I'm losing faith in the power of compounding

It's great to hear enticing news about how our money will multiply exponentially if we invest in MF's, how our life will be set and how we will have a huge retirement corpus Yada Yada ya but seeing the current trends, I definitely fear the worst sometimes

Am I just investing into the hype?

If they recommend that I just invest and forget it till retirement, what if some major world event like WW3 or another pandemic happens? Won't my portfolio tank beyond redemption?

What are your views on this?? Sound off in the comments below!