I’ve decided, for the time being, to just completely avoid the news. And also the Facebook news feed and all other types of social media.
And you know what? I feel so much better!
Historically I had more or less followed this strategy but with the pandemic I feel back into following-up on everything.
I can see why smart, well-educated people who keep current on things are always so pessimistic! The news makes you anxious, all the time.
And Facebook just makes me angry. So many people just believe and spread the most insane, baseless crap.
But when I’m not consuming any of it… I feel great!
I’ve come to a bit of a realization, too: the news, and keeping up on current events does not improve my life literally at all. I have no control over them, but they have tremendous control over me.
I do, however, have control of many things in my life. I can focus on me and on building my business and my friends and family. And those will only lead to good things.
I’m not saying I shouldn’t ever learn about current events or anything (though I AM saying that maybe I don’t ever need the Facebook news feed…), but I think the vast majority of “content” I consume should be from books and other reputable sources that actually give the full picture instead of just fear-mongering and showing me all the idiots.
I can insulate myself from those people just by doing really, really well in my own life. Finding my own success will be the way I drown out the things I have no control over anyway.
It’s really quite amazing how quickly I started to feel less anxious and happier after avoiding the news. If I’m reading this in the future, I hope I remember that!
It’s good to be reminded of this. It really is better… I’ve more or less kept this up since I wrote it, and it helps so much. And I’ve had more time to read things like US history and other long-form pieces of information that truly make me more informed and able to make better decisions.