I'll be completely honest with you. In the days after the 2016 presidential election, I made a conscious decision to turn off the news. I doubt you won't remember, but everything just started getting kind of grimy. Politics dominated every news cycle and those cordial debates about policy suddenly became vicious attacks and character assassination on both sides of the political spectrum.

Here we are four years later and things are still the same. Each side blindly at each others throat. The arguments aren't any better either. It seems debate has fallen to a standard in which people just casually toss out unsubstantiated talking points they either heard or read somewhere else. That's really what bothers me the most... the varying political opinions of the general public anymore aren't actual individual opinions. You only hear more biased talking points fed to the masses by some sort of invisible power that controls the hive mind. No secret, it's the media.

I haven't watched a moment of news in four years, and I have to say, I've never been so at ease in my short adult life. Without the constant stress of someone elses worries weighing me down, I can better deal with my own stresses. Homeowner stuff like when things break. Family stuff like when someone passes. It all seams an easier load to bear when some infotainment talking head isn't constantly telling me I should be upset.

I love not watching the news. I still stay informed, but I consume the news in different ways.

You know what else took a load off my shoulders? Getting rid of pretty much all of my social medias. I say "pretty much" because I can still see my immediate family in my newsfeed, but everyone else got the axe. It's just become a Tyler Durden type platform where people share words that aren't their to impress people they don't know. Plus, it was hard to read through when everyone online suddenly became an expert in political science.

If you're looking for a better quality of life, start with that. Ditch the negativity. Stop being a sheep that gets told when to feel whatever emotion you're told to. It certainly makes for an instant boost.

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