GLOBAL GRIEF

Feeling sad about the state of the world? DON’T BE TOO HARD ON YOURSELF, SAYS SOUGHT AFTER RESILIENCE AND MINDSET COACH VASHTI WHITFIELD. YOUR FEELS ARE VERY REAL

- BROOKE LE POER TRENCH

When did your eco-anxiety kick in? Was it when you first saw a picture of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? Heard Greta give her impassioned speech that our house is on fire? Or perhaps, like many of us, it was the sight of our own country burning that did it… and the knowledge that a billion animals were incinerated as fires raged through bushland. There were more than a few people in the ELLE office who found they were bursting into tears on the regular, feeling stressed and suffering sleepless nights. “This is a healthy and natural response to feeling overwhelmed,” says resilience and mindset coach Vashti Whitfield. “The sheer volume of information about everything from ecological catastrophes to the global refugee situation tends to create a build-up of anticipatory grief and anxiety.” And with every new piece of negative information, we experience another jolt of stress.