Since the Thai football club were rescued from the caves, there hasn't been a positive news story to warm the cockles of my cold, shrivelled heart.
Instead I have been bombarded with angst-ridden articles on the breaking up of Prime Minister Theresa May's cabinet as a result of Brexit negotiations.
My eyes have been seared by reading stories about giant floating baby Trump blimps and hearing number 45 telling us how Brexit ought to have been done.
And, of course, there was the anxious build-up to England v Croatia, followed by the emptiness of dashed hopes, made slightly better by knowing Gareth Southgate's team was one of the best England has had in nearly 30 years.
There are protests and gatherings everywhere, it seems: anti-Trump, pro-women, pro-Brexit, anti-Brexit, I-Can't-Believe-It's-Not-Brexit, Women Against State Pensions Inequality... you name it, it's going on.
Our job is to shine a light on those elements that are still dark and murky - like the inner workings of Boris Johnson's mind - and expose them for what they are.With political wrangling inside Westminster and outside of it, you'd be forgiven for thinking nobody has a clue what's going on. And with this lack of certainty and a general feeling of ill-will, it seems we are in need of a good news story again to rally the troops, stiffen the sinews and summon the blood.
So when at the Protection Review conference in London last week, one of the delegates asked a panel - in which yours truly had been honoured and delighted to participate - whether the media should be putting out more positive news stories, I wanted to say 'yes'.
I want to hear positive stories, especially now there seems to be so much negativity.
I would like to see some heartwarming tales of all-round good-doery. Stories about advisers who, every day, make someone's financial future a lot more secure because of solid financial advice.
Tales about investment fund managers who consistently outperform their peers without charging excessive fees for doing so. Mortgage brokers securing someone a great deal and the customer walking away happy.
But as a fellow speaker pointed out, products working in the way they are meant to do is not a story. "Mortgage broker gets consumer a mortgage" is not a story. "Bus driver doesn't have an accident" - again, not a story.
This is what should happen: jobs should be done so well that no stories need to be told.
At least, not by newspapers. We're not here to praise Caesar but to bury him. Our job is to shine a light on those elements that are still dark and murky - like the inner workings of Boris Johnson's mind - and expose them for what they are.
Sometimes this gets us criticism; sometimes it brings us praise. But at all times, it should inform and enlighten.
That said, in defence of journalism, it is worth repeating a good news story from the industry. At the Protection Review conference we heard from the chief executive of the Children's Heart Foundation, who told of one unsung bunch of everyday heroes.
A colleague at a financial services firm had a baby diagnosed with a serious heart condition. He had used up all his annual leave on hospital visits and spending time with his child, and risked having to take many more days of unpaid leave.
Hearing this, his colleagues all gave up one of their days of paid holiday, and transferred these to his allowance, so that he could continue to take paid leave to care for his sick child.
Now if every single person in the financial services industry - in government - in any organisation in the world all had that sort of selfless mentality, we journalists would be out of a job but we'd also be a damn lot happier.
simoney.kyriakou@ft.com
