America Needs…

The world has quickly (or not so quickly) become a nasty, scary place.  Our society has become self-absorbed, dismissive and out for Numero Uno.  Most people have forgotten what it means to have decency.  Or manners.  Or empathy. As David Byrne so famously said, Well, how did I get here? Has America become a lost cause that all other countries secretly ridicule?

The title, AMERICA NEEDS,  came from the realization that  America has lost its heart and more importantly, its soul. People need to do better.  Including myself.  Especially myself.  Doing better, at moments like this, seems to be a monumental feat. It is so much easier to sit in your sh*t and complain. Complaining about the state of our society or the world at large.    Complaining that no amount of goodness will make a dent in the selfishness that has become our country.  So why even try?

I have attempted to live the past half century of my life with the realization that challenges present us with two alternatives.  One is to bitch and complain.  The other is to use that challenge as a means to learn and grow.  In some ways, I have been extremely successful.  In other ways, not so much.

I do; however, believe that large changes can result from seemingly insignificant steps.  And often, the first step is the most perilous but most necessary. With this in mind, I am offering a call to arms to anyone who might be reading this and hopefully, the world at large. A challenge to start small.  A challenge to make that giant, small step where you feel like you are wearing lead Herman Munster shoes.  A challenge to change course.

AMERICA NEEDS AN OVERHAUL.  Plain and simple.  We have all simply lost our way and have forgotten what it means to care about others.  In this, I offer no political viewpoint as I believe we have experienced quite enough of that for one lifetime. AMERICA NEEDS  instead focuses on the human perspective, something we all experience and hopefully can agree on. I have found that I have always been drawn to emotions and their ability to drive us to do certain things.  The human experience, if you will.

So here it is… Every week, I will offer a challenge to you.  A simple, seemingly insignificant step to make a change in your world.  And it is up to you, my clever friend, to make that change.  Hopefully, together, these small changes can give way to bigger changes which can give way to a movement.

November 6, 2024

I sit here on the morning after Super Tuesday 2024 with an emotional hangover like no one’s business.  The uncertainty of where our world is headed is anxiety provoking, unnerving and ulcer producing. And it seems apropos to begin with the most obvious first step…

AMERICA NEEDS… to tune out the noise.

 It’s simple.  It is time to turn off others' perspectives and get quiet.  Turn off CNN, Fox News, MSNBC - it’s not good for you and is not making you any smarter.  You know what it is doing? It's making you more fearful and untrustworthy. It’s making you more anxious and upset. According to Swiss author Rolf Dobelli, “News is to the brain what sugar is to the body.” When we are constantly barraged by news articles, whether on TV or social media, we are bombarding our limbic system which increases the stress hormone glucocorticoid, fashionably known as cortisol (Dobelli).  Yeah, it's the stuff that makes us fat.  If that is not enough to give up on the news, then I don’t know what is. Cortisol not only affects our girlish figure but also can negatively impact our mental health.  

Photo Credit: https://blended-fun.blogspot.com/2019/12/

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When we consume large amounts of negative news, affectionately known as doom scrolling, we are more apt to experience intense feelings of fear and stress. According to the Cleveland Clinic, “Doomscrolling can reinforce negative thoughts and a negative mindset, something that can greatly impact your mental health. Research has linked consuming negative news to an increase in depression and anxiety.” To add insult to injury, doom scrolling also has the capacity to reinforce any negative stress we may already have which can spiral us down the rabbit hole, quicker than Neo in the Matrix.

Photo Credit: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/matrix-red-pill-trans-b1917658.html

Turning off the noise is not limited to the news.  Turning off the noise can be turning off anything that brings us down.  Whether that is another person’s unwelcome opinions, social media (more on that later) or our own minds. Social media and toxic people can have very similar effects on our mental health. But more on that later - Small steps, remember? 

So, let’s make a plan of action for the next week, to turn off the noise in whatever way you see fit. The entire point of this blog is taking steps to build ourselves up and encouraging others to do the same. If something doesn’t add positively to your life then, quite honestly, it needs to go.

Instead, listen to music, a comedy podcast, or an audiobook instead. Then,  at the end of that week, take the time to mentally check in with yourself and see if it has made a difference in your day to day mental well-being. And if, at the end of the week, you have found that it has, in fact, made a difference in your mental health, pay it forward to someone else who you think might just benefit from a moral overhaul. Because, my friends, that's how movements take shape.