No, it is not you - everything does feel heavier these days

Why Everything Feels Heavier Now (and What to Do With That Feeling)

There’s something I’ve been sitting with lately and it got me thinking - is it just me? Am I the only one that feels like the news cycles are a constant doom and gloom, and the last time I read the word ‘joy’ in a headline was in 2019 or something?

Before 2020, the world felt… different. Not perfect. But somehow lighter. The future felt more open. Uncertainty was there, yes—but it wasn’t pressing down on us every day. These days, I hear a quiet theme running beneath so many conversations—with clients, friends, even strangers:
“Why do I feel so heavy, anxious, or fearful—even when life seems ‘fine’ on the surface?”

And I get it. I feel it too.

We’ve lived through a global pandemic. War, climate change, economic tension, digital overwhelm. A constant stream of information telling us to stay alert, stay prepared, stay worried. The nervous system—yours, mine, ours—has been on high alert for years now. It makes sense that our baseline feels different. It’s not just you. It’s all of us.

But here’s the thing:
We don’t have to live from that place of tension forever. We need to learn to roll with the changes as hard as it is. I do miss the days where everything felt more optimistic and more expansive. However, I have decided to acknowledge we live in tougher times but not allow it to rule my world. We read a lot about manifestation and creating our own reality. I do believe in that to an extent. Our thoughts can shape the way we see the world around us. If we wake up with pessimism every day, we start to shift our mind to see the negativity in everything. Now there is the other extreme which is just being totally disconnected with reality and living in lala land. I think we need to settle on a happy medium. We can acknowledge the world for what it is - for the horrific acts that we see happening daily in the news, and we can also decide to be the light that the world needs to become a better place again. We forget our power as individuals. Singular actions can make a difference in our own world but also in the world as a whole. As I write this, I think that even if 1 person sees this that feels less alone in the way they feel, or they feel more seen and validated I will be happy. Because we are never alone in the way we feel, in what we fear or what we are angry about. However, our brains are our friends and we just need to learn to create new pathways in there, connected to joy and not doom.

1 method - stop doom scrolling. Really

I went on a little quest to understand why are we collectively feeling more ‘meh’ these days. A 2021 MIT study analyzing over 20 years of news headlines found that the proportion of negative words has increased steadily, with a steep jump post-2020. A 2022 Pew Research report showed a marked increase in expressions of stress, fear, and uncertainty across digital media post-pandemic.

Our phones are becoming one of our biggest mental health enemies. We are all guilty of it (including me) - the need to open and close all the apps that we have, offering endless amounts of content. I realised recently, just because I watched a few videos on the Spain and Portugal blackout, I started getting targeted with content across platforms that is pure fear mongering. It is natural that our brains, post taking in all this negative information start playing scenarios. It is their job to protect us from danger, this is how we have survived through the times wild animals preyed on us after all. Nowadays there are no tigers looking at us like a scrumptious snack but there are content creators targeting us with negativity. And our brains react, ready to protect us from perceived danger, they get into an alert mode starting to build scenarios of ‘what ifs’ so we are ready. The problem with that is, so much of the content out there is just blah, blah click bait. We all know negative headlines sell times better than positivity. Research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that news articles with negative language are more likely to be shared and consumed online. This suggests that media outlets may be incentivized to produce more negative content to attract readership. During COVID we saw that - the bombastic headlines, that in some countries went absolutely wild with the language they used, getting people to fear day to day basic activities but click through rates went through the roof. We may not realise that but we are getting very affected by the content we consume. Sometimes it is very subtle but it is always there. A 2025 Pew Research survey indicates that nearly half of U.S. adults perceive public behavior as ruder compared to pre-pandemic times. Additionally, 72% believe the COVID-19 pandemic has driven the country apart rather than bringing it together.

So yes, stop doom scrolling, be accountable to yourself about the time you spend on Instagram, TikTok and Youtube. I won’t even mention X because, honestly, what are you even doing there? A study highlighted on ResearchGate found that negative news headlines are more attractive to readers and are more likely to be shared online. This negativity bias in news consumption contributes to the prevalence of negative content in digital media.

Does taking a break from social media make a difference in your outlook? Consider this study: Researchers at the Happiness Research Institute in Denmark recruited more than 1,000 Facebook users and asked half of them to stop visiting the site for a week, while the other half continued visiting Facebook as usual. 

The people who took a break for a week reported feeling better emotionally—and more satisfied with life—than the people who continued using the site. They also said their social lives and ability to concentrate had improved.

Remember that if you are not sold something on a platform, it means that you are the product, in this case your attention and clicks are.

I created A Mindful Escape to combat some of this reality, my little way of doing my part for the world and humanity. Not to offer magic fixes or bypass reality—but to create small, sacred spaces where we can pause, soften, and reconnect. Real human connection, real human discussion. Whether it’s through 1:1 coaching, retreats, or just sharing real conversations like this—I want to remind us all that it’s okay to take a breath. To unplug. To feel again. To acknowledge our feelings.

We may not be able to change the world overnight, but we can change how we meet it. Gently. Mindfully. Together.

If you’ve been carrying that heaviness too, maybe this is your reminder:
You’re not broken. You’re responding to a very real shift in the world. And there are kinder ways to move forward.

Let’s keep finding them.