The Weight of the World is Too Much to Bear

APRIL GOUGH 2nd March 2026

JOHN EDWARDS

MAR 07 2026

THIS IS A CURATED BLOG Between two Substack users April Gough and myself John Edwards.

Below is a cry out for HELP that came from ‘April Gough’ one of my subscribers and followers ‘here’ on Substack. At the end of this article she asks a question. “I’m desperate, guys. What do you suggest?”

I start to comment and try to advise her on what to do? But I am NOT qualified to advise anyone, because I am NOT a professional. I am a retired carpenter & Joiner.

(I could knock her a shed up if she wants one!)

But what I CAN do for her, I can tell her HOW IT WAS FOR ME! and what I did to totally RECOVER from ‘THE ANXIETY STATE’ that April is finding HERSELF in.

Bellow is April’s Distress call.

Im struggling!

I’ve gotten pretty good at not letting people see that. Most people would never even guess just how much I struggle on the inside. I’m the one always cheering others on, the positive and loving one towards everyone else.

I cry a lot, and not just because I’m an empath to the extreme, but because I hurt so much inside for myself, as well as for this world.

For years, I’ve taken medication to help regulate it. Unfortunately, I’ve had to stop one of them because of the tremors it was causing in my hands, which eventually started affecting my face. Since coming off it, I have felt this shift internally.

Though I know it’s not just the medication that is causing this shift, but so many other things.

My entire life, I have struggled with mental health. I grew up in a house that from the outside looked great, but on the inside, not so much. I know it could have been worse; the stories I have heard have made the hairs on my butt curl with the horror of them. I realized that in life things can always be worse, in every single situation. I’ve also learned that in every situation things could be better as well.

Just because our problems don’t seem as intense as others’ doesn’t mean that our problems are less than others. We all face our own issues, and each issue comes with its own set of problems. Just because I may complain about something that seems like nothing to one person doesn’t mean it is nothing to me. If I could take away pain, loss, sadness, and hatred from this world, I would in a heartbeat; unfortunately, it’s just not possible.

As an empath, I have a hard time engaging in the world around me because of the awful things I see on a regular basis. Just this morning, I found out a 12-year-old died because she got hit in the head with a metal water bottle by another 12-year-old. She was hit in the head because she was sticking up for someone who was being bullied. Because of that, she will no longer be able to live her life. Because of that, her family has to live without her.

You would think with the rise in social media, the rise in suicides, and the rise in homicides, something would change. But unfortunately, things are changing alright, just for the worse, not better. No parent should have to deal with a child who killed themselves because of bullying, or the loss of a child because another person’s child killed them. If your child is bullying other people, YOU are the problem. YOU need to look in the mirror and ask yourself why your kid is a bully. What are YOU doing wrong? Please come at me and tell me I’m wrong for blaming the parents of bullies, I dare you! Because I WILL take you down with your nonsense.

This world will NEVER get better unless people WAKE UP and see what is happening. Most people are too busy worrying about the stupidest things to see what’s really going on around them. How do we get people to wake up??? I’m being desperately serious when I ask this question. How do we stop this hatred and violence if all we ever get back is “well, they were hateful first, so I did it back”? Literally the most backward way of thinking there is. Why the hell were they hateful in the first place, and do you honestly think that being hateful back is going to fix anything? How, pray tell, does being hateful back fix things????

I wish there were a way that I could get a hold of every single human being on the face of this Earth and shake the hell out of them. Shake the hatred right out of them.

Please wake up, people, before it’s too late. Please be the change we so DESPERATELY need in this world. Please be the kindness and the love that we have to have before the Earth is destroyed, before we even have a chance to find another planet for humans to destroy.

My goal in this life has always been to take care of other people. But how long can one last taking care of others in a world where hatred is everywhere you look? I feel like I am a one-girl army against billions of hateful people, and it’s weighing on me so hard I feel like I am going to explode from the pressure of it all.

Social media is a double-edged sword. I use it because it’s the only way to get my words out there to the world. It’s also one of the many reasons my heart hurts so terribly.

Another question that has been swirling around in my head is how people can use other people’s kids, other people’s lives, and act like it’s their own. Gain money and “followers” by pretending to be someone else. It’s sick. Those people need so much help.

Unfortunately, mental health in this world will only continue to decline. There will never be enough mental health professionals to take care of the rise in it all. Shoot, mental health professionals struggle with their own mental health, especially trying to deal with the awfulness that is everyone else while also trying to deal with their own lives.

Something needs to change. What I’m doing is not enough; I’m only one little tiny clownfish in a sea of piranhas.

I’m desperate, guys. What do you suggest?

