Ask HN: In these uncertain times, how do you handle anxiousness

I'm a senior freelance fullstack engineer working a day gig and an hourly side gig "just in case", clocking around 45 hours a week for ~5$k/week in a country where the average salary is 1900$ a month.

I'm paying myself a small salary compared to what I earn and I invest everything else.

Given my income and my economic situation I shouldn't feel anxious, yet I can't relax thinking every hour spent watching netflix is in a way costing me ~110$.

So when I don't have any more work for the week, I work on my hard and soft skills through certifications so I can up even more my hourly rate.

It's a never ending race, I've been playing this game since 2016, finding new ways to earn more, not because I'm passionate about it, but because I'm anxious everything could come crashing down in a couple of years and I'll need the money.

I feel like we are destroying our planet, destroying our economy, we make poor people poorer, stir political extremes, we alienate the younger generation with social medias, there is war in Europe, everything is about politics when it should be about science and people...

I've tried not caring, going to bars and restaurants and beautiful places in vacation, getting a new car, finding hobbies... but I can't pretend, I don't know how to cope anymore.

So I work, always, because I'm anxious I won't be able to provide for the people around me, my sister won't earn enough to feed her family, my mom won't be able to retire even though her work is killing her, my dad's small business will be ruined if the economy collapses...

There are problems in the world, there always have been, and there always will be. I share your subjective impression that there are more problems now than there used to be, but that's a fallacy: it just means that we're paying closer attention now than when we were younger.

The above paragraph isn't intended to assure you that all problems are trivial or can be safely ignored. Just because we survived the Cold War doesn't mean that whatever upcoming international conflicts face us will end as benignly as that one did. As they say "Past Performance Is No Guarantee of Future Results."

However, the important message is that you can live your life despite the ongoing problems in the world. You can appreciate the time with your family, a good meal, a beautiful sunset. You owe it to yourself to enjoy those things, and not take the burden of the entire world on yourself. It requires confidence to believe that you'll face future challenges when they come, not before. It requires some discipline to compartmentalize your immediate, day-to-day existence away from what we read about in the news or on Twitter, but I think it's worthwhile. Meditation may help. Talking about your feelings may help.

You can get killed by a car the moment you exist your house. So, chill out. Learn to enjoy life and time spent with those near you.

You have back up investments, so you did things to have a fail over plan. Just relax!

What has helped me is accepting that I can't control other peoples' actions. So all I can do is use my vote in elections, doing my best to avoid making things worse, and try to prepare for me and my own. If others are destroying the earth, the best I can do is try to put myself in a position where it affects me and my family as little as possible. I can't save everyone.

I can also relate to the feeling of losing money when not working. Basically I've come to terms with the fact that, yes, a day off is expensive, but it's worth it to spend time with my family and taking care of myself.

I live in my small world. I’m aware of what’s happening out there but genuinely don’t care unless it comes down to something I can change (without too much effort on my part), like voting, sponsoring a child’s education, planting trees, writing to my congressman etc. I have a lot of hobbies, a nice family, I eat very well and travel a lot. It’s a good life.