No News Is Good News

One day I woke up and "just said no" to the early morning local news that repeats its blather every 15 minutes. I "just said no" to the Today Show, which stretches 15 minutes of what may or may not fit some definition of actual news into two hours. I would find myself starting every day angry, needlessly concerned or simply confused, based on what I'd heard from these "news" sources. Then one day I realized that the quality of my life would be greatly improved if I refused to subject myself to that superfluous information stream that - in reality - has no impact on my day to day life. Believe it or not, there are alternatives to watching news while I'm getting myself ready for the day...Goodbye, Matt Lauer, hello, Jim Rockford!

I don't know about those of you who have the luxury of being uber-informed, but I have only 24 hours a day to make my life work. This bombardment of outside information was not helping me manage my life...it was confounding me! I needed to simplify...cut out the extemporaneous and focus more energy on the details of running my life and pursuing my goals. Too much of the 'global view' (and my tolerance for 'global view' is admittedly low) was needlessly complicating my day to day functioning. Exposing me to more issues to fret about, consider and know than I already have on a daily basis is just overwhelming! Once I made this adjustment to my routine, my life began to feel manageable! When I choose to educate myself or concern myself, I do that, as my life allows. I can't handle everything, right now. I haven't become narcissistic or cold-hearted or even uninformed...just more focused on the things that directly affect me and mine.

I think I have remained remarkably well-informed despite my personal moratorium on 'all things news.' I should mention that we also subscribe to no newspapers, and I don't read news on the internet, so I haven't merely substituted one media for another. (What am I, Amish or something?!) It is such a relief to be free from the burden of carrying all that useless information around in my mind all day! I have no doubt that when and if something truly worth my attention happens in the world, I will find out about it. In all my spare time I've gained by not watching television news or reading newspapers, I have learned the art of smoke signaling...

Oh, it's not only in the morning that I resent being bombarded with "news"...I am very tired at the end of my day, physically, emotionally and mentally. By bedtime, I want to be able to let it all go and call it a wrap. If I watch the local news, they are likely to tell me that the price of everything is rising, a new disease is running rampant, there are dangers lurking in my mattress, a rapist is at large, terrorists are plotting around every corner and what I thought I was eating to be healthy is probably killing me...

Good night, sleep tight...don't let the bedbugs that have infested your mattress bite...