Why So Angry?

I’ve been thinking a lot this week about the general mood of the world.

Not in a philosophical way.
In a very human one.

You can feel it just walking past people.
In the grocery store.
On the sidewalk.
In line for coffee.

There’s an edge.

A tension that feels like it’s always one small inconvenience away from boiling over.

And it’s not just the headlines…, though those don’t help.
It’s in conversations too.

Everything feels heavy.
Everything feels broken.
Everyone seems convinced we’re living in “crazy times.”

Which led me to a simple question:

Why so angry?

Not accusatory.
Not judgmental.

Just… curious.

It Didn’t Come From Nowhere

Anger doesn’t just appear.

It builds.

And when you really sit with it, it’s hard to ignore what we’re all swimming in every single day.

Constant worry.
Catastrophic headlines.
Worst-case scenarios pushed in real time.
Breaking news that’s never actually broken…, just endlessly refreshed.

All of it delivered straight into our hands.

Hourly.
By the minute.
Sometimes without us even asking.

And here’s the part we don’t talk about enough:

It’s not random.

What we search.
What we click.
What we linger on.
What we say out loud.

All of it feeds an algorithm that quietly decides what we see next.

And those algorithms?
They’re not built for our well-being.

They’re built for attention.

The Mental Diet

We’ve become incredibly conscious of what we eat.

We read labels.
We talk about ingredients.
We debate sugar, carbs, seed oils, protein, supplements.

We know…, intuitively, that what we put into our bodies affects how we feel.

But when it comes to what we put into our minds?

Anything goes.

Doom.
Outrage.
Fear.
Conflict.

All day long.

And then we wonder why we feel anxious, irritable, exhausted, or angry, even when nothing in our immediate life explains it.

That’s not weakness.
That’s biology.

You can’t consume emotional junk food all day and expect to feel calm, grounded, and hopeful.

It doesn’t work that way.

“If It Bleeds, It Leads”… But Only If You Let It

The media isn’t going to change.

That’s not cynicism…, it’s realism.

Fear gets clicks.
Outrage keeps people scrolling.
Catastrophe holds attention.

So waiting for the world to suddenly deliver calmer inputs is a losing game.

But here’s the part that matters:

We’re not powerless in this.

Just like with food, awareness creates choice.

You don’t need to be uninformed.
You don’t need to stick your head in the sand.
You don’t need to pretend bad things don’t exist.

You just don’t need to consume everything, all the time, without intention.

What You Consume Becomes You

This is the part that really matters to me.

Because what we take in doesn’t stay neutral.

It becomes:

• our mood

• our patience

• our reactions

• our energy

• the way we talk to the people we love

It shapes how we lead our families.
How we treat strangers.
How we listen..., or don’t.

And when millions of people are overfed on fear and outrage, the collective result isn’t hard to spot.

It looks like what we’re living in now.

Giving “Happy” A Chance

January doesn’t need more pressure.

It doesn’t need another list of things to fix or optimize.

But it might need a quieter reset.

Not just for the body.
Not just for productivity.
But for the mind and the soul.

Maybe this is the year we get a little more selective.

With what we click.
With what we watch.
With what we let loop in the background of our lives.

Not perfectly.
Not rigidly.

Just intentionally.

Because what you consume consistently becomes what you carry.

And what you carry shows up everywhere…., whether you realize it or not.

I don’t think people are angry because they’re bad, broken, or selfish.

I think many are angry because they’re overstimulated, undernourished emotionally, and constantly told the world is on fire.

Maybe the work this year isn’t to harden ourselves.

Maybe it’s to choose better inputs.

And see how different the year feels when we do.

We all likely entered 2026 saying the same words — Happy New Year.

Maybe this is the year we stop saying it out of habit…
and start making choices that actually give happy a chance.

P.S. If this reflection resonated, you may also find value in an earlier piece I wrote on how fear-driven headlines shape what we see…, and how much power we give them 👉 If It Bleeds It Leads – But Only If You Let It.

With Absolute Sincerity,

Ed Clementi
Founder & CEO of Inspired Fire, LLC

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