We can't let the news hijack our lives!
With the excessive heat (gonna be 100 in Memphis today) and the barrage of heavy news, it’s a lot to take in. It can seem like too much… and it is!
The 24-7-365 news cycle can be debilitating. There's a point at which we cross over from being informed to letting ourselves be programmed with fear, or at least wasting our precious time. We need to know what's going on, but overindulgence in news can become procrastinating from living our lives.
I have an internal mechanism that lets me know it's time to stop passively consuming, and resume the actual doing of things. People who champion causes are doers more than observers. We all need rest and a time to truly "let the field lie fallow" for a time, but too much downtime… too much passive consumption… and Champions get restless. I get disappointed in myself for squandering my time, and I get low-grade bummed out. Then I know… it's time to get back at it!
News punditry is one of the worst outlets for endless time wasting, because it's designed to play on our emotions, and to give us the false sense that we're equipping ourselves to understand the world and what's at stake. It can be that, but how much do we need to take in to be able to act?
We have to be conscious and choosy news consumers. Are we being programmed with fear and sold things we don't need? Are we being sold on an ideology that blames and demonizes others while incapacitating us? The news we consume should serve to equip and mobilize us. If we find ourselves simply gawking at the spectacle all the time, we're letting others hijack our lives and take us out of the action.
Champions cannot stay off the battlefield of life for too long. We're not designed for passivity. We have long ago torn off the blinders of seeing life as a passive ride to be endured or enjoyed as best we can. We are active users of our precious time. We are benders of the long moral arc that is slowly bending toward justice. We know that we only have so much time to make a difference in this world.
Has your enthusiasm engine been idling for too long? Hey, it happens to the best of us. Shake it off, go take a walk or bike ride without earbuds and root back into the here and now. Then get back out there! Your fellow Champions are waiting!
