I’m done reading (and writing) doom & gloom articles.

Bevin Niemann-Cortez
5 min readDec 26, 2021

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Three years ago, I set a goal to read for at least one hour every day. I wanted to broaden my understanding of the world and what better way to do this, than to listen to diverse voices.

I’ve been reading all kind of articles. Long, short, quirky, intellectual, spiritual, deep, and dark — I’ve consumed them all. But it didn’t just end with reading, I then dove into the comments section, often adding my two cents, or discussing the content with others. With more than a few terse exchanges thrown in.

Many articles I’ve read inspired me. A few triggered memories, an old habit, or brought forth new awareness. And some led me down a path of despair, spiraling into a well of hopelessness about the world.

That’s where I find myself today.

You see, the more you read about how horrible things are, the more the algorithms show you the same type of content. It becomes a self-perpetuating cycle and quite frankly, it’s influencing my physical, mental, and emotional well-being.

If you look at my social media feeds, you might think everyone is a horrific human being, the world is going to hell in a handbasket and the human species is only minutes away from the apocalypse.

Not that we don’t have serious problems. It’s because I’m so aware of our challenges that I began reading in the first place. I thought it would be great to connect with other concerned citizens of our planet and maybe, just maybe, we could work together to develop fresh ideas, and shift the needle a tiny bit.

But what I found instead, is a toxic level of negativity. And what I discovered in myself, is the tendency to spread it just as much as everyone else.

I know the country I live in, and our world, is inequitable — on numerous fronts. I know we have big problems. People are separating themselves into different factions or doubling down on the ‘in-group’ through which they’ve always belonged.

But I rarely heard anyone offer useful solutions.

Mostly zero positivity that we can, and will, move forward. Just hopelessness, shame, anger, and finger-pointing. Look, everyone needs to release what’s pent up inside. I’m a huge proponent of emotional…

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Bevin Niemann-Cortez

Social-Emotional Healer | Sacred Space Designer | Budding Herbalist