362 | Dread Stacking

We are holding an increasingly heavy collective weight right now. The past few years have contained what's felt like a particularly concentrated flow of dread stacking. A relentless and endless string of painful stories from situations, events, and changes happening around the world.

Stories both experienced and read, about war, disaster, and terror. Stories about the greed and ineptitude of those in positions of power. And apocalyptic stories about what's to come.

These stories are everything today, but are then replaced and seem forgotten about tomorrow. Yet while the collective viewfinder moves on, it doesn't work like that for us as individuals. These events leave a deep reaching residue. They create heartbreak, anxiety, and overwhelm. They leave us feeling inadequate, afraid, and hopeless.

There is no time to pause, breathe, and meaningfully process the stacking burden.

Anger, sadness, and anxiety are normal and natural responses to the events and stories we see on our screens. But the way we gather our news is far from normal and natural. 24/7 digital news and social feeds desperate for eye balls and attention. A constant flow of breaking information, 'expert' analysis, and the infinite online forum of ego-fuelled debate.

What is this dread stacking costing us as individuals? What is the cost to society?

Dread Stacking and Sensitivity

For highly sensitive people, dread stacking takes a heavy toll. When you naturally process things at a deep level, the quick and heavy flow of information can quickly lead to overwhelm. There just isn't the capacity to hold it all in healthy ways.

Dread stacking can leave us with this insatiable sense that we are responsible for everything and everyone. Or that everything and everyone requires our full focus.

But it's completely unsustainable to pay full attention to everything that needs it. And if we try we will become naturally desensitised and disengaged. Not by choice. But by necessity.

Perhaps parts of our own lives ("I can't carry on doing normal things while this is happening"). We might disengage from our health, our relationships, and our work, while we fix our gaze (thoughts as well as eyes) on the news.

Or we might desensitise ourselves to the world 'out there', shutting off our gaze. For a lot of people, the answer seems to be to stop paying attention.

But I wonder if this might be akin to the  support technician who, when I told him I was getting messages about an issue with my website, 'solved' it by turning off the notifications.

Unfortunately that didn't help me address the issue that was triggering the notifications.

Maybe we just need to audit our input. Are the notifications useful? Do they serve our greater vision as an individual and as a collective?

Are we intentional about our sources, and about what we do with the information that comes our way?

Are we oscillating between consumptive and creative action?

Do we have practices and routines for processing things that we can't control in ways that we can control?

Anchors

If we are the vessel, our habits, beliefs, and the stories we tell ourselves are the anchors that tether us to certain outcomes. We can be intentional about where and how we anchor, but we can also become un-intentionally anchored to places we wouldn't choose to be.

Many of us are anchored in the harbour of dread and anxious overwhelm right now. And while some people might recommend 'switching off' altogether, I'm not sure this feels viable for many of us.

So the question is, how can we remain engaged in all of life with meaning and energy?

That's what we're looking at in this week's episode,