The media is screaming at us about how bad everything is right now.
War, cost of living crisis, immigration, debt crisis, hantavirus, cybersercurity, economic crash.
But if you tuned out of the media scroll, would your day to day be hugely different from how it was before?
We may all be effected long term by what's going on in the world - but today isn't all that different from yesterday for most people.
They just get anxious because that's where their energy goes.
Anxiety is maintained by avoidance. Every avoided thing grows. Every confronted thing shrinks.
72% of people who took deliberate action in the face of anxious feelings have them diminish within 48 hours - even when the action didn't solve the problem they were anxious about (APA, 2022)
Here's 4 hacks:
- Turn off and tune out of all media
Your nervous system was not built for the world's problems delivered at infinite scroll speed. - Do a novel thing or learn a new skill
Science shows this slows perception of time while creating new neural pathways in the brain. - Project a positive future, then take action toward it today.
Your brain cannot fully distinguish between a vividly imagined future and a real one. So spend time building one you actually want. - Spend time with people who want what you want, and are doing something about it
Research shows emotions are socially contagious and spread up to three degrees of separation. Your network is either amplifying your anxiety or absorbing it. Choose a different network and everything changes.
Energy flows where focus goes. Which of these 4 hacks can you say you are doing, every day?