Get free from the tyranny of being current
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“If it doesn’t serve a purpose, you can give yourself permission to let it go.” – The Minimalists
Get free from the tyranny of being current
Many of us are slaves to the news, to the need to keep updated with what’s happening in the world, in our business niche, with our friends.
We are info junkies in some way: we watch TV news all the time, or entertainment news, or keep up with lots of blogs, or our RSS feed reader, or Twitter (X), Instagram, or email, or one of the many news aggregator sites.
It consumes much of our day, and creates a kind of anxiety we’re barely aware of, this need to keep up.
What is this need based on? Why can’t we get free of it?
Actually, we can get free. I’ve done it in my life, to a large extent. Let’s examine the two questions.
What is this need based on?
In short: fear.
If we really think about it, we’re not gaining much by keeping up with all this info. How is it adding to our lives? How is it helping us to create, to live happy lives, to do what’s most important to us, to spend time with our loved ones? If anything, it takes away from these things.
Let me repeat that point: this obsession with keeping up with information takes away from the things that are most important to us.
But we try to keep up because we’re afraid:
we might miss something important, and seem ignorant
we might miss out on an opportunity
we might not see something bad that we need to respond to
something bad might happen to us if we aren’t informed
These fears seem reasonable, until we test them. Then we can see that they’re not really grounded in anything other than societal norms, and a “need” created by media corporations and similar companies.
How to break free
Two ways: 1) examine each fear individually, and 2) test them.
When we shine a light on our fears, they lose power. When we test them to see their validity, they will usually fail, and we can overcome them.
The next step is to actually test the fears. Do this by tuning out of the news or whatever info you try to keep up with, for one day. Then see if any of your fears came true.
If not, feel free to read the news you want, peruse the websites you follow. Then try a second test of two days — see what happens. Keep repeating this, but extending the test, until you can go a couple weeks without staying up to date. Then see if your fears are true.
Testing will show you facts. You’ll see if something bad happens, or if you appear ignorant, or if you miss out on big opportunities. You’ll also see whether you are freer to live the life you want.
Words by Leo Babauta
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Love this and extremely insightful. Nice to know I’m not alone in this sort of mindset
Well said I'm new here