Now read The Comment Below, off myself; John Edwards

Hi April, I’m sorry you are feeling down at the moment, you seem to be reaching out for help in this article, which (I am not qualified to give you any medical advice.) But all your followers and subscribers comments above, are all saying the same thing, and that is: “They ALL have admiration and sympathy for you, and that ‘YOU ARE’ doing enough, it just doesn’t feel like it to YOU at the moment” I can only relate to how you are feeling by my ‘OWN’ experience of the way ‘I FELT’ when I have been in the same predicament has you are NOW.

You talk about how you are always cheering others on, in a positive and loving way and you are always caring towards everyone else.

‘I SEE YOU’ are this type of girl. Always trying to help others. You come over as a caring type of person?

But do you care for yourself, April?

There is nothing selfish about caring for yourself? How can you possibly care for others if you don’t care for yourself?

You need to be strong and mentally fit and Grow yourself a thicker skin. You need to believe in yourself a little bit more. (more about how to GROW a thicker skin later)

You can only do this if you develop the attitude of “I DON’T GIVE A SHIT!

But I know you ‘DO’ Give a Shit! (And so did I) but this is the harsh reality of it, and ‘THE MINDSET’ you NEED to enter into, to GROW a thicker skin.

You do this by training your ‘MIND GUARD WELL’ (I will come back to this ‘mind guard’ and what it is later.) I can see from what you have been saying, you have lost your job and you are self teaching your children at home? This alone, can be VERY stressful and a ‘BIG ASK’ for anyone.

You once said that losing your job was caused by how you have been over worked with this website and all your writing and stuff? (isn’t this telling you something April?) This alone could throw you over the edge and be enough to break you, especially with the lack of an income, and-as-for home teaching you kids, this can can be a HUGE ‘ASK’ in itself for anyone.

I think your MAIN problem is General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) which I suffered from for a few years when I was a director of my own business and I took on too much responsibility and work.

You have been taking on a lot lately, April, with this website, I know you said you have had it for a quite a while now, but it’s only recently that you started recruiting others onto it. That can be very stressful, especially if everyone’s an ignoramus like me. 🤪

You say you cry a lot? That’s a sign of depression!

You say you have come off one of your medications that you have been taking for years, to help regulate your anxiety because of tremors in your hands, which eventually started affecting your face since coming off it?

Did your doctor take you off this medication April? or did you take yourself off it?

You said that you found out a 12-year-old died because she got hit in the head with a metal water bottle by another 12-year-old. She was hit in the head because she was sticking up for someone who was being bullied. Because of that, she will no longer be able to live her life. Because of that, her family has to live without her.

Is this someone you knew personally April?

I totally agree with you that no parent should have to deal with a child who killed themselves because of bullying, or the loss of a child because another person’s child killed them. If your child is bullying other people, YOU are the problem.

Was YOU ever bullied April?

There is a lot of questions unanswered HERE April?

There is also lot of bad news on the TV and radio lately, especially what’s going on in the Middle East. And-what-with-Donald-Trump starting off that may have an effect on us ALL, and cause a awful lot of ‘loss of life’, then you go on by saying:

“Just because you may complain about something that seems like nothing to one person doesn’t mean it is nothing to me”

Then you make a statement that said;

“I wish there were a way that I could get hold of every single human being on the face of this Earth and Shake the hell out of them. Shake the hatred right out of them”

Why should YOU think YOU should have this responsibility, April? Taking things so personally is NOT a great Mindset to have!

I only hope that if a nuclear missile is sent over to the UK, I hope it hits me on my head. Because I wouldn’t want to be around to see the aftermath.

Then you make a statement that said:

“My goal in this life has always been to take care of other people. But how long can one last taking care of others in a world where hatred is everywhere you look? I feel like I am a one-girl army against billions of hateful people, and it’s weighing on me so hard I feel like I am going to explode from the pressure of it all”

Then you make a statement about the mental health situation?

You CANNOT take the whole world of worries on April! I can see from the title of your blog April, you ARE in-fact “Taking the weight of the world on and its getting too much to bear”

You April; are powerless to do anything about it, you NEED TO ACCEPT THIS, you need to get REAL HERE, I know how you are feeling April. I was just like you when I were your age. I used to think that I was responsible for everything that went on in the world. I thought everything was my concern, I was always problem solving, and trying to make everything right. It’s a BIG responsibility that can send you ABSOLUTELY crazy 🤪if you let it.

The trick is you DON’T LET IT! You train your ‘MIND GUARD WELL’ and grow that thicker skin. Then you WILL get that ‘I DON’T GIVE A SHIT’ attitude and mindset that you desperately need. 🤫💬”But secretly, YOU DO CARE”.

But the BEST TRICK of all you DON,T let your brain know that you care.

This is done by tricking your brain into believing that you don’t actually ‘GIVE A SHIT!’ ABOUT ANYTHING. This is done by making sure that ‘THE ADRENAL GLANDS SWITCH’ is kept permanently OFF. This makes your Skin a LOT THICKER.

