Choosing Light Without Denial

Everywhere we look, headlines scream grief, violence and injustice. And meanwhile, ordinary life continues. We go to work. We post. We laugh. We plan dinners. But does it truly just continue? Or are we all carrying something heavier beneath the surface?

I live in a part of the world where I am, objectively, safe. I am deeply aware of that privilege. And still, the immense amount of sorrow, pain and cruelty unfolding across the globe does not leave me untouched, even from my safe corner in the Netherlands.

As I write this, I question my own words. It can feel too easy to say that something affects you when you are thousands of kilometers away, physically protected from its reality. Empathy from a distance can feel fragile, almost inadequate. And yet, feeling deeply is not a performance. It is part of being human.

Like I shared on Instagram before, staying positive and sharing positivity feels like an act of resistance in these times. How trivial can it feel to post a fashion reel with a beautiful outfit while somewhere else in the world women are being severely oppressed? The contrast can feel uncomfortable. Almost wrong.

And yet someone commented, love wins over hate. I have been holding onto that.

Perhaps choosing light is not ignorance. Perhaps it is courage.

I do not want to look away. But I also do not want to drown in despair. So I am learning to hold both awareness and softness, grief and gratitude, anger and hope.

To protect my heart and my nervous system, I have become more intentional. I limit how much news I consume. Staying informed matters, but constant exposure does not equal impact. And the growing confusion caused by AI generated fake news and manipulated content does not make navigating this reality any easier. It requires more discernment, more pauses, and more conscious choice about what I allow into my mind and energy.

Even I, the one who always says everything will be okay, sometimes pause and wonder if it really will.

And when I do, I return to something deeper than headlines. Something ancient and intuitive. A quiet inner knowing. Call it intuition. Call it feminine wisdom.

It reminds me that softness is not weakness.

That tenderness and power can coexist.

Nothing gets to make me small.

Not fear. Not hate. Not the noise of the world.

We are allowed to feel. We are allowed to care. We are allowed to create beauty anyway.

And because many of you have asked how to stay positive without becoming numb, here are a few things that help me:

1.Limit news consumption to specific moments instead of constant scrolling. Staying informed is important, but overwhelm does not equal impact.

2.Be mindful of sources, especially in a time of AI generated misinformation. Pause before reacting. Verify before sharing.

3.Focus on your circle of influence. Support women around you. Spend consciously. Use your voice where it matters.

4.Turn empathy into action, even small action. Donate. Have conversations. Volunteer. Small steps reduce helplessness.

5.Protect your nervous system. Walk outside. Breathe deeply. Move your body. Log off. Your body was not designed to process global tragedy 24 hours a day.

6.Allow beauty to exist alongside awareness. Creativity, fashion, art and joy are not shallow. They are expressions of life force.

7.Choose hope deliberately. Cynicism is easy. Hope requires strength.

Maybe this is how we keep the light alive. Not by denying darkness, but by refusing to let it define us.