Overload

If there is anything I’ve realized lately, it is that there is ALOT of information out there.

For one, I tend to follow motivational speakers, nutritionists, life coaches, or positive influencers (Eckart Tolle, Mel Robbins, and Yung Pueblo to name a few) on my socials and they are constantly bombarding my feed with information.

I will say that opening up my social media to see a quote that resonates with me right at that moment is quite nice and I’m glad that my attention goes to motivational information that keeps me going when it gets rough.

But even that can be too much.

I really don’t like it when I see advice or get a viewpoint about a particular thing and then get the opposing view not long after. One example of this is the concept of letting go of control.

On one hand, I’ve heard that life happens outside of our control and we should just let it happen and not be so fixated on the outcome. On the other hand, we are in charge of our own destinies and if we don’t take action, we can’t get what we want because life doesn’t just happen to us.

It makes my head hurt.

That’s why it’s really important to unplug and let yourself soak in all the information you consume so that it can be of benefit to you instead of making you feel like you are drowning in philosophies or perspectives that are more confusing than helpful.

I’m not quite sure how to go about this. It is coming to my attention fast that I am, to a degree, not a fan of boredom and idleness, because constantly taking in information or having new ideas to implement into your own life makes you feel productive and on top of your game.

Until it doesn’t.

All the advice, perspectives, and points of view become a soup of words that you start swimming in, losing sight of your own ground underneath you that makes you who you are.

It can be addicting to seek knowledge outside of yourself, in the hopes of becoming better and stronger and someone that others will turn to for advice one day.

But we are our own fountains of wisdom and shouldn’t let everyone else dictate what we should think or how to go about things in life.

I know I need to start carving out some time to unplug so that I can sit in quiet for a bit and let everything that I’ve learned through my own life experience sink in. Why is it so hard for us to sit with ourselves? Why is it so hard to do nothing?

Could it be fear of wasting time or of missing out (which is one of my biggest tendencies)?Or maybe the fact that silence can be so freakin’ loud? If you really listen to it (which I have done before, I just don’t do it consistently enough), you’ll hear alot (and some of it you may not want to hear) not only from all around you but in your own thoughts.

So it’s easier to drown in all the information out there, even though drowning is not a good thing. So why not drown in silence from time to time? Maybe there is alot more to learn there than from what other people are saying.

Anyway, this my long winded way of saying that I’m going to try this whole unplug thing for real this time. But in moderation of course because I don’t like feeling cut off from civilizaton either.

I’d love to hear from anyone who has done this consistently (but not obsessively since we aren’t islands!) and what you’ve learned from it. Feel free to share in the comments!