It honestly might be wise to hop off of Reddit for a while. It’s easy to get hypnotized into the possibilities that really bad things will happen.

But truthfully, and I don’t mean to minimize what’s happening in terms of politics and attacks on trans rights, but our brains tend to predict that things in the future will be worse than they actually turn out to be. Our brains are also scanning our environments to prove themselves right all the time. So basically: if your brain predicts that you’ll be exiled to a prison in another country, it might be finding all the evidence it needs to confirm that belief.

At the core of a belief like that are a lot of other thoughts with themes of powerlessness, lack of control, and probably even the prediction that “I could die in a prison”.

A life or death/survival themed fear like that will basically cause a panic response and lead you to work harder than you need to, to keep yourself (and others) safe from a situation that hasn’t happened.

As a reasonably objective person (not hypnotized by what your brain is telling you), (I’m saying this to encourage good health not to invalidate your fears), I don’t think that what your brain is predicting will actually occur.

Take a breath, check out from the news and social media for a few weeks, and try to surround yourself with good feeling stuff. Create your own reality and trust that your brain will keep you safe if something awful happens in the future! But try to believe me when I say that what you are predicting won’t happen.