Lately I have had bouts of anxiety ignited by the medias relentless coverage of unsavory and frightening aspects the world. I don't do stressed and anxious well. It manifests in physical ailments and I eat like a wildwoman.
So I cut the media off at it's base. Facebook. I've been away for a few weeks at a time lately...and that's felt awesome. Initially it was difficult but it's been about two months of long term hiatus and I've never felt more blissful. Not blissfully ignorant. I'm still very aware of the sick, and sad things happening...but I don't have propaganda to scroll through on the way to seeing pictures of my friends babies. And I don't have people fighting about opinions. And I don't need to feel bad about posting things that people feel bad reading (It's called opening your mind. Yes GMOS are in everything you probably eat unless you eat like me. I don't care if that's obnoxious. You can eat all the poison you want...it's your choice. And I can share all the information about how sick GMO's makes the people who eat them. That's my choice.) But I digress.
Sporadically I hop onto twitter but it's not my favorite medium. I think for what I'm looking for instagram and texting works best.
I do believe it is important to pay attention to what is happening on our planet- being mindful, informed so you can make choices that are conducive to making this a great place for us all to live, being aware of societal changes and needs...I also believe that our media has a proclivity to induce fear, and keep you sucking at the teat for their fear juice.
Because this warped and disturbing information is addictive. It makes you feel like you can learn something real and empowering and ultimately you just feel worse; but one would stay latched on in hopes of that moment where they can feel better. Or they enjoy fear porn and the herky jerky adrenaline and cortisol stress rush.
I for one do not. I feel overwhelmed, powerless and quite frankly it makes me want to buy a boat and just set out for the sea. Can I move to Fiji? Or perhaps Antarctica. For a place so inhospitable it seems like it'd be the best place to live if you want peace.
My point is more and more I feel myself tuning off of social media, the internet and television. I've been working on art projects and enjoying being fully engaged with my son and my surroundings.
It's not easy all the time. Especially when people are posting some really funny memes and FML status updates because Starbucks ran out of sugar free Pumpkin Spice Lattes. ( That was sarcasm. I am really quite fine not hearing about everyone's every waking thought and experience...and equally happy not sharing mine.)
For the people who are in my life, it is for a reason. Most of them have been there since before the dawn of social media.
I feel like I've never been more aware now that I've distanced myself from my 658 friends.
And the anxiety is still there from time to time. But it's more easily dispelled when I can dive into a project, or live in the moment, or just step away and think about what my instinct is telling me.
Ultimately I think that there are a lot of terrible things going on around the world, and it is important to keep an eye on them. But it's also important to keep an eye/ear and finger on the pulse of the moment you are in. Getting inundated with what ifs and speculation will make you feel unnecessarily bad. And that stress will eat at you.
And ain't nobody got time for that.
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