What is keeping your skin ‘SO THIN’, is that the ‘ADRENAL GLANDS SWITCH’ is constantly turned ON. (The medulla releases epinephrine (Adrenaline) and norepinephrine, causing immediate “FIGHT-OR-FLIGHT” reactions.)

What is a mind guard?

A mind guard is someone that sits on a shelf at the front of your mind and sieve’s through your thoughts and filters through your thoughts and separates them. He Breathes in (inhale) all your Negative and Repetitive thoughts and sends them back out of your mouth (or nose) by your out breath (Exhale) and stores all your Positive thoughts in your brains storage department.

All this is Hypothetical of cause. BUT IT ACTUALLY DOES WORK, (I know it does, because it worked for me.)

The trick is; ALL in your breath you breathe in any negative or repetitive/intrusive thoughts that you have, and you capture them and surrounded them by your breath and then they exit by your mouth, (or your nose) with your exhale.

You can even say a mantra as you are doing it. Example: “Let it be” (on your inhale) and “Let it go” (on your exhale) I normally say “Accept” (on my inhale) “And Away” (on my exhale) it doesn’t matter what you say as long as it works for you, you can even make your own mantra up, but when you have got a mantra (and it works for you ) stick to it.

This is ONLY one coping strategy out of hundreds that I have required over the years, and they all work for me.

This all makes you grow a thicker skin, by reducing your Adrenaline and Cortisol outlet by switching your Adrenal Glands Switch OFF, which is directly next to your ‘MIND GUARD’ that’s sitting on a shelf by your minds entrance door. (The opposite to ON is OFF this a crucial to know. More about opposites later)

This-in-turn stops your brain from going into ‘SURVIVAL MODE’ so it doesn’t detect any DANGER that your mind has been sending to it, with either your Negative or Repetitive/intrusive thoughts.

The Repetitive thoughts do the MOST damage by wearing a MASSIVE GROOVE in your brain that you find impossible to escape from, we call this worrying. Worrying is another type of fear that we over-react-to with resistance. Most people try to resist any type of uncomfortable sensations that develop from constant worrying.

What we resist, not only persists, but GROWS IN SIZE” because we give it IMPORTANCE and our FULL ATTENTION.

“What you pay ATTENTION to, becomes your life”

Opposites are another coping strategy skill that I have required over the years. There is always an opposite to everything in life. Example: ON/OFF, HOT/ COLD, BIG/SMALL, TALL/ SHORT, TIGHT/ LOOSE, FEAR/ LOVE, AGITATION/ CALM, WORRY/ PEACE, / LIVE/DIE ANXIETY/COURAGE. I could go on.😳

With opposites; what the one has got the other is lacking, and vice-versa. They are poles apart but one cannot live without the other’s presence.

Take electricity for example there is a LIVE wire [+] and a NEUTRAL wire {-} a Positive [+] and a Negative {-} both are poles apart but one cannot operate without the other’s presence.

Live goes out to the light bulb, Neutral takes it back to the board. You could say they are working together? But you would be wrong, just try taking the two wires and touching them together. They would expl💥de and cause a fire. 🔥

So you may be thinking ‘April’ “WTF has this got to do with me feeling crap!”

Here is where it becomes interesting, April.

What would you do if you were tightening a nut up, on a bolt by turning it CLOCKWISE, and it was hurting you?

You would do the opposite and turn it ANTI-CLOCKWISE to STOP it from hurting you. 😜💬 “Simple right?”

What would you do if you were very cold? ⛄️ and it was hurting you?

You would stand by something hot 🔥 and get warm to STOP IT from hurting you. 😜 💬“Simple right?”

What would you do if you were constantly worrying and your Adrenal Glands Switch was left ON?

You would STOP worrying and turn the Adrenal Glands Switch OFF. (But this one is NOT so easy to do.)

What would you do if you were VERY FAT?

You would reduce your intake of food & drink to make you thin again, right?

But the majority of people CANNOT see this! They spend millions of dollars every year paying weight watchers, to tell them to do just THE OPPOSITE to what they have been doing WRONG, and that is stuffing their faces with tones of burgers and coke.

WTF are they thinking of?

It’s NOT ROCKET SCIENCE if things are not working for you in your life STOP!

Then do the OPPOSITE to whatever you were doing WRONG, to make it RIGHT!

(No more no less) This is no more apparent than it is with ‘THE ANXIETY STATE’ if you are [Resisting] or [Running Away] from your fears, worries or panic attacks, and they get WORSE. Do the OPPOSITE and go {Towards Them} and {Face Them}, because the OPPOSITE to [Resisting] and [Running away] which are both [Negative reactions] is {Going Towards Them} and {Facing Them} which are both {Positive} reactions.

