Deliberate Unawareness for Self Care

Life is coming at us fast these days, and that leads to stress and anxiety. The solution? Deliberate Unawareness for Self Care.

I know this isn’t news to you, but the information is coming at us fast and furious these days. With that and the hyper-connected lifestyle that has become commonplace, we are more anxious than ever.

To keep from losing my GD mind, I have taken a step back. From the news, from the media, from my phone.

And let me tell you something – not knowing things have made me a much happier (and less anxious) person.

Here is how I did it, so you can too.

I keep my news intake to a minimum.

The news can be a garbage fire of everything terrible and horrifying. I like to be knowledgable citizen, but that also made a frantic, anxious mess. So I keep my news intake to a minimum.

I have been an NPR listener for years, but even the soothing voices of the hosts are not enough when talking about wars, death, and the like. That is why I have limited much of my news to NPR’s Up First and Marketplace podcasts.

I also spend far more time focusing on local politics than national news. The politics of my county and state affects me as much as whatever is happening in the White House. And I have more power to create real change locally than nationally. So I can put my time to good use.

I steer clear of most workplace/friend drama

Don’t get me wrong – I love my co-workers. Most of them, anyhow. But sometimes working in an enclosed space with the same people every day is like being in high school.  

I make an effort to stay away (and out of the drama). I do help my fellows with any work-related issues, or try to direct them to the correct person for help, but gossip dies with me.

I limit social media.

I have, over the years, unfollowed some of the more problematic family and unfriended some people that, for various reason, I didn’t want to be ‘friends’ anymore.  

A few months ago, I got a much more strategic and pretty much unfollowed everyone. Now when I log onto Facebook (on my desktop, because I deleted the app from my phone), I see only posts from a handful of close friends and family.

I have also been cleaning up my Instagram feed. I only follow feeds that make me feel good and unfollow or mute (the Insta form of unfollowing) the rest.

That’s how I did it, folks! Instead of trying to keep up with our fast-paced world, maybe a bit of deliberate unawareness is just what you need for self-care.

Now it’s your turn. What do you lean away from to save you sanity?

PS – Meditation is so worth it and four things I have done to simplify my life.

Photo by M.T ElGassier on Unsplash