As we approach New Year’s Eve, it is natural to feel a bit of "future-anxiety." To help navigate these feelings, here is a summary of insights from Dr. Judith Mangelsdorf, a Professor of Positive Psychology, along with practical tips to help you stay resilient and hopeful for the year ahead.

1. Why Everything Feels So "Bad" Right Now

If you feel like the world is in a constant state of crisis, you aren't alone. But there is a biological reason for this feeling.

• The Negativity Bias: Our brains are hardwired from our ancestors to prioritize negative news to survive (like listening for a saber-toothed tiger).
• The Media Loop: Because of this bias, news and social media focus heavily on disasters to grab our attention.
• The Reality Check: Despite what we see online, research by Harvard Professor Steven Pinker shows that long-term data indicates the world has actually become more peaceful in many ways, with lower rates of violence and infant mortality compared to previous centuries.

2. Stay in the "Here and Now”

Dr. Mangelsdorf explains that anxiety almost always lives in the future, while grief lives in the past.

• In the present moment, most things are usually okay.
• High smartphone use often steals our attention from the present, which increases our stress levels even if our actual life circumstances haven't changed much.

3. Dr. Mangelsdorf’s 6 Tips for Mental Health

1. Prioritize Social Connections Loneliness is considered the greatest health risk—statistically more dangerous than smoking, a lack of exercise, or a poor diet combined. Being connected to others provides a vital safety net during crises.

2. Control Your Triggers Be intentional about when and why you use social media. After 30 minutes of scrolling, check in with yourself: Do you feel better or worse?

3. Stop the Comparison Social media sets unreachable goals. Instead of comparing yourself to others, compare yourself to who you were ten years ago. Look at how you have grown and practice self-empathy.

4. Practice Active Gratitude Use a gratitude journal to write down the good things in your life. This is a cognitive exercise that retrains your brain to see positive stimuli that the "negativity bias" usually ignores.

5. Feel Your Feelings (Don’t Feed Them) When you feel fear or worry, try to sit with it for a moment without making the feelings bigger.

• • • The Short Duration of Emotion: An emotion like fear usually only lasts from a few seconds to a couple of minutes if you just breathe and feel it.
    • The trouble starts when we follow "thought spirals" (e.g., "What if the climate crisis ruins everything?") which lead to paralysis and the inability to act.

6. Set "Micro-Goals" Huge goals can feel paralyzing. Break them down into tiny, manageable steps, such as signing up for a local community event. Successfully completing a small task creates an "upward spiral" that makes you feel more capable of handling the world.