A few years ago, I tried to keep track of as many current events and world affairs as possible. I sought out facts, opinions, and information about anything and everything that caught my attention. If an article floated across my newsfeed, I’d pull it up, read it, and then comment on it if I felt I had something useful to say about it. Almost every day I went out of my way to research as many current events as possible and share them with anyone who wanted to hear them (which turned out to be very few people).
After about a year, this became unsustainable. I drove myself crazy trying to stay on top of everything and figure out who to believe. For my own sanity I had to withdraw. I gravitated toward lighter subjects and things I believed would add value to the lives of others. I ended up scrolling past most of the current event posts I saw. When I did read an article or watch a video on weightier issues, I rarely commented on it and made an effort to think less about it than I used to. I also became a lot more laid back and less prone to arguing than I was before.
At this point, I’m somewhere in between those two extremes. I don’t go out of my way to follow current events, but I do check them out more than I did during the total withdrawal. That withdrawal did help me in at least one other way, though: whenever I sense that I’m being drawn into drama or some activity that adds no positive value to the world, I try to remind myself “Not my circus, not my monkeys.” That usually helps me keep my priorities straight.
I’m still trying to get better at focusing on the right things and ignoring the rest. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I only have a certain amount of time, energy, and attention that I can put toward any given activity; the more of those resources I waste on unimportant activities, the less I’ll have for the important ones. Occasional reminders and a lot of time seeing how much better it works when I focus on the right things have worked well for me, and I believe this will only get easier over time.