Anxiety about tragedies, end of the world and ''omens''

[luxe]

Ever since the climate change issue has been brought into light more I've been overthinking and worrying about it and many other things such as nuclear war, natural disasters and pretty dumb stuff like the earth falling out of the solar system, flying into the sun or gravity not working anymore.
It's really scary to me just stopping to think about being on a massive rock flying trough space, it makes me feel how I imagine being carsick would make someone feel except I cant really stop the earth and get off!
I know most of these things are impossible but sometimes I cant stop thinking about them and the starry night sky isn't beautiful to me anymore, it's just terrifying. I also have fears about things like school shootings (Even though there haven't been any in my country, but there has to be a first, right?) buildings collapsing while I'm in them, fires (while I'm sleeping) and being raped/killed/mugged/kidnapped when outside, and now I've started to overthink things that could be a gut feeling or bad signs for things that will happen and it's gotten ridiculous to the point where I will not go to school because I had an unrelated nightmare that could mean the roof of my school will collapse on me or a slightly creepy drawing I made last year on the exact same date will mean the world will end on said date this year.
Most of these things have only really become a problem recently (over the course of last 5 months or so) and I have no idea how to deal with it and how worried I should be because I've had short phases like this before that I got over in about a month but now I don't know what to do since its starting to affect my studies and mess with my other issues.

I see a psychologist for my social anxiety and depression but I'm not sure if I should talk to her about this, I've mentioned a few of these things before and she told me I have a ''very vivid imagination and I'm not the kind of person who should watch the news a lot'' and even though she meant no harm by it, I feel uncomfortable talking about these things to her now and I'm not comfortable confronting her about it either.

 

[Cuchculan]

Fact is nobody can say for certain when the World will end. Simple as that. Even people who study their bible will tell you that it is written in there that nobody knows an exact date. We are seeing a lot of things hapen over the past number of years. But we have to factor a few things into that. One would not be climate change in my own opinion.. The rise is these random terrorist acts by radical groups. That is something fairly new to the World. But we must ask ourselves are all these other things we are seeing also new to the World? My answer would be 'NO '. We live in an age of 24/7 news coverage and social media. Years ago if any of these same things happened we might not have heard about them. Now the second they happen they are all over social media and on the news. Giving the illusion that so much more is happening today than ever before. When really the truth is we are getting quick access to things we might not have heard about before. School shootings are not new. They have been happening for a long time now. They don't happen in every school. Even less so in some countries. Like the one you live in. Fires and earthquakes and other such things have been always happening. Since the dawn of time. They are not on the increase at all. Again we might just hear about them more these days on social media and on the news. We are hearing about things in far flung countries were once upon a time we would never have heard of anything happening in these countries. As for Nuclear war? Person who fires the first missile would be wiped out. Every country knows this. They have missiles to blow other missiles out of the sky. So let us pretend that North Korea fired a nuclear missile. Before it even left North Korea it would be blown out of the sky. Hence we hear these countries talk so much about the missiles they have and what they will do. But they never do anything. Bit like a lot of countries flexing their muscles ar each other. It will never happen. The earth is not going to fall out of the sky any day soon either. Gravity will never just stop working. When we are flooded with such things they become real to us. But they have been happening for a long time now. Only we never heard about them so much in the past. Thank you social media.

 

[MainerMikeBrown]

I don't worry about the world coming to an end during my lifetime.

And one reason is because I figure that my lifetime will last probably 80 years or so. What's the chances that the world will come to an end during those 80 years, since 80 years isn't long when you compare how long Earth has existed?

 

[Lanchparty7]

I also have these types of fears...getting worse lately. Having a particularly bad time at the moment. I have been discussing with my therapist and it hasn’t really done much so far but I am thankful he is there to listen as I have no else to talk with. My constant ”what if’s” and “worst possible scenario assumptions” have cost me so much and continue to ruin me to this day.

 

[Trying123]

Unfortunately these fears happen to me too. I try to avoid the triggers such as news reports and especially movies with superheroes trying to save the earth from destruction. My therapist challenges my thinking and fears which helps sometimes. I also try to distract myself by reading or listening to music.

 

[Lanchparty7]

I can’t deal with winter and snow, which is bad since I live in an area with some of the worst weather anywhere and tonight we are on the verge of another storm and as usual, I am not dealing well. Agree with the poster above me about avoiding news (the local news and weather people here are awful and over the top dramatic). Distractions are good too...thank goodness hockey is on tonight.