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Is the world getting sadder or am I getting more emotional.

(77 Posts)
dragonfly46 Mon 21-Oct-24 11:10:27

I find these days I cry at the slightest thing. There seems to have been such a lot of sad news recently all of which have made me cry and today the anniversary of Aberfan.

Beautiful music and good news also bring tears to my eyes.

I have had bad news from various friends which has made me tearful but I expect that is because we are reaching the age when bad things happen.

I remember my Dad was often brought to tears by small things.
Has anybody else found this?

kittylester Mon 21-Oct-24 11:43:27

Oh yes, :*dragonfly*, definitely.

I avoid lots of news because I can't deal with it emotionally.

nanna8 Mon 21-Oct-24 11:43:43

I think ,as we get older, more of our friends get sick and sometimes die. It is upsetting and unsettling, especially if we were close to them. You cry as much as you want. It means you are a lovely and sensitive person and what’s the point of holding grief inside yourself ?

Allira Mon 21-Oct-24 11:44:03

No, I always have but not at the slightest thing, it's sometimes been an unexpected thing.

Some of my tears have been angry tears.

Indigo8 Mon 21-Oct-24 11:45:41

I really feel for you. I don't cry easily but I still find the world a very sad place at times and it gets me down.

The national and international news are more readily available than ever before in the past which makes it more immediate and accessible.

All in all, I don't think the world is any sadder now than it always has been, illness, death, natural disasters, war, mans inhumanity to man (and woman) seem to be with us throughout history.

Babs03 Mon 21-Oct-24 11:49:19

Yes I tear up at things quite easily, the news is always prone to reduce me to tears especially when I see children in war zones, injured or displaced and starving. Also music can do it, really can’t listen to anything by Eva Cassidy, and a bridge over troubled water by Simon and Garfunkel will reduce me to a puddle.
And any advert for a charity preventing cruelty to animals.
Well, just about anything really 😭

Sarnia Mon 21-Oct-24 11:53:42

It's strange because I have had some tough times in my life and I had to dig deep to find the determination to work through them but I never cried once.
However, watching flags waving and hearing children sing are just two of a whole list of things that make me blub.

Allira Mon 21-Oct-24 11:58:40

And any advert for a charity preventing cruelty to animals
Those RSPCA adverts 😥

Indigo I wonder what newspaper headlines and internet forums might have been like in centuries past?

nanna8 Mon 21-Oct-24 12:17:16

I have to turn off those dreadful ads about cruelty to bears. So awful that people can do that to living creatures.

Poppyred Mon 21-Oct-24 12:28:49

I’ve had a cry today as it’s another year since the Aberfan disaster. I was 11 years old and I remember my friend telling me that her brother who was at Swansea University had gone to help with the digging. It happened at 9.15am…..why not 8.15am or at night…..

I’m a very emotional person and anything to do with human cruelty to children or animals I find very upsetting and brings me to tears.

Summerfly Mon 21-Oct-24 12:40:56

Me too Dragonfly. I’m always sad. When we were younger, we were all too busy living our lives, ie. work, family, socialising. I feel I have more time to think now. I don’t venture out too often since being poorly either.
Animal cruelty, child abuse, war, are always in the news. I’m trying hard not to watch anymore. Thank goodness for music. It helps to lift my spirits.

Iam64 Mon 21-Oct-24 12:45:04

I’m another finding the news to be at times overwhelming. Many friends feel the same, we used to listen to the radio then watch ch4 news at 7pm. I’m finding the devastation and danger in the Middle East hard to keep up with. I feel hopeless partly because I can’t ’take Sides’ - not that I’m not horrified by the extent Isreal is prepared to go to
I think it’s partly my age, facing life with my bil terminally ill so soon after my husband’s death. I try to do life affirming things

Caleo Mon 21-Oct-24 12:45:12

It's sign of good health to be able to cry

Indigo8 Mon 21-Oct-24 12:57:14

I must be very unhealthy then Caleo

Calendargirl Mon 21-Oct-24 13:06:19

I think as well as we get older, we have more empathy than we did when young.

Being a parent, a grandparent, makes you think about others more.

I am sure I was very self centred when younger.

Millie22 Mon 21-Oct-24 13:44:07

I know it's been discussed endlessly but this morning we had the letter telling us we wouldn't get the winter fuel allowance and I felt really upset.

Winter is difficult enough anyway and I lost my mum six months ago so everything seems a bit more bleak than usual.

dragonfly 🤗

Luckygirl3 Mon 21-Oct-24 13:52:08

I skim the news headlines on my phone each day and ignore all entries about the Middle East. I can do nothing about it and it makes me too sad to read about it. I know it is all crap and cruelties are being perpetrated, but reading about this does noting to enhance my life or anyone else's.

Is the world getting worse? - I don't think so - think Hitler, Suez, Vietnam, tribal conflicts in Africa, etc. etc. People can be total rubbish. And that has not changed.

Mt61 Mon 21-Oct-24 14:13:08

Caleo

It's sign of good health to be able to cry

Is it? I feel like I want to cry, but so emotionally blocked, they won’t come, to me it’s a luxury to be able to cry!

Allira Mon 21-Oct-24 14:17:27

Indigo8

I must be very unhealthy then Caleo

As long as you can have a laugh you'll be ok!

Oreo Mon 21-Oct-24 14:20:27

I think it’s a getting older thing, probably to do with hormones.
Don’t worry about it but equally don’t wallow in it.

Esmay Mon 21-Oct-24 14:34:46

After the First and Second World Wars - I think that many people believed that humans would never be as cruel again .
But very sadly the human race can be horrendous .
Aberfan was a terrible accident .
Wars and ethnic cleansing sickens me .
As we get older and
perhaps in the Autumn of our lives -we tend to worry about the future of our children
and grandchildren .

DanniRae Mon 21-Oct-24 14:37:30

Oh I cry so easily.
I daren't read anything or watch anything to do with child or animal cruelty. It haunts me for days.
I know this sounds crazy but just reading this thread and writing my post has made me feel close to tears. And it has definitely got worse as I've got older sad

keepingquiet Mon 21-Oct-24 14:50:52

I cry several times a day but only for short bursts! I do like to listen to music more and watch tv less, especially the news.

When I was a teacher I frequently cried whilst reading poetry or a good novel aloud to the class. I couldn't help it and they found it quite entertaining!

I don't always feel sad though, sometimes overwhelmed by all the love and beauty I am surrounded by too!

Cry away!

sharon103 Mon 21-Oct-24 14:59:12

I hold it all in unless it's been a close family death. Mum, dad and brother.
Sobbed when we had to have our cat's put to sleep.

BlueBelle Mon 21-Oct-24 14:59:31

I m a cryer too I don’t think the world is worse just that we hear a lot more about it now, I remember crying a lot over Biafra and the famine when I was a young teen and feeling so helpless and it’s not got any better has it