Or at least, that’s what they say. The news has been nothing to write home about (sorry, just filled with clichés here), for quite some time. However, I have never tuned in to the news more than I have starting with the run-up to this November’s election in my life that I can recall. Or at least not in recent memory. It’s been something we all have experienced – like a car accident we 
pass by – we know we shouldn’t look, yet we can’t turn away. Has it helped me any? Hard to say.
I am a firm believer in not watching – or absorbing in any manner – the news before going to bed. By and large, the news is filled with negativity and violence, and we risk taking it into our dream state. Our dreams have the very important job of helping us process our day’s events, and throwing in a dose of craziness at the last minute can’t help. I also don’t tend to watch news on TV as the snippets presented don’t begin to cover what the issues really are about, though some stations are better than others, and have less bias than some others. So yes, by and large, I read.
When I first got my iPhone, I took it with me to my morning journaling spot, along with Jazzy, my journaling companion pictured here. It was handy, and I was getting used to the idea of having it with me now that I had forsaken my cordless. Soon I discovered that I could quickly check the weather – reported from just miles away from where I live – and know how to dress for the day without booting up the Mac, or hoping that the “local weather” I heard on morning radio might also apply to me, weather recorded who knows how many miles away. And of course, I could keep my eye on the time. Here’s what I was relying on before that.
Then I realized I could tune in to my favorite calming music channels on YouTube while I journaled. Oh boy, this was just getting better and better.
Then the black day came when I realized (I knew it, but had been avoiding it) that I could also catch the news on my phone while I sat there. That was a dark day because the whole reason I journal every morning is to get crap out of my head before I embark upon my day, and now I was looking at taking in an even greater amount of crap. What’s a poor girl to do?
It’s been a challenge. There were days when I told myself I could scroll through real quick and read only the most pressing stories; days when I told myself I could do that after I was done journaling. (How counter-productive is that?) Days when I told myself I could scroll down and pick only one story. It was getting crazy – like bargaining with the devil.
Finally I had to get really no-nonsense with myself. If I couldn’t control myself from being sucked in by the news, I would have to bring the dragon back, start the music, and leave my phone on the other side of the room. I could hear it, but once settled, knew I wouldn’t get up to fetch it.
How’s that working? Pretty well, actually. I mean, no one likes being threatened, especially by your own self.
But here’s the thing I try and hold on to when I feel that compulsive newsy urge in the morning – I have been told by numerous people wiser than I over the years that I will always hear all the news that I am supposed to hear. And I have always found that to be true. And on the days when I can’t get a handle on that? I can always bring the dragon back.
Good to hear from you, Jeanne! Yes, the news balance can be difficult, especially in these times.
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It sure is, and I’m trying to get it back to a place where it used to be. I think it will be better for all of us when the craziness that generates the news calms down!
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I agree, dear Jeanne: it’s hard to balance necessary self-care with staying-informed-but-not-drowning-in-news. I’m so happy to read you’ve found a sensible method!
Isn’t journaling in the morning helpful?! I agree; It wipes the mental state clean for inspiration. Much healthier than an inundation of repeated horrors. And Jazzy as a companion is too precious. What a smoochy-face.
I do LOVE your dragon clock!
A bit on edge over this weekend’s potential for chaos, but trying to focus on next week’s inauguration and the beginning of real hope. I send you great love and thank you for this wonderful post.
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HI Kitty, Jazzy is a smoochy-face, indeed. Had not been handled much in her previous home when I adopted her, but gradually came to be a snuggle bug – just how we like them. 😊
I’ve been journaling for years – a BIG help. And I, like you (and many others) am half holding my breath until after the inauguration, hoping it doesn’t get too nuts out there. We really do need to heal as a country, and may this change of regime be the beginning we desperately need.
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Thanks for this posting, Jeanne. Recently, due to all the disturbing events, I have found the news to be even more addicting than normal. No surprise … it has caused me to feel hopeless at times. When in fact we need more than ever to feel hopeful that things will get better. Thanks to some good advice (wink, wink), I subject myself to less news these days. And am better for it 😉
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The news is horribly addicting when there’s so much craziness going on, but the funny things is, as we’ve discussed, when you dial it back, you don’t reply miss it! I’m OK with reading one good article that I can really learn something from each day – that’s actually helpful; we just need less of the media hype. Here’s to a quieter life. 😊
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Like you-I didn’t pay a lot of attention to the news and never watched TV news. We do still get newspaper as in the real thing in the morning and I could go through four or five pages in 20 minutes and be over with it. But beginning four years ago it was like watching a car wreck. It was hard to look away. However, unlike some of my friends who are glued to the TV for hours at a time, I only watch 30 minutes of news and then I turn it off. My guy makes me because I started talking back to the news out loud when it was on! Not good for my blood pressure or his. And great suggestion to make sure to not watch or read the news right before going to bed. We want 😴 sweet dreams.
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No, the news on TV is not good for our blood pressure – totally agree! Yeah – “What are you kidding me!!??” being the most common response. ☹️ One day, early in 2020, the NY Times started appearing in my Inbox – a good summary of all that was going on. But if you wanted to read more, you had to subscribe. I like you, get a “real” paper twice a week, and barely get to that, so ignored the NYT. Until they offered it for $1 week – sneaky, but smart. That’s what I do now – read at my own discretion as I work online anyway – the overall view, and then anything in particular I’m interested in. And the phone now? I scroll from time to time – maybe read a post or two, but not in the morning and not at night! Sweet dreams indeed!
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I go through phases. Sometimes I feel like I really want to watch lots of news and other times I ignore it. I don’t read the news on my phone though, I limit it to watching it on TV.
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With the election over – thankfully – the compulsion to see what bizarre thing happened next is gone, and I’m back to dipping in and out again. The one thing I do like about the phone, though, is that it offers news on different subjects from many different sources just by scrolling down. That’s kind of convenient. It’s discovered I like cooking and baking. Ha!
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Yes, yes! We can get so sucked in by our phones, the news, even the weather! I think my habit is checking email too many times. I don’t even know why. I’m rarely waiting for an important reply! Just a habit. And I click the weather app a bit too much.
Today I bought a cheap Timex watch with a timer. That’s two less reasons to carry my iPhone with me—the time and reminders. There’s also an alarm, so there’s three reasons not to take my phone everywhere. BUT, we don’t have a landline, and I still worry about my adult children, so I will keep my cell in the bedroom. I am beginning to loathe it. It is a tether.
Cute kitty! Hope you are well.
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I chose not to have e-mail on my phone because I’m at the computer working all day, and a person I’ve worked with for many years (though no longer as of recently), would e-mail over weekends and at all hours. I can choose to go on my Mac if I want to check e-mail at night or weekends, but I really didn’t want work coming in on my phone 24/7. Plus I can always check my server on the phone. It does need to be with me, though, as it is now my home and work phone … you can’t live with them and you can’t live without them!
It’s a learning process – just like the internet – how and when we want to be involved.
Thanks – she is pretty cute! 😊 Hanging in …. hope you’re well, too.
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