ANXIETY IS OPPOSITE TO COURAGE so you are reversing-the-tables and changing the way you are thinking. You have changed your MINDSET and your attitude to the situation. You start to LOVE life once more because LOVE is the OPPOSITE to FEAR.

If you have plenty of love in your life there is no room for any fear. You are no longer AGITATED because CALM is the OPPOSITE to AGITATION. It is such a simple solution, but people can’t GET IT, they continue to PLOD ON suffering all their lives resisting and fighting and struggling their way through all their problems, trying to sort the world out of all the misery and suffer, listening to the news and watching all the wars taking place on TV.

I stopped listening to the news years ago, why put yourself through it? Why do WE NEED to know about a coach crash that’s happened in the remote regions of china? WTF can we do about it? Don’t get me wrong here! April, (I’m not totally insensitive) I know how terrible it is for the ones on the coach and close families involved, but why on earth should we want to know about it? We can’t do anything about it. All it does is makes you sad or depressed all day after. If Donald Trump chooses to be a ‘war monger’ and start WW3 and Iran drop a nuclear bomb on America, so be it YOU; April, can’t do a DAMN THING about it!

When we lived in our mud huts or caves when we were primitives, we didn’t even know what was going on in the next village, never mind in the remote regions of Frigging China.

Our minds are not BIG enough to take all THIS CRAP in. We are just a tiny little spec sitting on a massive planet travelling through the Milky Way at 67,000 mph. If you practice Acceptance on a daily basis, this WILL put all this into perspective.

Conclusion to what you should do, April.

Face your fears NEVER resist “what you resist, not only persists, but GROWS IN SIZE”

Accept all sensations and emotions, and ride through them, let them be there. Even ‘welcome them’ so you can learn to ignore them (if that makes any sense to you)😳

Do the OPPOSITE to what you have been doing WRONG, to make it right again.

Do not pay attention to your thoughts, “What you pay ATTENTION to, becomes your life” Do NOT always believe what your thoughts are telling you. 90% of our thoughts are FALSE, this IS a scientific fact.

Breathe in “LET IT BE”←🗯👹

Breathe out “LET IT GO”→………………………………………………………………………..🗯👹

Don’t try and take the W🌎RLD 🌍N. If the people don’t wake up, let them sleep😴 😴April, let the W🌍RLD take Y🌏U 🌍N.👩

ACCEPT everything that comes to you in your daily routine. Stop! Think vertically (RESET) then carry on, carrying on regardless.

It’s nice to be IMPORTANT, April, but its also IMPORTANT to be nice, as ‘YOU ARE’.

Whatever you do DON’T search for reassurance either, nobody knows what might happen tomorrow or the next day. Reassurance is just another OBSESSION or RITUAL that is only a temporary relief from your SUFFERING and ANXIETIES.

Face what’s to come and DEAL with it, life will NEVER be easy. No one said it was going to be easy. But if you get through ‘THE ANXIETY STATE’ (as I did) you WILL come out of it ‘A LOT STRONGER’, and a BETTER person than you were before.

#How wonderful life is, now your in the world# April.

Believe in yourself and take care of yourself April, use that double- edge sword of social media to your advantage and get your words out, and reach to the people that need your wisdom, and as long as you have love in your heart it will NOT HURT so TERRIBLY. (Always remember as along as you have LOVE in your life there is no room for FEAR.)

People CAN BE hateful and hatred. This can only bring suffering to this world, you will never shake the hatred out of some people because they are EVIL. There is EVIL in this world because there is GOOD (we are back to the OPPOSITES again.) I think you are wrong in saying there isn’t a GOD because if there wasn’t a GOD there wouldn’t be a DEVIL or even GOOD or BAD and we know for sure there ‘IS’ EVIL so there Must be GOOD.

let’s all concentrate on the GOOD in this life, like we need to concentrate on the POSITIVE THOUGHTS and breathe out the Negative Thoughts.

(Same Difference Really)

“Something needs to change. What I’m doing is not enough; I’m only one little tiny clownfish in a sea of piranhas”

It’s what you pay ATTENTION to, that becomes your life.

So my answer to your question to: “I’m desperate, guys. What do you suggest?”

My answer is: What you should do April is: “Change the way you are thinking” and carry on with what you are doing. YOU ‘ARE’ DOING ENOUGH You maybe only one little tiny clownfish in a sea of piranhas but that little tiny clownfish is making a HUGE difference ‘HERE’ on SUBSTACK and to everybody that knows you. Including me. I will always be Eternally grateful for the opportunity you have given me to GET MY WORD OUT THERE on this website.

‘Ebook on Amazon Kindle’

“Acceptance” ‘Change the way you are thinking’ (Full 359 pages)

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