• Replies 17 replies
  • Subscribers 34 subscribers
  • Views 844 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

Feeling responsible for things you can’t control

Emmalephant

Hello!

So, as some of you know, I’m from Germany and tomorrow is election day. The feeling I have today is comparable to the dread I feel when I have to plan an event, where everything has to go to plan. It starts with ridiculous what-if-spiralling about different scenarios that would lead to preventing me from voting and goes up to feeling as if the weight of a nation was on my shoulders. This election is generally seen as a defining point of modern German politics and the global step to the right we’re currently witnessing is threatening to shove us into a very wrong direction. The party that worries me is already being observed by the agency for protection of the constitution, so I didn’t just come up with those fears. It has gained many voters over the years and I now feel as if it is up to me alone to change the course of politics, even though the best thing I can do right now is to just go on and vote for a democratic party. 

Does anyone else sometimes feel responsible for things that are rationally far too big for one person to carry? I know it’s ridiculous, but it is weighing me down so much right now with everything happening in the world and my own personal stuff going on.

Parents

  • It's often difficult to separate yourself from much of what is happening in the world. The rise of nationalism and isolationism is worrying.

    We can only stand for what we believe is right. You can worry about the bigger picture but when you feel like an insignificant pixel it can be overwhelming. One voice and one vote can make a difference. In politics it always seems you're voting for the lesser evil rather than something positive. In the UK I'd love to have a socially responsible government that radically improves the lives of the general population but the books have to balance, so who will end up paying for it.

    The media and weak leadership should take full responsibility for what they have either created or have allowed to thrive.

    Some sections of society seem to blindly follow what they are told irrespective of what they see around them, the MAGA movement in the States being the prime example.

  • in reply to Hergé

    Luckily there are several parties that, in my opinion, do stand for something positive or at least for the concept of something positive rather than just being the lesser evil. But it can easily feel like this because nothing has been really changing for the better recently. It is nice to hear that I’m not actually being ridiculous by feeling this way.

    Do you (or someone else) have advice on how to catch a break from this feeling of responsibility from time to time?

Reply
  • in reply to Hergé

    Luckily there are several parties that, in my opinion, do stand for something positive or at least for the concept of something positive rather than just being the lesser evil. But it can easily feel like this because nothing has been really changing for the better recently. It is nice to hear that I’m not actually being ridiculous by feeling this way.

    Do you (or someone else) have advice on how to catch a break from this feeling of responsibility from time to time?

Children
  • in reply to Emmalephant

    You're lucky in that you feel you have several parties who stand for something positive, I don't feel that here in the UK, all options feel bad and that an election is a choice between bad and worse, I would love to vote positively for someone, not as a desperate attempt to keep the worst at bay.

    What I find terrible is that many of those who are of a more populist/right wing persausion, never engage with politics and political issues, never watch or listen to the news, don't even engage with it on social media. I think it a good thing that many of these people don't vote either.

    I do understand the feeling of the world being on your shoulders and there are plenty of people around who will help you feel that way, I get it from all the people who've told me Suffragettes died for me to have the right to vote and I ought to vote. Then they usually tell me I've voted for the "wrong" party, as in a small party who is never going to become the government. It's just another way of bullying and gas lighting as far as I'm concerned

    In local elections most are independents with thier own agendas and when and if you can find them and question them, a whole nasty can of worms is opened.

    I wish you luck tomorrow.

  • in reply to Emmalephant

    You can only do what you feel is right. Maybe join a group of similar minded people that have a similar goals. This could be improving your local area (environmental clean up) or something with a wider scope.