It’s no surprise that a lot of the news is negative. The world is burning (both figuratively and literally), America as a country is taking several steps back in multiple fields, war is happening in other places, and politics is getting more chaotic by the day. It’s easy and valid to be overwhelmed by all of this information, and it feels hopeless sometimes. But it’s also important to remember a few crucial things, things that can hopefully help you to watch, read, or listen to the news with a bit more peace of mind.

For example, negative news stories tend to be highlighted more by news organizations. Negative stories get more attention, and thus the news station does better. Good stories do exist, they just aren’t always being covered. It’s important to remember that the negative is being focused on by media outlets intentionally, and that it isn’t always a true reflection of the world. The world may be on fire, but it isn’t all bad; good things are still happening every day.

Additionally, these good things can be seen every single day. Small things like these happen all around us on a daily basis; people helping out their neighbors, giving each other rides to places they need to go, just small good actions like these that go a long way. But equally, there are several large scale good things that happen a lot that aren’t seen as much by people. For example, Senator Machaela Cavanaugh filibustered for weeks through strep throat and harsh opposition to attempt to stop an anti trans bill from passing in Nebraska. People like her around the world are fighting every single day in order to make sure that we can be as safe and well as possible.

It’s hard to read the news these days and not have it eat away at you just a little bit. But things are not as bad as they’re made out to be all the time; we have to remember the good things that happen every single day, not just the bad things. Keep yourself informed and read the news, but don’t let it burn you down, as hard as it can be sometimes; there is always good in the world, even if we aren’t always told that there is.