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Today seems like the right time to do a thread I& #39;ve been thinking about for a while on how to handle the seemingly never-ending deluge of depressing and disturbing news. My tips are based on my time as a CIA military analyst in which I dealt daily with disturbing content. (1/)
There are several risks to being overloaded with disturbing/negative content.
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="✔️" title="Fettes Häkchen" aria-label="Emoji: Fettes Häkchen"> Complacency - becoming so used to the deluge that it all starts to seem normal.
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="✔️" title="Fettes Häkchen" aria-label="Emoji: Fettes Häkchen"> Paralysis - that is, being so overwhelmed, you can& #39;t figure out what to do/how to move forward.
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There are also serious physical consequences to living a negative content overloaded life. I had a colleague who didn& #39;t know he had stage 4 brain cancer because the symptoms were the same as our very stressful careers--exhaustion, random fevers, stress, and dizziness. (4/)
So, what do you do? First, I strongly urge you not to ignore the news/current events. Ignorance is one reason we have this society. It won& #39;t make the problems go away & contributes nothing to their solving. Now that that& #39;s established, here& #39;s how to make it easier to handle: (5/)
1. TAKE ACTION. Volunteer for a food pantry, canvass for a political candidate, donate to a NGO, visit a sick friend. Seriously. Service of some kind in your community lets you be part of SOLUTIONS. You will see RESULTS when otherwise you& #39;d feel helpless. (6/)
2. Conversely, for those who may take tip #1 to the extreme--know that you alone can& #39;t save the world. Accept your limits. You aren& #39;t a 7/11. You can& #39;t always be open. At the end of every day when I reached my limit, I silently told myself, "I& #39;ve done what I can today." (7/)
(Note: Repeating that to myself did not stop me from feeling like I could have done more most days. But it was important to tell myself anyway because I am human. We are human. It& #39;s good we *feel* things.) (8/)
3. RESEARCH BEFORE PANICKING. Easier said than done, but everything will seem like crisis/earth-ending if you don’t know what has/hasn& #39;t happened before. If it has happened before, it& #39;s can be hugely comforting to know how it was resolved and/or what might happen next. (9/)
4. GET UP & MOVE. Put the phone away, turn off the TV, log out of Twitter. Go for a walk, sit outside, get some coffee, call a friend. CIA is full of ppl walking the building with a colleague/friend. There& #39;s a reason. Our brains & bodies need breaks from stressful content. (10/)
5. SET RULES. Because of my work at CIA, I had a rule--I only read fiction at home. I had enough reality at work. In the civilian world, I set blocks of time each day where I turn everything off--no news or social media. Let yourself recharge so you can keep fighting later. (11/)
6. AVOID DARK HOLES. (I& #39;m sure there& #39;s a joke to be made about that.) It& #39;s easy to get sucked into the swirl of bad news. You watch a gruesome YouTube video and the next one is all queued up to play right after it. Focus on one issue at a time. Deal w/ it before moving on. (12/)
7. YOU NEED FUN. When there is suffering, war, despair, etc. around you, it& #39;s easy to feel guilty when you have fun, feel happy, have a good meal with friends. You NEED these things. You will be better able to do good in the world if you let yourself have these things. (13/)
8. TALK TO SOMEONE. Often, we curl inward socially when overwhelmed w/ negative content. It& #39;s a means of protection. One of the great things at CIA was that everyone else knew what you were going through. Whether it& #39;s therapy or talking to your person, talking helps. (14/)
None of this is easy. I got burned out a lot in my career & many days recently, I& #39;ve felt overloaded by the barrage. I& #39;m sure you have too. But you and I can& #39;t check out. We can& #39;t give up & we need to stay engaged, but we can& #39;t do that if we get overloaded. Keep going. (15/15)
