On Creating My Own Newsfeed

 On a lark at the beginning of the year and through a link at Rural Revolution, I started following a blog called Home Living .  It is this very nice, old fashioned sort of blog run by a Miss Lydia who writes about (and puts out regular Video Blog entries) the home and home making.  It is, as I as say, a sort of old fashioned sort of blog where people like me feel about at ease as a rhinoceros keeper coming in from the pen into a tea room:  slightly out of my element, thinking I should have at least wiped my feet and (probably) changed before I entered, and pretty sure I am going to be asked to leave any minute now.  (Full disclosure:  She spends a fair amount of time speaking about making a good home (in the 18th-19th England way), Christian Living, and a cornucopia of other topics. Your mileage may vary.)

As it turns out, the video blog is just at the right level of mental involvement to allow one to do a second activity (say, Weight Training) while one listens, and so when the music is not the Heart-Stopping Pulse-Pounding "Life More Weights, You Fools!" that I prefer, I listen to her (admittedly, quite a variation).

In an episode from this week, she mentioned the idea of controlling the input of information and media when we first get up in the morning, the "flow of news" that at one time used to be characterized by flipping open the newspaper or flicking on the television or radio for the morning news.  Her point was that our intake often set our mood for the day and what we do with it.  Instead, she suggested that we "create our own news" by selecting the inputs that we read and listen to in this time, whether they be other blogs, readings, podcasts - whatever.  

Said another way, create your own newsfeed.

Interesting thought, I pondered as I struggled to get the safety squat bar back into the holder before I moved to my next exercise (stupid heavy piece of steel!), when I realized that accidentally, I had been doing the exact same thing all week.

This week our church, as they have done for many years, is doing a fast and pray event as part of the New Year.  A week of fasting, to someone who is weight training, is pretty much anathema (and not being Catholic or Orthodox, not a specific requirement), so I fasted from something I have fasted from before: media.  For the past week I have confined myself to the blogs I follow and a single board.

The results, I realized when I heard her comment and pondered, were staggering.

For the past five days, beyond my usual Pray/Read/Exercise/Walk/Write practices, I have eschewed any media (as I have during the day as well).  I have kept myself to reading the blogs that I follow and perhaps exploring one or two more.  For walks, I either find a podcast (non-media or current events) or listen to music from Two Steps From Hell (Heroic, Video Game sort of music).

The results?  I am literally less stressed - not only in the morning, but throughout the day.  I suddenly have time I did not used to have, both from not checking the news not only in the morning but throughout the day.  My "InterWeb" wandering - when I am bored and just clicking - has ceased as well:  after all, unless I am actually looking something up, I am already up to date on most of the blogs I follow - why look at what I have already seen?  Suddenly, I have time to start doing some of the things that I have said I very much want to do:  memorizing the names of the heads of my sword school, finishing Quintillian - you know, the sorts of things that get pushed to the side when you are agitated about the news.

Funny how all that works.

I might recommend it to your attention.  It is easy enough to do:  just choose consciously what you will read and listen to in the morning.  Maybe yours will involve media (mine does not) - but no matter what it is, make it a conscious choice instead of a habit or an accident.  And try it for a week, or as much time as you feel you need to judge results.

At least for me, again a fairly stark reminder of how a seemingly small change can create a big difference in my life.