Caring Too Much, Burning Out, and Angry at a Broken System—What Now?

[Hardkill]

I’ve been told to try to enjoy the next few years and not get consumed by 2028 or even 2026, but that advice sits on top of something more volatile: it’s not just worry and hopelessness anymore—it’s anger. I’m angry at how the political system picks its leaders, how power gets filtered, how reform feels like shouting into static, and yet I also feel small, exhausted, and stuck. I care so deeply that I’m emotionally frayed, and that caring turns into despair when the mechanisms meant to channel collective will feel rigged, opaque, and unresponsive.

I’m in this vicious feedback loop: I get angry because things are broken, I try to engage to fix or push on them, I burn out from the mismatch between what I want and what I can actually influence, and then the hopelessness deepens—making the anger bitter instead of productive. Stepping back feels like surrendering to a system that deserves the critique, but staying in feels like bleeding out emotionally.

If anyone here has navigated that triple bind—anger at systemic dysfunction, genuine care for the country, and the emotional collapse that comes from feeling powerless—what helped you redirect the anger into something sustaining instead of self-destructive? What concrete mental models, small-leverage actions, or community practices let you keep integrity without getting hollowed out?

[PurpleTree]

Do more „ spirituality“

listen to radical nonduality.

go hiking.

[Apparition of Jack]

The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced that there’s something truly deeper going on and all the rage, chaos, selfishness, greed etc we’re seeing happen on the world stage is just the external manifestation of humanity as a species having to deal with all the latent corruption and bias we haven’t yet dealt with over the last 200 years.

It’s like, prior to all this even good-hearted people more or less accepted warfare, poverty, ecological destruction, etc as “facts of life” that at best could be mitigated with good policies, but as more time goes on the more I feel even that is simply far too limited thinking.

Fundamentally, we are going through a test to see if we collectively can just genuinely see the basic humanity in everyone else and if we can put our limited ego-differences aside for the sake of union / community / love / healing / peace etc.

Why does it have to be like this? Why does there have to be so much random anger and hatred and darkness and chaos out there for us to go through this? I don’t know. I’m not one to ask things bigger than myself. But I do sincerely believe this isn’t all for nothing, that there is something better in the works, and that we can’t lose hope and faith that the way things are is the way they’ll always be. Eventually goodness and light shine through.

[Salvijus]

"Politics are a perfect place to look for someone to blame. "

Invest your energy rather on something more wholesome. 

Edited Thursday at 06:21 PM by Salvijus

[Hojo]

What can you do to change it. If the answer is nothing then stop paying attention to it. The mind will want to go back because it wants to be scared but you gotta force a change in information you are taking in. If the internet didn't exist you would be fine. You are getting angry at words that aren't really effecting you right now.

Edited Thursday at 01:47 PM by Hojo

[Rafael Thundercat]

What about acceptance that yes, is collapsing and dont even need to be seen with a bad conotation. See the history of CivilizationS, there is more collapses that we can count in one hand. Maybe we will need to see the collapse, so what. At least lets gather the lessons from it for us individualy andcollectively (depending of how much of the collective remains)

 

[zazen]

Realise it’s the system and not you who’s solely responsible for fixing things. Create your own world you can be happy within and minimise the noise from outside it. 

Found this channel which is quite good in covering the issues of our times. Oddly relaxing in how it validates and articulates the feeling of things not being “right”.

Sometimes you don’t knowing where to begin as the problems are large and out of reach, which causes that general sense of unease, disillusionment and burnout:

 

Edited Friday at 07:48 AM by zazen

[zazen]

Double posted somehow*

Edited Thursday at 09:42 PM by zazen

[MightyMind]

Maybe direct your energies towards imagining a system that reflects coherency and integrity. What would that look like? And how do we get there? 

[Joshe]

If caring diminishes your life energy, then maybe the way you’re caring is counter-productive. Maybe detach emotion from concern. 

Time to let that part of you die. Mature. 

