Self Care in a Toxic Time

If you are like me, your news feeds are overflowing with negativity. Images of angry people with torches, white sheets and hate filled signs. Long, rage lined threads of people arguing, accusing each other of the worst things and name calling. Nightmare geopolitical scenarios predicted on the news. Sometimes it feels like we can’t escape the insanity of the time we are living in. Where politics turn everyone upside down, inside out and twisted. Where hatred of all kinds, is on full display- bubbling, boiling, until it spills over into bloodshed.

We are constantly bombarded with antagonistic information. Ever notice when scrolling through, your blood pressure start to rise? Adrenaline pumping, sitting at your computer? This deluge of toxic information is not good for us. Yet we are glued to it, or at the very least, having a hard time escaping it. Many of us are deeply engaging in it, fighting online for the causes we believe in. Educating the ignorant- calling out the hateful. Defenders of our faith, culture and freedom of speech. But what happens when it gets too much?

See, human capacity is not infinite. We can only consume so much hostility before it starts to erode our happiness, inner tranquility or even mental health. As important as it is to fight the good fight, when we reach the point where it becomes detrimental to our well being, it's time to call it. Turn off the news, put down the phone, and walk away from the computer. We are not helpful to our causes, when we make ourselves sick over them. We are now neck deep in a new era, where people have access to so much information. Too much information. The hardware of our biology doesn't support this new version of existence, and we are just beginning to become aware of what it’s doing to our health and happiness.

So right now, in a time that is saturated in new fears and triggering personal and national traumatic memory of all kinds- please give yourself permission to walk away when you need to. We obviously can’t escape reality, but we can make healthy space in our daily lives to give our nervous systems a break. Unplug, check out, meditate, exercise, spend time with people that are nourishing to you. Take deep breaths. Sit in silence. Pray.

Give yourself the permission to maintain your physical and mental health. I am leaving a picture here of a pretty beach that I recently visited. At least you will have something on your news-feed that will give you pause, for a moment of peace.