Barring something earth shattering, I’m going to take a break from politics for an entire week. It’s going to be my fast. As you know from this site and my Facebook page, I’m constantly sharing and commenting on the current political scene. Although it’s good to be involved, I’ve been involved so passionately for so long that I realize I’m becoming depressed, confrontational, and altogether unhappy. I’ve been holding down the fort, I think the world will survive w
ithout a week of me commenting.
Harder Than I Thought
As I was sitting there clicking “hide all posts” from my favorite Facebook pages part of me cringed. I had become so accustomed to my regular routine, so enthralled in the importance of sharing these important thoughts, that the idea of me taking a break from them was stressful.
I think the biggest issue I hadn’t realized was my personality. When there is something wrong, I tend to take responsibility for solving it. I put the weight of the world on my shoulders and I have a hard time giving it up. To me, it felt like “Who is going to tell people what’s wrong if I don’t?” The problem is, I can’t solve the world’s problems. I can’t compensate for everyone else. I need to take a break and the world will keep spinning.
News & Facebook Politics
I’ve already gone through most of my news sites, politicians, political commentators, and political activist groups and hidden them or removed them from site. I’ve kept a few on there regarding issues like Pastor Saeed who is still being held in Iran for his faith (I felt as a Christian, I have an obligation to continue to concern my thoughts and prayers for a fellow Brother in chains.) I’ve also kept most of my pro-life sites visible because I also think that’s an issue too important to ignore. The goal is to remove most of the Republican vs. Democrat arguing I see daily. I want to see how it effects my mood and attitude.
Already Working
After the initial covering, it quickly started to get easier. I have little inclination to go look at it, and without all of the political spam, I was seeing more on my Facebook newsfeed of more intellectually stimulating (and relaxing) posts. Of course, I’m only going on a couple of hours and so my attitude may change over the next few days, but I can already tell this is going to be a much needed Sabbath.
Conclusion
It’s too early to tell what effects this will have on me. I think I’ll go through waves of struggles, especially as I see my Facebook friends share their thoughts and ideas. However, I think it will be a good exercise both for relaxation and an exercise in self-control. Again, should anything absolutely earth shattering happen, I may have to comment on something, but barring a major issue (like Iran bombing someone…) I’ll be on sabbatical from politics. I’ll post in a week and tell you how it went (and probably comment along the way)
~ Blessings