Lately, I have increasingly felt that the world has gone mad. Wars, dictatorships, deforestation, winning western leaders with wacky haircuts, climate issues, refugees, hunger, death, disaster after disaster…. And I feel powerless. I used to be militant, seeing silver linings everywhere and going for all the good in the world. But over the past few years, I have lost that feeling. I feel jaded and sometimes even start doubting my own beliefs, because it seems the whole world is in on all the craziness right? 

It is a question that has been on my mind a lot lately. I tend to withdraw. Let me live my own life and I focus on myself. In my opinion, a very good strategy, because you probably know ‘the circle of influence’. You have influence over your own thoughts, behaviour and choices you can make. Anything outside that circle (including all the misery in the world) you have no influence over. 

It’s not so black and white of course, for instance, I am very conscious about the environmental impact of every product I make and I choose as consciously as possible there. Within your circle of influence, you affect the big things too, of course! But on the misery of the whole world (everything in the six o’clock news so to speak) you have virtually no influence. So if I let go of that and focus on my own life, focus on how I could make the world a little nicer, the world-burnout does dissolve. Fine!