I've been thinking a lot lately about life in general, and what is reality. If you recall, a few months ago I posted about not knowing what's real anymore because there seem to be multiple realities available on the internet. It seems that around that time I wasn't the only person with those thoughts, because a few of the podcasts I listen to regularly had episodes about similar ideas that really got me thinking. The problem is that I'm consistently 6-8 weeks behind on podcasts because I have so many I like to listen to and my podcast listening time is greatly reduced since my commute time was cut from 40 minutes to 10, so I just got through the January podcasts in March.
The first was a series on the School Sucks Podcast that was all about spirituality and coming to an understanding of oneself. It was actually incredibly interesting and I'm really considering going back and listening to it again. I'm not really ready to talk on this subject yet, though, because a lot of this information is completely new to me.
After that, though, I listened to an episode of the Jordan Harbinger Podcast about Suggestibility that tied into that really well, and really made me want to write something about it. I've put it off for a few weeks since then, though, because I wanted the time to sit and focus on my thoughts, and I haven't really had a ton of that recently. Even now as I write this I hear my son calling me from the other room because he wants a cup of milk...
The final thing I listened to that really got me wanting to write on this subject was an episode of my old reliable podast, now called The Chris Spangle Show, on Showing Mercy in a Divided World.
The biggest thing I took away from all three of these podcasts is that my "checking out" from national politics is actually the right thing to do. Let me explain.
I haven't completely given up on politics, even during this "checked out" phase I've been talking about since November. I still get the news regularly and I review important headlines. I still listen to at least two political podcasts (though, as mentioned above, the news on those is usually fairly old by the time I hear it). I occasionally scroll through Facebook or Twitter and see what everyone is talking about. What I've really done, though, is stop caring so much, and that's the key.
I don't have any control over what happens in our national government. Literally none. I vote, but only because (a) my wife would be really upset if I didn't and (b) I can at least give my vote to some libertarian candidates to show the established parties that I'm not with them. That being said, since I vote L instead of D or R, I know from the start that vote is only there to register a protest; it doesn't effect the outcome of the election at all. Not that a D or R vote would make a big difference, either, but at least there I could look forward to my candidate potentially winning. After they won, their choices are theirs, so I don't really have any control, but it does give me a sense of control.
I don't have any control over the state government, either. Similar story, even if it is closer to home. I've signed a petition to recall my governor because of what I feel was a blatant abuse of emergency powers over the last year, but I know that will go no where.
I have very little control over my local government. I can attend the county and municipality counsel meetings (even easier now since they're on Zoom), but, especially now that they're on Zoom, there's only so much I can do or say. The government is going to do what the government wants to do, and, in most cases, that's spend more taxpayer money than they have available on unnecessary services, then look for ways to take more money from me and other tax payers so they can keep doing that, over and over.
So, how did I respond? I stopped trying. It's not something I can control, so I stopped trying to control it. I stopped paying attention when it was just BS back and forth (as so much politics is) and only really pay attention when there's some new policy that will actually meaningfully effect my life. The rest is just noise. It's been liberating to say the least. That's what I'm here to talk about. I've stopped trying to control things out of my spheres of influence. That was my major takeaway from those podcasts I talked about above. I can't control the government, but I can control the way I live my life. I can't make changes to who's in power, but I can make meaningful changes to the ways I interact with those around me that can profoundly effect the people I see every day.
When I stopped caring about politics so much and started caring more about my daily life, friends, and family, I realized I had far more time to devote to them than I had ever had before. My expectation before was that I was going to be too busy to do some things, so my reality matched that. However, now my expectation is that I need to be focusing on those things, so my reality is changing to match that. That was the big takeaway for me from the suggestibility podcast: Expectation Creates Reality. I really want to talk about that more later, but I still need to gather all my thoughts before I can.
The last thing I wanted to talk about is that as I've been pulling back from politics, I've seen my wife and mother taking a greater interest in them. It's funny because my mother's disinterest in politics throughout my life (and during the most recent election cycle) was part of the reason I stopped paying attention in the first place. It's less funny with my wife, though, because she really wants me to engage with her on these topics and I really don't care about most of them. She brings up things that are just noise to me, and if it were any other setting I'd just ignore them, but I can't ignore my wife. I know that I went through the phase of being very interested in politics for a few years myself, so I can't reasonably look down on her for it, but it really does bring into perspective what I must have looked like to other people at the time, talking about things I have no control over and getting worked up over something that doesn't effect my life in any meaningful way.
So, if I had to wrap this up into a TL/DR bit of advice: learn what your spheres of influence are, and focus on those. Pay attention to the things that will meaningfully effect your life, and recognize that the rest is just noise. You can solve your problems much better than the federal government.
