Ignorance is bliss

'Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise' - I sometimes think it would be better for my mental health not to watch the news, especially the ten pm one just before bedtime.

The current situation between North Korea and the United States - well, the rest of the world, in truth - is particularly scary.

I haven't felt this concerned about nuclear war since the 1980s.  My generation grew up firstly with the threat of nuclear war between the USA and the USSR - vividly depicted for us in the video to Two Tribes by Frankie Goes To Hollywood - and then with the fear of AIDS.

Basically, the threat of death in one form or another, was all around us - it was just something you lived with.

But I'm guessing that there were also some kids I grew up with who didn't watch the news or read the papers - these were very much pre-internet days - so were probably blissfully unaware and just carried on through life reading The Dandy or The Beano, watching Scooby Doo and riding their Raleigh Grifters etc.  In some ways, I wish I was one of them.

Of course we did have terrorism in the 1970s and 80s - these were the days of the IRA bombing campaigns - but I don't think it felt as scary then as it does now with the ongoing terror threat we are facing.

But before I depress everybody too much, I think this is when we need to remind ourselves of the good things in our lives.  I've taken to mentally listing at least three good things that have happened each day before I go to sleep.

It doesn't have to be big things - one day for example I listed the fact that I'd bought myself some loose leaf tea and a tea strainer so I could enjoy an 'old-fashioned' cup of tea.

I find that this helps me, perhaps it will help somebody reading this too - and I can also highly recommend loose leaf tea!