The freedom to tune out

You don’t have to keep up with the news.

There’s no rule that says you have to watch, read, or listen to the news every single day.

I know it’s the age of information. I know they say information is power. I know it’s good to be informed.

Until, of course, it’s not.

It’s not good when the things you are reading eat away at your joy and gratitude and zest for life to the point that it affects your mental health.

You don’t owe anyone total awareness of what’s going on in the world.

I am talking about this now because I’ve been grappling with this myself.

I like to know what’s going on. But, lately, I don’t like how that makes me feel.

So, I’ve been taking a break from current events. It started gradually. First, I deleted most of my news apps first. Then, recently, I deleted them all. First, I unsubscribed from most news newsletters. Then, recently, I unsubscribed from them all.

I don’t want to bury my head in the sand and pretend that everything is okay in the world. But I also don’t want to have the events in the big world affect every moment of my personal “little” world.

I say this humbly. I recognize that I write this from a place of great privilege. I am privileged to not be living the atrocities I read about. Those people don’t have the option to take a break from the horrors for the sake of their mental health. I’m privileged to not be directly affected by most of it.

Because of that, I sometimes feel guilty when I take a break from the news, when I close myself off to the madness.

I want to help. I want to do what I can to make the world a better place.

Yet, I also know that, to effect any change, I need to be doing so from a good place. What good am I if I’m cowed and crippled by the things I’m reading about in the news?

As they say, you can’t pour from an empty cup.

So, I’m taking a break. I’m not pretending the world is not continuing to turn. I’m not pretending that all is well. But I’m not immersing myself in the details every day, either. I don’t know for how long I will take this break but I know I’m permitting myself to step back from it all for a bit.

And I want you to know that you can give yourself permission to do the same.

Warmly,

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Every post you read here is written by me (not by A.I.).