Have you noticed how often a news article or opinion piece will say something like, “All Americans should be outraged (or frightened, or angry) about this.”

It seems everyone who’s writing about yet another illegal and un-Constitutional action by the trump regime needs to be added to and at the top of our list of outrages.

And I get it - a writer may have authentic passion and anger over what they’re writing about.

But.

As an HSP (highly sensitive person), I’m already more than overwhelmed with all the information, news, and horrifying actions of trump and his minions.

Being told I “should” feel more overwhelm is really bad for my mental health and well-being. And I’m sure it’s not only HSPs who feel this way.

Though I want to stay informed, my inner peace is more important.

I’ve given myself permission to delete most news emails on days when I’m feeling particularly vulnerable - which is, to be honest, most days. I’ll save one or two that actually offer help or are less insistent I freak out over what is being reported.

What are your strategies to manage the level of outrage we’re told we “should” have?

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I love Greater Good Magazine of UC Berkeley. Here's what they say about outrage:
CAN YOU STAY CALM IN A TIME OF OUTRAGE? The world doesn’t need more anger, however righteous. It needs people who can hold on to moral clarity and stay true to their values. By Margaret Cullen

Some of the takeaways from the article:

1. “Equanimity may seem irrelevant—or, worse, complicit … [E]quanimity, rightly understood, is not passivity—but resistance. A deeper kind of resistance. One that refuses to be hijacked by the very forces it seeks to oppose.”
   
2. “[Outrage] comes at a cost. Physiologically, outrage taxes our bodies. Cognitively, it narrows our perception, distorting what we see and hear and what we believe about others.”
   
3. “Outrage can easily become its own kind of addiction, a self-reinforcing loop where the more morally outraged we are, the more righteous we feel.”
   
4. “To [the author], equanimity is not apathy. It is not a flattening of emotion or a retreat from the world. Rather, it is the ability to stay rooted in our values while engaging with the world as it is.”
   

There’s more in the article, HERE.

I recently learned about a great way to reduce the stress of a constantly filling email Inbox and the feeling we "should" keep up with everything always on social media.

It's called batching. 

HERE is the article in Forbes.

The idea is to reserve checking email and soc media to certain times a day.

For example, check email at 9 am (15-20 minutes), 1 pm (15 minutes), and 5 pm (30 minutes). Of course, your times of day and how long you allot is up to you - these are simply examples.

Check soc media at the same time, or right after the email checks. Maybe not as often and not as long, because it's so easy to get drawn into rabbit holes and cute puppy videos.

Here is a video on batching from my YouTube channel: MINUTE FOR WELLNESS - Morning Cuppa. 

Morning Cuppa videos are 1 to 3-minute videos giving you a health tip, a bit of new research, or sometimes, a short meditation. Meant to be viewed in the morning with your cuppa tea, coffee, or whatever as a way to begin your day with a bit of calm and intention. SUBSCRIBE HERE.