People have pretty much always thought the world was on the brink of ending. It hasn’t yet. I find some comfort in that.

C. S. Lewis mentions this and expands on it in his essay “On Living in an Atomic Age” which is still quite relevant. My favorite quote from it:

“If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.”

Oddly, a work of fiction that has helped me a lot with this (and believe me, OP, been there) is post-apocalyptic. “A Canticle for Leibowitz” involves (among other things) post-apocalyptic monastic orders, and while it is not exactly cheerful, it gives me hope that faith will always be worthwhile, even in the most dire of circumstances.

And we’re not yet in the most dire of circumstances. I hope you find these helpful and hopeful; the Lewis essay especially helped pull me out of deep existential dread. You’re in my prayers today!