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To Fight Climate Anxiety, Do Something

Lotte Vesterli on August 17, 2022

You can do something to improve the world. It is important for your physical and mental health that you feel you make a difference.

Climate worries are on everybody’s mind here in Europe as we suffer record temperatures and our rivers dry out. A big survey of young people found 45% saying that their feelings about climate change negatively affected their daily life and functioning. Adults with traumatic experiences like bullying or other abuse often have similar feelings.

You can break this feeling and reclaim your life by doing something to fight the thing you worry about. You don’t need to save the world by yourself, but you need to make an effort. You might save energy by driving less, buying vintage clothes instead of new ones, or volunteering in a climate-related charity. When you wrap up your day before going to bed, remind yourself of a situation where you made your own effort to fight climate change.

There is a very big difference between doing nothing and doing something.

Make a donation

Lotte Vesterli on March 10, 2022

You can make a difference. When watching terrible situations like the war in Ukraine, we want to help. However, we are often overwhelmed by the options and end up doing something useless. Charities are drowning in used overcoats and donated toys that there is no way to get to Ukraine.

Unless you have personal contacts in a disaster area, donate money to an organization you already know, like your church or the International Red Cross. Money can be used for whatever is necessary, and the brave people on the ground know if the highest need is for food, medicine, shelter, or transportation.

Making a donation you know will be useful is the best way to fight your anxiety about the state of the world.

Help Someone

Lotte Vesterli on February 11, 2021

To help yourself, find someone else to help. Helping others is a deep human urge and has been with us since humans first banded together to help and protect each other. When you are able to help someone, the brain releases dopamine which is a neurotransmitter that makes you feel good.

There are many ways to helping others. If nothing comes to mind for you, simply tell yourself that you are looking for someone to help. That primes your brain to look for opportunities to contribute. Even if the pandemic prevents us from meeting in person, you can answer questions online, or shovel snow for your neighbor, or do other physical tasks that don’t require proximity.

Two kids in the US decided to show their appreciation for their local medical professionals. They went to the parking lot of a local hospital after a recent snowstorm and cleaned the snow from people’s cars. There are lots of ways to help if you look for them.

Make a Contribution

Lotte Vesterli on January 5, 2021

Before Christmas, A US policeman was called to a shop to arrest af family that hadn’t scanned all their groceries. They told him they didn’t have enough money to make a Christmas dinner for their children. He let them off with a warning, and then used his own money to purchase them a gift card so they could buy what they needed for their Christmas dinner.

Take inspiration from this story, and improve your life in 2021 by helping someone. Feeling that we make a difference is the single factor that most positively affect our image of ourselves. The effect is strongest if we can directly see the difference we make. That’s why contributing time to a homeless shelter improves your life more than donating money to an abstract cause. Find your way to make a difference.