28 July 2025
A couple of years ago, I used to read the news each day in the morning. I heard someone say it’s eloquent and intelligent and it makes you smart. As I wanted to appear smart too or let’s say do it like the others, I did. Until one day, I questioned that belief. Is it really smart to read about all of the world’s issues? I mean, there’s a lot going on. From a cat having diarrhea to wars, fights, killings and stabbings. If we indulged in the news all day long, I’m sure it wouldn’t even be surprising if some of us became sad or even suicidal. I generally like to question things and asked myself again… is it really smart to read about all the problems in the world? All the wars? In other words, reading about so much that isn’t working? Wouldn’t it be much smarter to read about things that are working and apply more of them? Could it be that there are negative agendas behind the news just wanting to make you feel worried and fearful? No assumptions here, just a personal perception. One day, I heard a guy called Matias de Stefano say that in the past, people without social media were better off. They just had their own life and their own problems. They didn’t have to carry the problems of the world and the burden of the disasters. It made me reflect and actually it was a fair point. Without a doubt, disasters are horrible. Bushfires are horrible. Just picturing losing your home is terrible. Or whatever else it might be. I do have understanding and feel a lot of empathy for those people and trees. But let’s be honest here. We won’t make the world a better place by worrying even more. It only pulls down our own energy. The energy we could actually use instead to act on new projects and ideas that could prevent those incidents from happening in the future. And that made me rethink my choice or my decision of reading the news in the morning. And why I later stopped it. And here’s why. I once came across Neale Donald Walsh who shared an impulse to read the news and spot the words they use. How much negative language there is. How much drama. I was shocked when I really looked out for it consciously. Even words carry energy. We often absorb that energy often unconsciously which has an effect on how we feel. Sometimes the lines we read even shape beliefs or makes us fall into the energy of hate and judgment. Could there be negative agendas behind the news wanting to keep the world separated to keep the power? No assumptions here, just a personal perception. Even some people I came across that gave interviews suddenly apologised on social media arguing that they never said certain things the media published. Or the news either added something they asked not to include or they left out an important part of their message and it now conveyed a completely different message often in a negative sense. Isn’t that interesting again? Additionally, another interesting observation: I was once in Spain years back, and suddenly a family member called me feeling very nervous. “Where are you??? Are you ok??? Are you safe?” I was walking in downtown Madrid going like, “erm yes why shouldn’t I be ok?” They told me in the German news they said there were riots in Madrid. I was one street away and it was just so little I didn’t actually see or hear it. When I saw the German news they had used images that I later discovered in other news articles from riots in a completely different country 4 years ago. I was shocked. They didn’t even use accurate images. Again, do they have negative agendas to feed off our fear energy? No assumptions here again, just a personal perception. So, I observed every time I read the news and despite feeling empathy for what people are going through, I realised I cannot bear the burden of the world, so to speak. Nor do I wish to feed negative agendas with my energy. Here on the other side of the world I couldn’t do anything if a bushfire in Australia broke out, as an example. I can only send my empathy, hoping the people make the best out of it, find strength and most importantly, learn from it. Because let’s be honest. A lot of problems and issues in the world are man-made. The trees don’t start burning just like that. So when we raise awareness we could achieve much more than putting our energy into fear and worry. One day, I had a conversation with a lady I met who told me that she gave up reading the news a long time ago. At first I found that random. Almost strange. Isn’t it ignorant not to read the news or not to know what’s going on? I first thought. But then I realised in the past, people didn’t have access to social media either. They didn’t know what was going on on the other side of the world. That allowed them to take care of their own life and their own problems and challenges, which, in my view, is often enough. As I’m generally open to new things, I tried a news-free challenge for 2 weeks. No news for 2 weeks. Boy, even after the first three days I felt more calm. I felt more joyful not being exposed to those negative headlines right in the morning or evening. Instead, I’d focus on my breakfast, look out the window and thought, “Actually everything is good.” It made me realize we just suffer in our own minds and it can start right in the morning by absorbing negative headlines from the news. Now I deleted the news apps and chose to fill it with inspirational apps. And honestly, many months later, do I have the feeling I missed out on something? Not at all. I focus on things that nurture my life and, as such, my surroundings. Do I feel less smart suddenly? Not at all. I realised how many distorted beliefs and even negative energy you can absorb about countries, people and situations that, who knows, might not even be fully accurate all the time. And really, if something important is happening, other people will immediately tell me about it. If something important really happened, I’m sure I will get to know about it. If someone needs my help and I can help them, I would consider doing so, but I think it won’t help them just from me absorbing fear- and drama-based energy from reading inaccurate or exaggerated information provided in the general news. For me personally, a new luxury is to think for yourself and question things you do or even dare to question things that society tells you to do. Some people want to convince you of doing things a certain way. But if that was really "THE" way, would the world really be in the shape it is today? Who knows?