Lots of doom and gloom in this thread!
It’s become a hackneyed phrase, but it’s a personal truth for me. Freedom is a state of mind. Making the choice to become untethered from the need to control outcomes has been expansive and liberating for me.
Everything outside of myself is beyond my control. The only person I can control is me, which means I am entirely responsible for my reaction/response to them.
When the news of the world starts getting me down, I simply unplug from it and stop reading and listening. I personally, by myself, can’t control the prevention of a nuclear war, another Covid outbreak, one political party or another gaining power, so I unplug because I don’t have the power to control any of those outcomes. Following those stories makes me unhappy so why would I do that to myself?
Freedom for me is found in letting go of my need to control, which is where many of my anxieties are seated. I only have control over myself and my reactions to external circumstances. I find freedom in going with the flow of the things I can’t control or just ignoring them. It’s breaking free from society’s expectations and living a life that is meaningful to me, no matter how it may appear to anyone else. It’s fully embracing the idea that what others think of me is none of my business, and no longer caring what they think.
Ignorance of things one chooses to ignore can, in fact, be blissful if it’s mindful, thoughtful ignorance.