Thoughtful Thursday: Why I am Not Watching the News

Yesterday was a day of ups and downs for my part of the country. We were celebrating the win of the local football team when someone started shooting others. There was one casualty and many injuries after the panic.

I heard about things when I was waiting to start the Ash Wednesday service last night. I know that two friends were present at the celebration, and it will be interesting to know if they were part of the situation at all when I make it to work this morning. We are now in a season of mourning around our area because of three people who caused this situation.

I do not watch the news. I do not listen to the news. I read the news when I feel like I need to catch up with what is happening in the world. I do not find it healthy for me to watch the news or listen to the constant reporting of the bad things that happen in the world. I cannot deal with the ways that people choose to hurt other people - the emotions that come up are not good for me, and I get enough angst at work with the children and adolescents that I choose to work with without looking past my experiences.

This week, I've been thinking about trauma and how we, as teachers and therapists working with a difficult population of humans, do not get the trauma care we need to continue to be functional. We are expected to be able to push it down and work around it rather than discussing it, working through it, and even recognizing it for what it is - trauma.

I find that watching or listening to the news adds to the trauma that I have to process, so I choose to remain ignorant of some of the happenings in the world. There is plenty of stuff rattling around my brain with the interactions that I have with my clients, so I do not have room for absorbing the trauma of strangers.

Wow. This is turning out to be a very negative post. That is never my goal when I am writing this blog, but there are times when what I am processing is not light and fluffy. This has been a disappointing week when it comes to feeling supported as a human working where I work. I am not feeling like my voice and opinions are valued outside of my environment, and that is difficult to acknowledge.

Let's get back to positives.

I am working on determining my next intern interviews. I have zero full applications at the moment, so I am waiting for letters of recommendation and eligibility to arrive before inviting students to my facility for the full day interviews/auditions that I require. I am also going to do some chocolate shopping this morning. Since I need to be at work at a decent time, I am going to close now and hope that there is some good chocolate for me to get at half price! It is my monthly payday, so I can shop with confidence!! 

Happy Thursday - it really is that for me, but I am still going to avoid the news.