Life is Hard, The World is Broken (is it?)

Life is hard/difficult, the world is in trouble...
I keep hearing things along those lines everywhere. Inspirational speakers are addressing it as people keep asking them about it since they're concerned or stressed out.

This has me thinking, what are people busy with? Why focus on negativity?
I know you get sucked into that when you follow the (social) media & news, but then, why do that?

I stopped watching/listening to the news end of 2015. Changed my life! It became so much better and peaceful, joyful!
Let's be honest, news doesn't add anything to your world and your life it only creates stress, anger, anxiety, worry. So why go there?

When I told my then-partner he reacted something like, "But then you don't know what your colleagues are talking about?"
I get that same reaction from people when I tell them I don't follow the news. It is clear people think you miss out on something and that it affects your social life.
But then, if your social life hinges on negativity, the stuff the media & news spout, you may want to revalue your social life and create another healthier one!
And if you only follow it to be able to converse with colleagues... are they worth ruining your life over?

I've gone 7,5 years without news and I'm not missing out on anything, except for a lot of stress, concern, anger etc. and I'm glad for it as I don't need that in my life!
Me knowing something awful happened somewhere in the world doesn't make that event any better. If people got hurt their hurt won't be alleviated by me knowing about it. Me suffering with them doesn't alleviate their pain. Me worrying about a war doesn't end it.
So why go there?

Gregg Braden explains it beautifully in one of his latest vids too. And one of our politicians -Thierry Baudet- also mentioned it:
The media & news are in service of politics, corporations, religion.
They don't spread news anymore like they once used to, they spread opinions. And since they're used/in service of politics, corporations, religion, these opinions are severely biased and often downright lies.
Yet people listen to this crap several times a day!?!?
Why?
If I listen to the radio because I want to hear music I get exposed to this crap 2x an hour. Meaning for some 12-16x times a day I get that lavished upon me. That's brainwashing. You're exposed to it too often so it sinks into your system, your brain (neural networks begin to fire & wire differently etc.) and all that can make you ill.
Seriously ill.
And stupid thing is, most people don't even know that. And then wonder how they got an ulcer, cancer, a heart attack etc. etc. And yes, that's what all that negativity can cause as it alters neural networks and with that your entire physical state of being.

I haven't missed out on anything during & after 7,5 yrs without news. And somehow I always come across things that ARE important. But then I do NOT listen to or watch the news, I Google it and read about it. The impact of reading is vastly different! That way I am informed about something without the emotional load and I can process it my way.

As for the war in Ukraine, I watch the animated reports by Kings & Generals on YouTube when they come out, which is approximately every fortnight.
That way I stay up to speed with what's going on there without the emotional load and bias as that channel is very neutral.

Point of all this... stop exposing yourself to all the stuff the news & media throw at you. You won't die without, your life won't fall apart. The only thing that happens is that your life and world become much much happier and joyful without all the stress and anxiety.
And don't say it doesn't cause you stress. It does. We're so used to stress we don't even notice it. Even when you watch a sport's match your heart rate goes up as we experience stress. The same happens when listening to bad negative things (news).

Why not try it for a week to see how it changes your life!?

To add to that... a couple of years ago I came across a woman who was close to panic, totally stressed out and in fear, about something that was going on at the time in the EU. She carefully followed the news so she'd know how bad it was or was going to be. She'd become a nervous wreck and she passed this on to her young children that also became stressed out.
I told her to stop watching the news for reason explained above. She resisted and argued that it'd be worse if she didn't know what was going on. Apart from that her husband watched the news at night.
So I told her, well, that's no reason YOU should watch it with him! Maybe just leave the room or do something else with headphones on while he watches the news.
She still wasn't convinced but in the end she agreed to try it for a week.
After a week she said that she'd done it, no news, and that indeed her angst & stress had gone down tremendously. She felt so much better!
Then the odd thing: she wasn't going to steer clear from the news?
Isn't that odd?

Science tells we are wired for negativity more than positivity as in a way it's related to survival of our species a long time ago. We then had to be aware of what was going around us, monitor constantly for wild animals, enemy tribes etc. etc., anything that could threaten our existence / offspring / family / community.
So it's hardwired in our brains to be on the look out for bad things which was highly functional and helpful in the olden days but now it can work against us.
It is the reason why we tend to lean towards the negative more than the positive.

AMEN.. Preach! I tuned out of the main stream news feed about a decade ago and noticed the same reduction in stress. As an empathic person, all the disfunction in the world, can really drag my spirits down. These days if I've turned the news on, it's to catch the local weather and that's about it.

Glad to hear I'm not alone

My life got a lot quieter since I've done this, as I used to always listen to the radio but then there's this 2x an hour news. Some stations even 4x an hour :/
I began switching it off or turning down the sound when commercials & news began, then more and more I began to forget to turn it back on. In the end I didn't switch on the radio at all anymore, hihi. I simply forgot. And to be honest, after missing radio for some 2 yrs, I put it back on and they were still playing the same songs???? And no, it wasn't an 'oldies' station! I couldn't believe it!

What I regularly do do, is what Abe Hicks said: use music to raise your vibration and spirits if you have any music that does that.
That made me smile as I often listened/listen to Peter Gabriel"s Secret World Live gig on YouTube and it ALWAYS lifts my spirits! It makes me dance, sing along etc. I've watched it time and again as the vibe between them is so great. Just watching that is pure joy to me. (I have a background of working with a band and singers so I have affinity with this stuff).
So that gig is what I regularly put on, no matter how many times I've seen & heard it. Always does the trick!