[UnbornTao]

What is the worry accomplishing for you? You can always act without the myriad of complementary activities you believe are necessary - many of which are little more than mental masturbation.

Taking effective action is clearly not the same as pissing in the wind. But what that kind of action entails is something you need to clarify for yourself - depending on your purpose and goals. 

What do you actually want to do, and why?

What would be an intelligent way to pursue that course of action?

Which actions would yield powerful results in this case?

Edited Saturday at 01:02 PM by UnbornTao

[Wilhelm44]

21 hours ago, Hardkill said:

I’ve been told to try to enjoy the next few years and not get consumed by 2028 or even 2026, but that advice sits on top of something more volatile: it’s not just worry and hopelessness anymore—it’s anger. I’m angry at how the political system picks its leaders, how power gets filtered, how reform feels like shouting into static, and yet I also feel small, exhausted, and stuck. I care so deeply that I’m emotionally frayed, and that caring turns into despair when the mechanisms meant to channel collective will feel rigged, opaque, and unresponsive.

I’m in this vicious feedback loop: I get angry because things are broken, I try to engage to fix or push on them, I burn out from the mismatch between what I want and what I can actually influence, and then the hopelessness deepens—making the anger bitter instead of productive. Stepping back feels like surrendering to a system that deserves the critique, but staying in feels like bleeding out emotionally.

If anyone here has navigated that triple bind—anger at systemic dysfunction, genuine care for the country, and the emotional collapse that comes from feeling powerless—what helped you redirect the anger into something sustaining instead of self-destructive? What concrete mental models, small-leverage actions, or community practices let you keep integrity without getting hollowed out?

The most powerful thing you can do for the world is to find inner peace. Our triggers are perfectly designed to guide us towards just that. Anger usually masks something deeper beneath it, like grief etc. And mostly it's unprocessed stuff from childhood that's coming up to be released. A being that is at peace with itself has a tremendous effect on the collective field.

It's also an illusion to think that those with apparent power in the world actually have real power. Ultimate power is with God. There's a deeper intelligence running through this whole thing, which is always evolving towards more love, even if the logical mind can't see that right away. Trust that.

[Apparition of Jack]

Fuck humanity. Fuck this unrepentant evil. I’m sick of this shit.

and yes I know this contradicts my earlier post. I’m just fucking done with it. We deserve all the suffering we get. Evil species.

[Princess Arabia]

FEAR. Nothing to do. Has anything happened yet but you just endlessly fearing what's not there. All what if's and projections into the non-existent future. You need a comfy little home to live in to feel safe and secure. You've exhausted all lower feelings and that didn't work, now you seek for better feelings and this post is like a last resort. Won't help because the problem will still be there, YOU. 

[Basman]

If you are not in politics, then political burn out is a little nonsensical. Decouple and focus on living your life. Especially if you don't have any influence. That's what the majority does. Depolitization is the norm in first world democracies, for better and for worse.

Remember, we live in the most prosperous age in human history. Imagine the kind of sociopolitical environment just your grandparents used to live in. Hardship is the norm throughout history, but relatively we live pretty cushy lives overall. You have the opportunity to do most things that you put your mind to, including impacting politics. That kind of opportunity was much harder earned in the past. Even as things slide back slightly you have so much freedom to live according to your values. Modern society is utopic is many aspects compared to the past. 

[Basman]

The human brain has a negativity bias, because it is advantageous to survival. You want to make it a habit to rewire that tendency to worry and take your situation for granted if you want to feel more happy more often.

At the end of the day, you want to think about how the day was different and unique, what where some gains that you made, and what where you proud of yourself for today. You can generate a lot of happiness, make time feel slower and give yourself approval with just your mind. 

[Hardkill]

33 minutes ago, Basman said:

If you are not in politics, then political burn out is a little nonsensical. Decouple and focus on living your life. Especially if you don't have any influence. That's what the majority does. Depolitization is the norm in first world democracies, for better and for worse.

