Generally, I tend to stay away from the television and videos. I get most of my updates by reading articles from all sides of the political arena; left, right, center. Mostly I do this because in my past experience of the news, When I watched a lot of news I found myself becoming an emotional yo-yo.
When watching or reading a lot of news, one moment I’d be enthusiastic about the future of the world and the next moment I’d be down in the dumps, certain that the onset of Revelations from the Bible had finally arrived.
For my own sanity and to keep a level head, during 2020, except for sporadically, I stopped watching and reading the news. However, I have since had a relapse and for the last week I literally binge-watched video after video of the “news”. And came to the same conclusion I had before I spent a week of going to bed at 3am and sporting puffy eyes for the first 5 hours of my days.
The new iteration of the news is in fact, not news but rather, a series of dialogues and commentary to whip people up into a frenzy of fear, or, having already accomplished that feat, keep them there. Whether the news is liberal, conservative, democratic, republican or from the bat channel, all of it has become a narrative to instigate your emotions, one in particular. That emotion is fear. All news offers is a banquet of fear.
Fear of crime. Fear of gender. Fear of police. Fear of food. Fear of flying. Fear of politicians. Fear of people. Fear of money (or lack thereof) or fear of debt. Fear of confidence. Fear of speech. Fear of retribution. Fear of religious belief. Fear of immigrants. Fear of drugs. Fear of guns. Fear of lack of freedom. Fear of loss of country. Fear of loss of same-sex marriage. Fear of red states. Fear of blue states. Fear of meat. Fear of sugar. Fear of losing. Fear of Trump. Fear of Biden. Fear of sex. Fear of education. And so on. And so on. And so on.
And it doesn’t even stay there. If you watch any of the commercials in between the news segments, they sell you Fear of being fat. Fear of being too thin. Fear of driving the wrong car. Fear of not being healthy. Fear of not sleeping well. Fear of not getting it up. Fear of losing your hair. Fear of not being up to date. Fear of getting old. Fear of being poor. And last but most certainly NOT least, fear of dying. If, as all the commercials promise, you tell your doctor to prescribe their pill or elixir, you will not get sick and you will not die. Where’s the proof? Where is the 150 year-old who is spry, agile, plays tennis, has sex, no wrinkles, has a full head of hair, has no ailments, no financial limitations and no mental deterioration? Well, other than Queen Elizabeth that is. Oh wait…she wasn’t 150 years old.
Depending on what television station or YouTube channel you listen to, most of them will only give you a series of fears from which to choose from. That’s it. No beverages. No side dishes. No desserts.
The point that most got my attention is that ALL the channels and stations I watched had the same message; namely, that things are awry, the world is atilt and that someone or something, somewhere, is going to take away or prevent, the very thing you feel is important to you. The only way you could have solace from the chaos would be to align yourself with the person on the “tube” and take actions in concert with that person. Meaning, protest, argue, rebut, refute, judge, dislike or worse, in some instances, abhor. From there, you should take subsequent actions like punish, ostracize, retaliate, push-back.
On the advertising side, the only solution offered to the fact that you are looking and getting older and are going to die, and that the only way to avoid that is to buy this or that product or pill.
I even watched some speakers whose platforms are supposedly the unity of ALL humanity yet even their approach was to tell you what you had to be afraid of, what was being done to you and that the only way to prevent the inevitable, was to side with them. And while doing so, don’t forget to purchase from their recommended sponsors and subscribe to theirs and like channels so you can keep abreast of the latest news. And continue to be afraid.
If you go on a steady diet of sugar, you are going to get diabetes. If you live on a steady diet of fear, you are going to be afraid. All the time. And if you are going to be afraid all the time then you will be anxious, all the time. You will be stressed, all the time. Guaranteed. Whether or not you are aware that you are afraid, anxious or stressed, it will affect you.
And every time you eat from one of those media channels, you are feeding that state of being. Doing so without censure will, over time, create ominous consequences for you. It will affect the way you sleep, the way you think, the way you walk, the way your body functions, even the way you breathe. You will develop illnesses. You will develop conditions.
I am not advocating sticking your head in the sand by not reading or watching anything. I am inviting you to contemplate what other types of nutrients (meaning input) you can bring to your diet? Maybe only listening to the news 2 or 3 days a week and watching music videos of music you love on the others? Maybe going out for a walk in nature? Maybe sitting down and playing Yahtzee? Okay, forget Yahtzee. Monopoly. Trivial Pursuit. Checkers. Chess. Some game that isn’t digitized.
Schedule times away from your devices (and while you are sleeping doesn’t count). ALL of your devices. Feed your mind something other than what someone else “cooks” for you. If you get bored, find something to do. Actually have a conversation with the person sitting across the table from you.
Just like when people discover some illness or imbalance and re-introduce healthy ingredients into their diets, bring healthy ingredients into your mind’s diet. What soothes your mind? What soothes your experience of fear? What soothes your agitation? Do a taste test:
Watch something fully. Shut it off. Check-in, how do you feel? Check your heart rate. Check your stress and anxiety levels.
Now do something different that you like to do but doesn’t involve a digital device (go dancing, play sports, go for a run, go for a walk, swim, surf, spend an hour petting your cat or playing with your dog, make candles, do macrame or play Yahtzee – no wait, better yet, play Parcheesi). Do it completely. Stop. Check-In. How do you feel?
The likelihood is that you will infinitely better being “unplugged” from your devices for a little while. Well, probably not initially.
If you are a device junkie (social media, news, texts, emails, etc.), you are going to have withdrawal symptoms. And a BIG dose of FOMO – Fear of Missing Out. It may even be accompanied by an experience of acute anxiety or panic. I have a friend who, no matter what she is in the middle of, MUST answer her phone, no matter what, on the 2nd ring. Even if it’s only to tell the person calling that she is not available to talk. She is incapable of letting any call go to voicemail. Even robocalls. Which she hates. But answers anyway.
The point is, that it will take more than one try at doing something else to withdraw yourself from a steady diet of fear and anxiety. I only had one week of binging, and I noticed that when I stopped watching, for several days afterwards I constantly kept reaching for the phone to check to see if I had received any news updates. I literally had to consciously put my attention on something other than my phone in order to curb the urge to grab it.
If you want a life replete with peace, satisfaction with your own self, as you are, then make a conscious effort to feed your mind with other nutrients. You might discover that though you might be getting older, your sense of self replaces your state of fear.
Tired of playing the comparison game? Do you dream of letting go of persistent negative thoughts? Would you like to discover who you really are? Join us on September 10th for my course "You and the Mirror - An Exploration". Click the link to find out more or contact me directly at roberto.lugo@apexexplorations.com .
Recommended reading: Siddhartha by Herman Hesse - available on Amazon
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