Stopped Watching the News for Health Reasons
The last seven years of news watching has left me drained, stressed, and with a feeling of dread and unhappiness. There is so much hatred and viciousness affecting the world. Forget the so-called ‘feel good’ stories the networks throw into the mix every now and then, almost all of the news fills me with a sense of unease and guilt. Yes, you read that last feeling correctly — guilt.
I feel guilty for living a life that my husband and I worked very hard to achieve and to maintain. I am far from being a heartless person concerning human misery. My husband and I are charitable in our donations and giving of our personal time. But it seems that there is a quiet but insidious pattern — a gradual and cumulative effect — in reporting the news that is geared to make us feel guilty for living a life that is not fraught with misery.
The news is on a constant loop. Repetition of a story during the day has a way of staying with us especially if the story contains disturbing images. It’s the loop of these images, sent into your brain over and over again with the reported story, that affects us adversely. This repetition activates the sympathetic nervous system releasing cortisol and adrenaline; what scientists call the stress hormones. We can quickly become fatigued, anxious, and depressed.
Before having my first book traditionally published and beginning to writing novels full-time, I was a free-lance journalist for the Huffington Post, the San Francisco Examiner, and other news outlets. I covered breaking news stories and politics at one point and tried to be as fair and accurate as possible. It is the same with journalists today; both fairness and accuracy is what they are striving for in their reports. The problem isn’t that they only report doom and gloom, the problem is that we somehow get the misguided impression that it is wrong to enjoy our lives, no matter how hard won it has been or what has been sacrificed to achieve it. As long as there are sorrow and pain in the world and others are suffering, personal happiness shouldn’t be possible.
I have had people tell me that while there is a war in Ukraine and immigrants are being denied access to a country already overburdened by homelessness we should put our own happiness on hold.
“No one should be happy or enjoy their lives while others are in such dire straits. How can you be happy while others are miserable? Look at what’s happening in the world. Don’t you watch the news?”
I want to answer, “Ah, yes, I do watch the news but it is now affecting my emotional and physical health. For my own sake, I have to turn it off.”
After suffering months of guilt over how I live my life, I have made the decision that in order to move forward in happiness and peace, the once daily pleasure of having coffee while watching the news in the early morning has to stop. I’ll drink my coffee while listening to music or an Alexa guided meditation set instead.
My heart will always feel sad for anyone who is suffering and I will always do what I can to help in my small corner of the world. But the truth is that I need and want to be happy with my life. I want to enjoy life.
The world and the news can get along very well without me and I will feel healthier and happier away from the daily barrage.
© copyright 2023 Kristen Houghton all rights reserved.
from The Cate Lifestyle
