Is it just me, or do others feel this too?

I agree Urmstongran. Putin means to crush Ukraine.

paddyanne if thugs bashed their way into your house with sticks and threatened to beat up your family I’m sure as eggs are eggs you’d defend them by fighting back. If this were to happen you would know by that stage there’d be no point in talking it over.

I agree with the feeling of being overwhelmed by global news events. The 24/7 access to media and news fuels the worries. I noticed during the very first lockdown in March 2020 I became obsessed with numbers, data and statistics - fretting over the pandemic and becoming frightened of people. I spoke with a friend, over the phone obviously, and she recommended I reduced my media access to help with the anxiety. It worked. There's so much to worry about thesedays and it can really affect your mental health.

It’s a simple fact of life that no one can talk to Putin.

Of course its wishful thing Urm but surely there must be a better way than killing innocents .

I urge you all to read Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari.

From the bottom of my heart, I wish there were paddyanne.

Completely the same as you @Rameses. Anyone who brings a child into the world now is bonkers imo!

I agree with the OP. So many are struggling in Ukraine or on the move to find a safe place to live as are many other countries. It puts in context out problems at home with the cost of living raising and covid etc. we should all be thinking that if we have a roof over our heads food to eat, we are lucky.
I’m a bit of an escapist and bury my head in a book most days. As others I fear for my granddaughters future

I have always taken notice of world affairs even when a child. My father probably had a great deal to do with it as he was keenly interested and would discuss the news with anyone who would listen-often me, although as I grew older we often disagreed! I find geopolitics fascinating and am a keen reader. However, I finally found my ongoing great passion about fifteen years ago which is Russian history. The parallels from the past which run with what is unfolding so terribly before our eyes today are all too evident. It has made me realise that the world and human life has always been precarious. We in the UK, blessedly an island, have been insulated a great deal from the tragedies that have unfolded in Europe, let alone the rest of the world. We have not been invaded or conquered in recent times. We have not been forced to leave our homes as refugees in a foreign land. We have not seen our country overrun with enemy soldiers or our every major city flattened, our children murdered, our women brutalised. We are very fortunate. It is said that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it, which seems applicable right now. Sometimes I admit that I do feel we will tear ourselves apart, especially when I have seen such awful things on TV; war, famine, genocide and the devilish creation and proliferation of unimaginable weapons of destruction. We can only hope that, having teetered at the brink, future generations will be wiser and kinder than we are. And meanwhile, although we must condemn the evils around us now, and they will have a profound and ongoing effect on us, we perhaps should also try to live our lives in humility, gratitude and tolerance. To paraphrase EM Forster “Love may not save the world but tolerance just might”. If only world leaders embraced that thought!

The rest of the World is balancing on a fine line as far as Ukraine is concerned. If they go too far it will just give Putin an excuse to do something worse. He can say he was defending his country and its possible other non NATO countries would side with him. That would certainly cause even more concern.

I could have written your post myself. I live in the U.S. and after the 2016 election I started watching all the television news programs and took a serious interest in politics as I was afraid that our democracy was crumbling. After the 2020 election I just stopped. It had all become too stressful and frustrating and it was affecting me in negative ways. I started watching again when the war in Ukraine began, but I still steer clear of politics. Too many dishonest people talking nonsense and too many ignorant followers. I’m much happier now.

I'm the same! I think I've got more reflective as I've got older. I'm sociable but an introvert. I can't bear watching the news live.

I check the news on my phone a few times a day. I can then decide what to read or not.

I do voluntary work mainly from home as I'm disabled though mobile. I expect those I volunteer with doesn't help as I work with people with chaotic loves.

Here the cases of the children killed this year, like Arthur and Star, have really affected me.

Worldwide obviously Ukraine. The last 6 years especially the world has been in so much chaos.

Brexit, Trump, populist governments, Covid19 and now Ukraine I just feel really resigned and sad (in the old fashioned way) to life not changing. I see it as the same vicious circle. In the words of Solomon "there is nothing new under the sun"

The story changes by the generation but nothing else. Man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands weep.

This hit home to me as far back as 9/11. I was pregnant at the time with my one and only child A very late in life baby after a few miscarriages but that’s another story for another time.
As I watched the aeroplanes crashing into the trade centre buildings I can remember experiencing a feeling of such dread that for an instant I regretted being pregnant wondering what kind of a world was I bringing my child into because I realised very prophetically at the time that the world as we knew it had gone and nothing was ever going to be the same again!