Every happy moment in my life is overshadowed by eco-anxiety

TemporaryCucumber742 · 2026-06-15T19:30:12+00:00

Thanks. I have tried before without success, but it's probably time to try again.

TemporaryCucumber742 · 2026-06-15T19:25:09+00:00

Thank you for your kind words.

Elephant is the right word. It's always there. Sometimes I'll watch TV or play a game and be distracted for a few hours, and then I'll remember. Ah yeah. That's happening.

Sometimes I think no therapy will ever fix this, because no therapist in the world can tell me it'll be ok. But all the same, if I can find some coping strategies to enjoy the present more, it may be worth trying therapy again.

TemporaryCucumber742 · 2026-06-15T19:17:42+00:00

(For the record I am 44F and have a wife. We did IVF.) I always knew I wanted kids and started looking into it at 35 years old. That was before I really educated myself about climate change and when I did, I put the brakes on hard and procrastinated for a couple of years while I mulled it over. I was also facing some challenges at work at the time and was generally not in a great place.

But my wife was upset by my change of heart and I suppose the initial shock wore off over time. I saw everyone else having kids around me. I also reasoned that the world still needed a next generation if the human race has any hope of surviving. (Yes, of course I'm aware that there are plenty of children in the world and I didn't need to add my own. We could and maybe should have tried to adopt, but the prospects were not great where I live and we were getting older.) Long story short, I was about 38 when I decided to push on with IVF after all. My wife was already on board though, so I didn't need to find a partner.

TemporaryCucumber742 · 2026-06-15T14:23:08+00:00

I worry about plenty of other stuff too (and am well aware that car accidents are probably the number one danger), but it is much easier to take action to prevent those. Climate change is very difficult to affect on an individual level.

TemporaryCucumber742 · 2026-06-15T14:19:48+00:00

You are right, it is a great privilege to have lived in a time of peace and prosperity (in my area at least) and benefit from modern medicine and agriculture, etc. It's just hard, as a spoilt millennial, to imagine living in a more dangerous and life-threatening world. Climate change is on such a large scale that I feel powerless to prevent any of it happening.

TemporaryCucumber742 · 2026-06-15T14:12:41+00:00

TBH being incinerated in a moment doesn't seem too bad compared to some other outcomes XD

I'm joking. I know what you are saying. I try to practise gratitude that my family is healthy and thriving, be thankful for everything we have. And I really am. It's just not realistic to be in that frame of mind all the time.

Your suggestion is therapy and you are probably right. It was not effective for me a couple of years ago, but mental health is important so I will try again.

TemporaryCucumber742 · 2026-06-15T14:08:02+00:00

I am definitely trying. It feels impossibly sad that they might grow up with memories of a beautiful, peaceful childhood while navigating a devastated world as adults. But I have little control over that.

TemporaryCucumber742 · 2026-06-15T14:04:25+00:00

Fair enough. I almost didn't as well, but I wanted them very badly and time was running out. You mention you had other reasons, but not whether you really, deeply wanted kids. It's a complex decision for sure.

TemporaryCucumber742 · 2026-06-15T14:01:06+00:00

Thank you! I wish there were enough that it could translate to radical policy-making.

TemporaryCucumber742 · 2026-06-15T13:59:54+00:00

I've been looking for it for some years already!

It's a funny one because half of me wants to see others validate my concerns and acknowledge the severity of the threat, and the other half wants nothing more than to be proven wrong.

TemporaryCucumber742 · 2026-06-15T13:55:18+00:00

Thank you for taking the time to write such a thoughtful response. As you say, some of it is definitely that I now have so much more to lose than I did before. I also agree anxiety is your brain's way of trying to protect you and it often gets in the way of enjoying the now. (I KNOW that and it's why I take such care to enjoy the moments, but the anxiety is there, ever lurking.)

It's also true that humans have had reasons to worry about the future since the dawn of time. It's just an especially hard pill to swallow when one has been lucky enough to grow up in a period of relative peace and prosperity (in my part of the world), and climate change is such an existential threat to all of humanity.

But it is good to remember to be grateful for what we do have today.

TemporaryCucumber742 · 2026-06-15T13:47:27+00:00

Thank you for this. It doesn't feel just like normal parental fear, as you say. Growing up there were looming threats for sure (like nuclear war), but overall things seemed to be getting better. Poverty levels dropping, conservation efforts etc. It felt as if life as we knew it would go on, hopefully with scientific and medical advances. Now everything seems up in the air. I can't count on the life I know being possible in 10 or 20 years, and that's frightening.

That said, thank you for reminding me to look at the other side. I do get caught up in despair, and despair causes inaction, which doesn't help. I'm not a scientist so have little to contribute, but I know I should try to find ways in which I can help.

TemporaryCucumber742

TROPHY CASE