Wednesday, August 29, 2012

My Upbeat Challenge For September.

Politics. Culture wars. Social media fueling tension between otherwise good and decent people. I say, enough already.

I have been guilty of focusing on too much of the negative. Somebody says or writes something outrageous. It can be a politician, talking head, celebrity... heck, even some unknown with access to the Internet. It doesn't really matter who, just that some idiot says or writes something hateful or ridiculous.

Next, the words are repeated. Not a lot, just often enough that someone else with a loud enough voice hears or reads them. Then, the words finally go viral.

And then comes the worst of it. Otherwise rational people begin parsing and dissecting and defending or attacking the words. So many of us devote all kinds of time (that we really don't have) on something that really has no bearing on our daily lives.

I am so, so guilty of this. I've lost countless hours to arguing and attacking and defending, and for what? None of that means anything in the big scheme of things.

I can do better. I will do better. And I'm inviting everyone to join me.

I am challenging myself this September in my Upbeat Challenge. I will focus on the positive instead of the negative. Rather than being mad that some idiot made a horrible comment, I will be glad that some amazing person is out there doing something good in this world.

Positive stories of people doing good things. That is where I will focus for the whole month of September. No posts and no comments on the negative stories. And I'll try to not even read them. I'll just skim right on by. It's time to put good stuff into my own head.

It won't be easy, but I think it will be worth it.

Bring on the good news!

P.S. I'm starting a few days early. I need to.

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