This article may help: https://positivepsychology.com/circles-of-influence/

And a graphic that sums it up:

I’m just another internet rando, but looking at the same events everyone else is, I do think the masses will turn this around through solidarity. I believe: It will be before any nukes are used. It will be after long lasting climate change. But it will prevent the downfall of humanity. There will be human and natural healing. Most people will be okay.

What do I have power over to make this happen? Mostly numerous, small, interpersonal interactions.

You step outside and touch some grass. If Lemmy is starting to affect your mental health, you need to put it down.

Think about it this way, if nuclear war does happen then you ain’t gonna have much time to worry about it.

I actually think the threat of nuclear war is pretty low compared to other points in history.

Now the entire world turning into a Nazi state on the other hand

Control the controllable. This axiom also applies to most things in life.

Yeah, the heightened potential for nuclear annihilation is terrifying but there’s frankly nothing you can do to survive it. Even if you somehow lived though the bombings, there’s no corner of the globe where starvation nor irradiation would not reach. The Earth would be uninhabitable and death would be certain for most land animals.

It’s a tragic way to die and for the human race to cease to be. But it’s only death and that’s certain to happen one way or another. There are countless other ways you could die that are either within or beyond your control. Many are far more likely to happen than nuclear war. Do you fret about being killed in an accident every time you step into a car?

I know it’s a lot easier said than done but try to live in the now rather than the future. Plan for tomorrow but recognize that, unlike the present, the future is not guaranteed. Don’t take the present for granted, go do things that bring you fulfillment now because ultimately that is the only time that you have control over.

Touch some grass, go to therapy and stop watching the news.

if you find you have constant anxiety or are having intrusive thoughts or are obsessed with something and are unable to control it then please please please see a doctor or therapist if you can

there are lots of approaches and therapies you can use to train your brain to cope with anything better and have more agency and feel a happier life

You don’t, you have no direct control over world events.

You have a choice, you can either join an activist group and maybe get some comfort that you’re doing something or take a break and focus on getting the most out of life.

A global, world-ending nuclear war is still unlikely at this point.

There’s a fair few steps in between filled with horrors that we get to pass first. Such as when superpowers realise that since nobody can realistically use nukes, conventional warfare is back on the table (e.g. if China invades Taiwan and the US intervenes, will either side nuke the other’s population centers? Probably not).

Then follows the realisation that superpowers can use nuclear weapons in a conventional war, but in a more tactical way (as a little treat). Don’t bomb a city, bomb a navy, or an airfield or army base instead.

Global nuclear war would only happen if a nuclear state is threatened with total destruction. But fully destroying a state hasn’t been the playbook for some time now. Instead, take whatever peripheral stuff you want, and strategically weaken the enemy state in key areas (e.g. take out an important figurehead, like the US did with Maduro, or fund/arm insurgencies like in Syria). Let civil unrest then do the rest and topple the government for you. Then use diplomatic/economic/military pressure to sway the fledgling new government into your sphere of influence. With a bit of luck the country itself isn’t totally ravaged and can become profitable fairly soon.

A weird thing I’ve found somewhat calming is to prepare for the worst. If you think that might calm you down, look up how to make a go-bag, so that if you were to find yourself in a situation where you’d have to evacuate, be it running to a bomb shelter for a few hours or permanently leaving your area, you’d have a bag with basic survival supplies (flashlight, first aid supplies, non-perishable food, drinking water, swiss army knife if you can get one, clothing) ready to grab. I find the thought that if the worst case scenario happens, I wouldn’t be completely unprepared. Of course, this doesn’t work for everyone.

Then there’s the general things people do to cope with these feelings: talk to someone, preferably a professional, find something to give you hope. That something can be a game, a craft, a friend, good news, etc.

Nuclear War in films, like most aspects of life, is extremely over-dramatized. IF, and that’s a big If, a country launched a nuke at another, it would not mean an end to the world, or the nations involved.

Nukes are not reality-destroying devices. They will destroy a part of a city. They would destabilize life in that area, but one bomb is far from a global crisis. Your life would remain the same unless you are near the impact site.

Here is one key disaster preparation step you can take, relevant in a nuclear attack as well as storms and civil unrest: Stock up on water. Keep a few milk jugs large containers, clean them out well, and fill them with tap water; Then shut them and put them somewhere cool and out of the way. That’s the most essential disaster prep step you can do.

Edit: Milk jugs will biodegrade and may begin leaking within months. A large office cooler-type bottle is a better solution. You’ll have to buy it, but it’s a relatively small investment.

In the 80s, we had nuclear attack drills in school. In the 50s, suburbanites with a very guilty conscience built fallout shelters in their backyards.

You can die any number of ways at any time for any reason. Why fixate on one? Probably more likely to die in an automobile accident or some mundane bullshit than nuclear war.

If this is in response to the capture of Maduro specifically, then yes, you are overreacting. Trump seems to only be interested in being a bully picking on those weaker than him, which excludes nuclear powers.