I made a few posts about cutting out the toxin that is social media politics. (x, x) People get bitter, mean, and downright nasty when it comes to politics, and when you take away the face to face aspect they get much, much worse. I went down a rabbit hole at the beginning of my Lyme Disease sickness and learned everything there was to know about the political situations of that time. I knew everything and I was always… mad, angry, hurt, judgmental. I was getting emotions that I didn’t like, and they weren’t all from the actual politics, but mostly the people talking about them, and how they were doing it.

So I blocked it all. I took out the trash. I don’t follow most my Facebook friends. I muted almost every political word on Twitter. At first it felt a little empty, because I had gotten so used to all the yelling, but then, it became wonderful. I started following people who had the same hobbies as me. I started branching out. Then suddenly the places that were filled with anger were suddenly filled with joy.

It was amazing, but I will say, after a year without it I do feel like I’ve missed a few big ticket political items. It happened after I moved out of my parents house after I got engaged. The nightly news wasn’t on for the half hour or so after dinner anymore and I became disconnected.

That was nice too, in a lot of ways, but I think it helped me realize that it was time to turn the water back on. I wasn’t going to allow myself to get stranded in the ocean anymore, not even cared away by a fast moving river, but rather occasionally walk over to the sink and fill my glass up.

I think sometimes we have to get rid of everything to stop ourselves from being overwhelmed, and I think we often have to live in that empty space for a long time before we’re ready, or willing, to let that certain thing back in. It gives us time to heal and it gives us time to clear our mind of everyone else’s noise. That way when you start letting in a little stream of information you can take it with a clear head and most importantly, you know how easy it is to turn the water off if you need to again.