Protecting Your Mind: Part 1

CABLE NEWS

How can I boil down a 6,000 word essay into a couple of paragraphs?

Okay. Here’s my absolute condensed version on this topic. Ready?

And before I begin, let me be abundantly clear – this is my humble opinion. I’m sure all readers will have their own experiences and opinions as they read this post.

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For decades, I use to bounce down the stairs, pour a cuppa coffee, and robotically watch cable news for an hour. Every….day….without….fail. Even on vacations and on business trips, I faithfully filled my brain with the morning’s headlines.

No more. Rarely, if ever – do I watch cable news. Why, you ask?

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A quick story:

My husband and I were traveling on a business trip. We were listening to our favorite cable news television show on the radio.

So no, we couldn’t see the great-looking outfits worn by the anchor and by the parade of guests. No distractions. All of our attention was solely on the spoken word.

“You know what makes me mad?”

“I really resent (fill in the blank)!”

“………….is to blame for ………..”

“Americans should be worried if (fill in the blank) will be elected.”

Of course, I’m paraphrasing because I can’t remember verbatim. But you get the point. After miles and miles in the car and hours and hours of listening to soliloquy after soliloquy from hosts and guests, I made a decision to break my addiction to cable news.

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The next morning in the hotel, I didn’t pour my cuppa coffee and mindlessly tune into the news.

Who needs to start each glorious day with this hyperbolic word attack?

Do we really need a highly paid news anchor (and their guests) to tell us on a daily basis:

Who to hate.

Who to blame.

What to fear.

No thank you.

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A relative recently snarked, “Oh, I know you can’t handle cable news anymore, but if you did, you would have seen this unbelievable story about……….”. [It was a grossly tragic story.]

I snapped back, “Oh, but I CAN handle the news. I choose not to watch negativity. I’m fully aware bad stuff happens in this country and in the world. Horrendous things have happened in my life which I had no control over. But when given the choice and when I do have control – I choose to focus my days on anything and everything positive and optimistic.”

That relative did not respond – even though we were sitting just a few feet apart.

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SELF-CARE is a major priority for many of us after that hellish 2020 pandemic year.

One of the easiest (and inexpensive) ways to care for yourself….is to be the conscientious gatekeeper of what information enters your brain.

Sure, I still listen to the news from many different sources – in measured snippets. I no longer listen to the same news show with the same anchors spitting and spewing how great one party is and how the other party is not so great.

As a self-identified political Independent, I am repulsed by slanted journalism blaming and hating the other party – whether it’s the donkey or the elephant.

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Today my post is about being YOUR own life editor…. Being selective about the content you allow to enter your precious space between your ears.

We have the power to curate the content which we focus on each day.

Limiting the minutes of news watched and carefully selecting which media is allowed to fill the days – have made a real positive impact on my life. And what is my blog about? If something is working well in my life, I’m going to share it with YOU.

Come back for Part 2. Thank you for reading My Written Thoughts. See you soon!