When a Lot Goes Wrong at the Same Time

If everything is really not okay and you struggle to keep it together despite these temporary setbacks, then you are life juggling. According to the Boston University School of Public Health, depression rates have risen to over 32 percent: Nearly one in three Americans is dealing with it.

Has there ever been a time when more was going wrong in the world? Like it or not, it’s having an impact. And if anything more is added to the mix, it can make keeping things together even more difficult, and that’s saying a lot.

Yes, I have been swindled, lied to, and manipulated by people I have contracted with and people I have loved—and thankfully I’ve survived to tell the tale. Unfortunately, right now, I’m finding a lot to be less than happy about; it just seems like more people have their hustle on than ever before. It does make sense that if you are scared you would act defensively, but when people openly take advantage of one another that means our values are starting to crumble.

For example, our car has nearly a hundred thousand miles on it because trying to buy a new one, even for the sticker price, is next to impossible. If you want one now, the price is substantially higher with newly added fees, and ordering online isn’t really working because there aren’t any cars available. So we will have to wait. I’m grateful that my car is still running, and I’m willing to wait for the right vehicle. (We want to go electric.) Again, I can accept it, but the only person who is happy about this is my mechanic, who now charges more. I don’t think it’s going to change.

Like I said, when there is too much going on the world can feel emotionally confusing. I know a lot of people are going through much worse: Heart and cancer patients have had their care put on hold due to the pandemic, and many have died as a result. Life is harder than it was — more complicated, more expensive, and more frustrating. I feel like we are navigating in a different dimension half the time.

It’s important to get perspective. It doesn’t have to be a positive perspective, but it does need to be proactive. Having perspective is about making things better where you can, and accepting things as best you can when they don’t go the way you want. I know it sounds too simple, but for me it helps a little, though it’s still a work in progress.

The only good part about having multiple problems is that when one overshadows the others, the others seem less overwhelming. It also sets your priorities straight. There is so much you can choose to be upset about right now; maybe just putting your focus on what’s going on in your own little world is enough for you to deal with. At least for the moment, that’s the case for me.