A News Detox

 

That's it. We can't do it anymore.

After the election, which we watched in Portugal, some of our conference colleagues cried. We cried inside ourselves. Our birth country is on a death spiral.

My husband and I are ex-Americans because of FATCA which basically gave us a choice between being American or having a bank account in the country where we lived. We never stopped caring. We knew the good and bad of our birth country's history, but firmly believe in the basic principles it has espoused.

To say my husband and I were news junkies is an understatement. The news went on first thing in the morning and was on almost all day. We watched many channels from many countries. We read newspapers, magazine articles and books from many different perspectives. We also searched social media weighing different opinions and facts.

We watched in horror as Trump won.

How could our former countrymen elect a convicted felon, a rapist, a man who mishandled government documents, who hobnobbed with American enemies, and who according to the Washington Post lied 30,000+ times? We knew they were lies from personal experience. That he babbled nonsense was obvious whether from dementia or some other problem, didn't matter. Venom came from his mouth spewing hatred for so many different people. How could anyone vote for a man that caused a rebellion to overthrow the government? I could go on and on.

There's nothing we can do to help save our birth country, so we will save ourselves. We will direct our energies into detoxing from the news and concentrate on other aspects of our lives. Some examples:

• Music...will replace morning and daily news.
• Reading...We are both readers. I've read over 28,000 pages already this year and have piles of books on my to-read list. I will get to them faster. I won't interrupt my reading to watch the news.
  
• Cooking...We alternate cooking days, but plan to investigate more and different recipes enjoying the challenge to please each other and ourselves.
  
• Eating...Instead of eating with the news, we will eat at the dining room table with music. I'm thinking of adding candles and more flowers. 
• Writing...Both of us are professional writers, but without the news, we will have more time to polish our work.
• Touring...we've always explored different places, but again we will have more time to do so. Too often the bad news had dimmed our enjoyment. Maybe now we can notice the flowers, a building, read a sign, notice birdsong or an interesting cloud formation instead of thinking of the day's headline.
  
• Sunday...We will gain a day freed from the Sunday talk shows.
• Nature...We can walk on the beach more (France) and the lake (Geneva) expolore nature with our beloved dog.
• Games...Growing up my family played games. My parents used to play gin rummy at 10 cents a hand forfeit to the loser. They saved it up until they had enough money for a trip to Hawaii. I love Scrabble, Backgammon and many card games. Hope we can back to that.
  

I suspect the tension that has built up inside us, the pain we feel now at the events will relax. Will we stop caring totally? I doubt it, but we will bow to the AA Prayer.

“God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time"

One doesn't have to be an alcoholic to consider how that wisdom can improve our lives.