A theme that runs through in my life is opting out. I’ve written about it here and here. This week, the world has presented me with another prime opportunity to improve my life by opting out – the news.
I’ve tried over the past 5 years to limit my consumption of news significantly but lately I’ve myself checking headlines and reading stories every day. The terrorist attacks in Israel sucked me – that plus listening to too many podcasts that cover politics and news.
I’m done. I’ve decided to unsubscribe from almost all of the podcasts I was listening to. There’s also no need for me to get “real time” news (other than weather), because real time news is filled with speculation, false information, unverified reports, etc. This trend has been exponentially increased with AI, clickbait and false information promoted through the internet.
I was listening to a podcast yesterday where a fact checker from the BBC explained how to see if images and videos presented online are fake by using multiple reverse image searches, looking for sources, and digging through links.
I’ve got a better plan for myself. I’ll not look at any of it. At all.
Beginning today, I’m going on a no-news diet.
If I am not consuming news, then I have no need to “validate” if it is true.
It will take me a while to get used to silence or music during the hours I used to fill my time with podcasts. That’s OK. I like silence. I’ll probably use that time to think, observe and talk to my dogs more.
This elimination approach works really well for me.
Here are some of the many ways I do this:
- I don’t drink alcohol.
- I don’t eat anything except meat and eggs.
- I don’t eat processed food.
- I don’t date.
- I don’t fly on planes.
- I don’t socialize (parties, concerts, bars, etc.).
- I don’t travel outside of my local region.
- I don’t go into debt for consumer purchases.
This might sound restrictive to many people. I find it incredibly freeing. It reduces the stress of doing things I do not enjoy and frees my mind to focus on things that are important to me.
Here’s a current situation.
I think a lifeguard at my pool has been flirting with me. She’s a newer guard so I introduced myself to her and always spend a few minutes chatting with her when I see her.
I noticed she seems to make a special effort to give me a big smile and greet me whenever she sees me now.
She might just be being friendly. On the other hand, she might be flirting, because her greeting to me seem a bit “over the top” cheerful, and as much as I’d like to think I’m a good conversationalist, I’m not that good.
So I thought the other day, I think she likes me. What if she asks me out? I wouldn’t want to hurt her feelings, but I am not attracted to her at all. My next thought was that this is not a problem because – I don’t date.
If she happens to ask me out, I can graciously thank her and tell her I’m flattered and then say, “I don’t date.”
Problem solved.