At the best of times, life is a mixed bag. You might be exceeding your career goals, but watching the world descend into chaos. Your family might be doing well while your friends are floundering. Or you might be drowning while everyone else seems to be doing just fine.
No matter what, there’s only so much you can control. Your choices are limited to your own lifestyle. You can’t change the world, and even when you can, you have to have looked inwards first.
But what can you do that will make life more fulfilling, when the 24-hour news cycle is, honestly, insane?
There are some basic lifestyle shifts that you can make to redefine your goals and find stability even in today’s world.
1. Go Somewhere
Those who are able to stay in luxury Aspen rentals or backpack through Europe will tell you that travel changes the way you see the world. And I used to see travel as just another thing only the 1% got to do. I know how naively optimistic the advice to “go somewhere” sounds to people working two or more jobs to make ends meet. But even if you can’t get out of your state or city, there are places you can go. Places like nowhere you’ve been before.
One of the most obvious effects of globalization is that every city has started to look the same. This can be somewhat sobering if you’ve flown across the world just to end up in a McDonald’s eating a quarter pounder. But that’s the thing you learn pretty quickly – if you want interesting places and experiences, you can’t just fly far away. You need to seek them out.
Expanding your geographic horizons, even if it’s in your own town, can help the world make more sense. You start to see that people everywhere are just trying their best. That’s all that anyone in the world can do.
2. Develop Empathy
And that leads directly onto the next shift. Empathy is something everyone has (except possibly in extreme cases). But everyone seems to have a different “amount” of empathy. Some people seem to be overflowing in empathy without even trying.
What you need to know is that empathy needs to be developed. Even those who are experts at it have had to work towards it. There are naturals, but they’re rare.
Empathy refers to seeing things from someone else’s perspective. It’s incredibly difficult when all you see is that person abusing others. However, that’s when it is most effective – and necessary. Today, we find it almost impossible to understand those on the opposite side of the political spectrum. This leads to anger and despair. Anger because their beliefs seem malicious. Despair because you can’t see how they could ever change.
When you try looking at it from their perspective, you begin to see that they’re looking out for themselves and their loved ones. They’re scared and angry and feeling a similar despair. Superficial empathy is a start, but you’re going to have to work hard to get to a place where you can respect their pain, if not their beliefs and actions.
What is crucial is that you realize you’re not doing this for them. You’re doing it for yourself. The more empathy and understanding you have towards others, the less angry you’ll feel. I’m sure you can recognize how heavily anger can weigh on you. Being able to let go of it is not only a huge relief but will allow you to deal with your other feelings. The ones being bulldozed by that constant anger we all feel so often these days.
3. Turn Off The News
Not everyone will agree with this. In fact, some will see it as very selfish. But I propose that you turn off the news. Don’t keep up with current events – at least not on a daily basis. Everything today feels urgent because in many ways it is. However, there’s also very little you can do about most of it.
While it’s important to know what’s going on in politics that affect all of us, it’s unnecessary to always be in the know. I try to read the political news once every two weeks. That may seem like madness to you, but it’s keeping me sane. I don’t look at Facebook rants. I don’t follow Twitter threads. I don’t comment or try to “correct” other people’s’ views.
Because when I do get involved, I only end up hurting myself. I never change anyone’s opinions, but I do break down empathy between us. I never change my own opinion, but get more stuck in my own rhetoric.
Social action is important, and therefore we have to keep up with current events. But while an urgent news headline about the latest thing some ignorant person said generates clicks, it does very little for the clickers. We find ourselves getting angrier, more despairing, and more helpless. It’s more likely to sap our motivation than spur us to action.
As long as you’re tuned in to the 24-hour news cycle, you’re going to struggle to stay sane. You’re definitely not going to build your empathy stores. And you’re unlikely to try and see the world beyond your current narrow perspectives. Turn off for a while. It can really do wonders.
