I recently read Maria Kondo's "The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up." Beyond organizational recommendations, the overarching message of the book is that you should get rid of possessions that do not "spark joy" or provide you with a sense of happiness. I put this into action with what my wife called a "purge," and we threw away a ton of stuff. Our house feels totally different and it honestly does feel like a better environment.
I've given this some thought, and I want to take the thrust of this book--to only have things in your life that spark joy--and apply it to other areas of life. And this has led me to a goal of mine for Lent (which I usually use to kickstart a positive habit): giving up paying any attention whatsoever to the national news.
The news is just so hyperbolic, negative, toxic, and provides absolutely no value to my life. I'm tired of hearing about one scandal after another and collusion and fires and child rape and murders and abductions and school shootings and on and on and on. Bottom line, the benefit of being an "informed citizen" is just not worth all the mental energy it takes to navigate through this typhoon of partisan bullshit.
So, I'm really looking for tips to completely cut out the news entirely. I've logged out of all my social media accounts (which I've slowly given up anyway) and respectfully asked my wife to stop watching the news at all.
I'm currently trying Google News, but it seems like you can't get rid of a "headlines" feature that summarizes all the vomit and feces coming from Washington.
Any ideas?