Remember, we live in the most prosperous age in human history. Imagine the kind of sociopolitical environment just your grandparents used to live in. Hardship is the norm throughout history, but relatively we live pretty cushy lives overall. You have the opportunity to do most things that you put your mind to, including impacting politics. That kind of opportunity was much harder earned in the past. Even as things slide back slightly you have so much freedom to live according to your values. Modern society is utopic is many aspects compared to the past. 

This prosperous age is now crashing because of Trump's damn tariff scheme and because of how much the entire system has been corrupted to such an unprecedented degree by Trump, MAGA, and the unchecked capitalist culture in our country.ch

Also, rhe OBBB is going to decimate a large part of our population. Look at the historical precedent and pattern recognition — especially in how legislation shapes democracy, civil society, and power structures over time. The lesiglation will:

• Destroy health access for tens of millions
• Shred clean energy and climate investments
• Slash social safety nets
• And embolden concentrated wealth and corporate control

This is not just a flawed policy, but a foundational threat to American well-being, fairness, and long-term stability.

This bill may be remembered not just as a political overreach, but as a catastrophic turning point—comparable in consequence to the most damaging laws ever passed. It will go down in history as being clearly the worst piece of legislation since the Fugitive Slave act of 1850 or the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.

 

Edited Friday at 09:19 PM by Hardkill

[BlueOak]

How involved in politics are you?

[Basman]

8 hours ago, Hardkill said:

This prosperous age is now crashing because of Trump's damn tariff scheme and because of how much the entire system has been corrupted to such an unprecedented degree by Trump, MAGA, and the unchecked capitalist culture in our country.ch

Also, rhe OBBB is going to decimate a large part of our population. Look at the historical precedent and pattern recognition — especially in how legislation shapes democracy, civil society, and power structures over time. The lesiglation will:

• Destroy health access for tens of millions
• Shred clean energy and climate investments
• Slash social safety nets
• And embolden concentrated wealth and corporate control

This is not just a flawed policy, but a foundational threat to American well-being, fairness, and long-term stability.

This bill may be remembered not just as a political overreach, but as a catastrophic turning point—comparable in consequence to the most damaging laws ever passed. It will go down in history as being clearly the worst piece of legislation since the Fugitive Slave act of 1850 or the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.

 

It is on you if you want to focus on that stuff or not. You can just focus on living your life and not feel most of societies backsliding. Modern society is still largely more free and fair than ever. 

 

[kguirnela]

On 7/31/2025 at 7:04 AM, Hardkill said:

I’ve been told to try to enjoy the next few years and not get consumed by 2028 or even 2026, but that advice sits on top of something more volatile: it’s not just worry and hopelessness anymore—it’s anger. I’m angry at how the political system picks its leaders, how power gets filtered, how reform feels like shouting into static, and yet I also feel small, exhausted, and stuck. I care so deeply that I’m emotionally frayed, and that caring turns into despair when the mechanisms meant to channel collective will feel rigged, opaque, and unresponsive.

I’m in this vicious feedback loop: I get angry because things are broken, I try to engage to fix or push on them, I burn out from the mismatch between what I want and what I can actually influence, and then the hopelessness deepens—making the anger bitter instead of productive. Stepping back feels like surrendering to a system that deserves the critique, but staying in feels like bleeding out emotionally.

If anyone here has navigated that triple bind—anger at systemic dysfunction, genuine care for the country, and the emotional collapse that comes from feeling powerless—what helped you redirect the anger into something sustaining instead of self-destructive? What concrete mental models, small-leverage actions, or community practices let you keep integrity without getting hollowed out?

You have to accept that most americans are stupid. If Trump gets a 3rd term then we deserve it because of stupidity, & voters already complying with Trump in advance that if a certain candidate is the nominee for 2028, I will not vote for him; *cough Gavin Newsom. Just survive, know your rights, practice how to talk to ICE if your ever confronted by them, acknowledge your regrets, & tie up loose ends

"Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. Against stupidity, we are defenseless." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer