Can't stop blaming myself for the world's problems

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Whenever I see poverty and genocide and such my first reaction is to think "how could I not have fixed this?" It is completely tiring and I don't want this viewpoint anymore.

it has led to depressive periods, especially in the case of republicans insulting gays since it already affects me but I have no clue how to help the fight for equal rights.

Am I just going through a period where I should be doing political activism more or is this a truly unhealthy set of thoughts?

Also, I always seem to blame myself for my inability to do things (such as a Mass Effect 2 boss, but that's perfectionism, which I have a constant war against) and how others react around me. Is this a control issue or merely a case of extreme self consciousness/guilt?

You can't do anything about it. Even the good people there often can't help matters. Just forget about it and try to move along with your own life, is my advice.

I have this mindset, too. I've been asking myself the same question: should I be more active in current affairs? How can I make anything change if I don't try? I would be interested in hearing some thoughts on this issue.

I think you need some perspective on how much power to change the world you actually do have. Basically none, just like the rest of us. You can change your own little corner of it, a little bit, sometimes, just like everybody else. I'd concentrate on that if I were you.

It's a matter of scale, being able to scale down your feelings of responsibility. It's only possibly for you to change YOU and your immediate environment - and even those are partly out of your control - your unconscious, for instance, and anything in your immediate environment that is controlled by nature or other people, or simply isn't yours.

If you just work on your own internal matters, finding ways to take personal responsibility for your moods, your frame of reference, the work or play you personally do, and putting positive intent into that, then let everyone around you take their own responsibility for their personal selves, this has a positive effect.

What happens in other countries is so far out of your control that it's simply a waste of your energy to "go" there. Unless you have a lot of money to pour into donations, or a lot of political power to use as influence, there's not a lot you can do.

We can conceivably keep worrying about the world while our own homes and selves fall apart. That's not right, and it means we're not taking responsibility for our part in the wider world. So I would suggest considering that while you worry about what's going on elsewhere you're not taking care of what you should take care of, inside you and around you.

Thank you for the responses, these are helping a lot. How does one not feel responsible though?

You are not responsible for what other people do or think. Just do what you think is right in your everyday life.

Remember that the world has been the way it is long before you existed, therefore you cannot be responsible for it. However, you can claim responsibility over your own actions and those will help shape the part of the world immediately surrounding you. There's a slogan for it: "Think globally, act locally."

Focus on what you are responsible for, your own life. It's fairly difficult to focus too intensely on more than one thing at a time.

Now I'm just suggesting the possibility, not accusing, but it's possible that you use this as an escape from responsibility for what you do control. After all, it's easy to "feel responsible" for something that isn't your responsibility, because you don't have to do anything about it. And if it makes you feel depressed - well that's a great excuse too to do nothing about your own life, isn't it?

"I'm too depressed about the world to look for a better job, or get up early, or take out the trash..."

See what I mean? But if everyone ignores their own responsibilities because the world is falling apart, the world just keeps falling apart.

It's a little tougher to be responsible for your own thoughts, actions, attitudes, work habits, creative efforts, feelings, etc.

So I'm suggesting that maybe this is a projection. You might want to read about the shadow and projections, and maybe it would give you a clue how to not feel responsible for what isn't your responsibility, and to feel more responsible for what is ... YOU and your life.

That is definitely something to give a lot of thought to. I think mostly I just expect too much out of things and feel jaded when I see the poorer side of things.

There is also always volunteer work. A lot of people get a great deal of satisfaction out of it, and there are a lot of volunteer options available today, various kinds of work, some more suited to extroverts, some to introverts, some with children, some with the elderly, the homeless, with animals, etc. It might be worth exploring.

All of the above is sage, sound advice.

On a more practical note, I've found that if I limit the amount of news coverage I expose myself to, I don't feel so bad. I usually limit myself to NPR in the car, and checking out Google News once or twice a day. If I am bored, I try and find feature pieces on things that aren't so gut wrenching. So instead of Time Magazine, maybe grab Popular Science. I've found that reading history helps too. So much awful stuff has happened all throughout human history, that the current headlines seem tame. 'Oh, 100 people killed in Syria? Well, in the 13th Century, the Mongols sacked Damascus, killed everyone, and stacked a pile of human skulls 30 feet high'. Makes Assad seem downright cuddly by comparison

Is a person delusional if he thinks he can solve all the worlds problems?

Yes, definitely! I find this necessary to maintain my sanity. The news is sensationalized and there's a lot of focus on THE BAD. I've read recently how the violent crime statistics in the US are decreasing, but you wouldn't know it to read the news, it's all so awful.

There is a lot of poverty in the world, though, and that is downplayed by the news. It's kind of a shame, too, not just for the poor, but for those here in the US who think they're poor. If they only knew how much worse it can get. I find for me that kind of news, when I see it, is a reminder of how good I have it, when I tend to think I don't. It's also good to keep in perspective what the powers that be are doing to others, to be informed, for instance, about companies that use virtual slave labor and to avoid spending my money in their direction, avoid supporting their profit off exploitation of people, the planet, etc. I try to be a sort of passive activist in that way, with where I spend my money.

It's all perspective, scale. Focusing on my own life and locale can even make me a little nuts about what I want to change. But I do what I can. Last year it was stray cat and kitten rescue - not going out to some organization to do it but taking care of an obvious problem right in my back yard.

A little activism is a good thing - I think that most people should be more active in at least communicating with their government representatives (just don't expect much, they're more likely to tell you how they're going to vote than listen to how you think they should) or doing something to make their neighborhoods a little better. Are there elderly people nearby who could stand someone checking in and just visiting now and then? My spouse is really good at that - he's more extroverted than I am.

In the end there's not a lot I can do to control others, and should I even try? I mean, what do I know about how others should behave? So I've come to realize my best work is on myself. There I have the most control, and the most likelihood of success, and I really do think that what each of us IS has an impact on everyone else, if only to an infinitesimal degree. But if I somehow as a role model influence my neighbor and they influence someone else, and that person influences someone else, then perhaps, just perhaps, what good I do with my life, even just being as harmless as possible, or not being wasteful of resources, does have farther reaching effects than I realize. But even without influence, just doing what I think is best inside me, inside my home, in my interactions with those near me, makes me feel I'm more a part of the solution than the problem.

That's really all I can expect, and I work at letting it be enough for me.