Nancy Stoops and Midnight

By Nancy Stoops, M.A., M.F.T.

I believe apathy is the root cause for many of the problems in our world today.  What has happened to us and when did so many of us stop caring?  I know our world is hard and sometimes can feel like a very lonely place.  I also know that I come across many people that still believe in themselves, others and in our world.

I hate when I hear people just give up.  I hate when people just stop caring and seem to exist in a full-time pity party.  Life throws us many things that get in our way, but if we give up then we have wasted our lives.

I think we use apathy as a defense mechanism to stop feeling our pain.  I guess it’s easier to not care, than to feel pain.  I guess it makes it easier to hide from ourselves by acting like we just don’t care.  Eventually, if we are apathetic enough and for a long period of time, the people trying to help us might even start to leave us alone.  We may think this is what we really want, but I don’t think anybody truly wants that.

I look at apathy as being emotionally shut off, or wanting to show the world that you are.   We are here to live our lives to the fullest.  We are supposed to care and, yes, sometimes we can get hurt – but turning off emotionally helps nobody.

I hear a lot of people tell me they don’t care because there’s nothing they can do to make our world better.  I disagree, because as long as we still care then we will work hard to be the best we can be and to keep improving our families, communities and eventually our world!

This article was written by Nancy Stoops M.A., M.F.T.  Nancy is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist.  She has a private practice in Diamond Bar and is currently accepting new clients; she is also a motivational speaker who can inspire your employees or group members.  Nancy runs free family support groups, including a group on loss for seniors, and groups on how to manage anger. For more information about any of these services feel free to contact her at (909) 229-0727, or via email at nancyjstoops@verizon.net.  Nancy’s books, “Midnight the Therapy Dog,” and “Live, Heal and Grow,” are available at Amazon.com.