but you actually do have full control over what you watch and read and your brain is telling you haven't because it's been trained to feel like it needs to do so to keep you safe. But it's just had faulty training from years of anxiety.

If you're not getting professional help for this you need to think about doing so. Because you probably felt exactly like this with Crimea in 2014, North Korea in 2017, Syria in 2019, Covid in 2020...

[Pamplemousse]

Further to Anxle's excellent post, when I used to travel abroad for work and often would be cut off from English language news for two or more months at a time, I know my mood improved greatly.

Reduced to simple terms, hypothetical worry is dominant here, rather than practical worry. Or put another way - "what if?" rather than "what do I do now?".

[Lencoboy]

But why?

I'm not asking this as a criticism, but for you to think about this.

Do you enjoy reading the news? No.
Can you change anything in the news? No.
If something did happen in the news, would there be any action you had to take? No.
In the event something terrible did happen, do you think you'd not know about it because you'd left Twitter alone for a few hours to do something more fun? No.

I speak with all the respect of someone who's been through all this (and sometimes still do) but you actually do have full control over what you watch and read and your brain is telling you haven't because it's been trained to feel like it needs to do so to keep you safe. But it's just had faulty training from years of anxiety.

If you're not getting professional help for this you need to think about doing so. Because you probably felt exactly like this with Crimea in 2014, North Korea in 2017, Syria in 2019, Covid in 2020...

And not forgetting 9/11 in 2001, the Iraq war in 2003 (and also in 1991), 7/7 in 2005, the Global Financial Crisis in 2007-12, the English city riots in August 2011, the onset of ISIS from around 2013 onwards, Ebola in 2014-15, Brexit and the election of Trump in 2016, the terrorist attacks in London and Manchester in 2017, the Salisbury poisoning incident in 2018, and many other unsettling events before, in between, and after.

I actually heard someone in Ukraine saying on the BBC (1) News this evening that he believes that the Western media are being a bit too 'alarmist' and seemingly hyping things up right now.

[Matthew1233]

But why?

I'm not asking this as a criticism, but for you to think about this.

Do you enjoy reading the news? No.
Can you change anything in the news? No.
If something did happen in the news, would there be any action you had to take? No.
In the event something terrible did happen, do you think you'd not know about it because you'd left Twitter alone for a few hours to do something more fun? No.

I speak with all the respect of someone who's been through all this (and sometimes still do) but you actually do have full control over what you watch and read and your brain is telling you haven't because it's been trained to feel like it needs to do so to keep you safe. But it's just had faulty training from years of anxiety.

If you're not getting professional help for this you need to think about doing so. Because you probably felt exactly like this with Crimea in 2014, North Korea in 2017, Syria in 2019, Covid in 2020...

It's just soooo hard when the internet is literally at my fingertips 24/7