It’s a wonderfully perfect inverse relationship.  The world is getting better yet we feel it’s getting worse.  Need proof?

The world is getting better:

 

 

We think it’s getting worse:

 

 

Young people are even better at thinking things are getting worse:

 

 

What’s the deal?  In the past societies have made great strides.  Improvements came by leaps and bounds.  Today gains occur in much smaller increments so they don’t make for attention-grabbing headlines.  What’s more we’re too awash in information and lack appropriate filters for processing it / putting it into context.  Said another way we’re all so informed that we can’t be happy.

Even the uniformed are miserable.  They make the rest of us miserable too.  From ‘true’ stories on Facebook to talk radio conspiracy theories we spread misery like a penicillin-resistant virus.

It seems the only time we’re not miserable is when we have a unifying event – war, the Olympics, etc.  If there isn’t a singular event to bring us all together we’ll do what we’re so adept at doing – driving ourselves apart.  We simply have too much time on our hands so we find things about which to worry.

Historically it wasn’t this way.  Those people had actual problems to address.

Since we’ll never be truly happy we can at least minimize the misery.  Here are some tips:

  • Avoid the news.  Radio, local TV, 24/7 cable news, etc.  It’s amazing how easy it is to remain informed without these sources.  The upside?  Greatly diminished angst.
  • Avoid social media.  Has anything positive ever come from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc?  Your life will still be fulfilling if you miss the picture of little Timmy in his Christmas sweater.
  • Avoid negative people.  Those Facebook friends aren’t friends.  They’re virtual.  They aren’t real.  They don’t know you nor do they want to.  You don’t know them and shouldn’t want to.  Make real connections with real humans.  You’ll figure out pretty quickly who gets it.  Cultivate these relationships.  The rest are a cancer and need to be cut out before they eat away at your energy.