how am I going to be an optimist about this?

There is less than 2 weeks now til the end of my Blackpool job. Whilst this is still incredibly sad, I'm also beginning to look forwards to the time it is going to free up (temporarily til I get something else). I've already planned what I'm going to do with that extra time a million times over. One of those things is maybe go on retreat. It's all been so full-on it feels there's been no space to stop and reflect on how I am, what I'd like, what's next, what's now, what's good, what's not, what might be.

Every morning it feels like I'm waking up to yet another atrocity. In other countries that is how life has been for ages - the news everyday is of horror and fear and death and destruction - I'm aware it's only cos the news I hear is Eurocentric that my every morning hasn't been like that all my life.

How do we stay empathetic, how do we stay hopeful in these circumstances? I'm not sure I know. The good advice I've seen in the past is to look for the helpers - when there is horror, to keep alert for all those that despite that are doing good. So I will keep doing that, but I also understand the pull to just disengage with the world and with media, put my fingers in my ears and pretend this is not how things are.