Ways to Live Free, Paranoia Free

When I wake up every morning one of the first things I do is turn on my TV and watch the news, just to see what’s going on in the world.  And i usually try to find something thats not totally depressing thats happening, but I have noticed recently that my search for a ray of light among dark topics such as economy troubles, swine flu, the usual crimes and suspects, foreclosures and so on is one i rarely succeed at. So I started to wonder, how are we supposed to live without being paranoid these days?  I’ve decided to take the challenge of answering my own question with some ways to live your life without being paranoid.

1. Don’t take everything you hear so seriously.

Im not trying to discredit the news stations here, but not every thing they tell you is definitely going to be as bad as they are making it out to be.  Most of the time they are just trying to build excitement to make the news seem more interesting anyway.  

    2.  Do something relaxing. 

If hearing the constant reminders of “impending doom for America” stresses you out more than others, do something to relieve that stress.  Now before you get me wrong, I’m not telling you to start bingeing or doing drugs or anything like that, rather you should find a hobby to do or a contest to enter or even just reading a good book can away from the stress of these bad times.

    3.  Try not to think the worst of things.

Remember, when things get as bad as they are now that means that they can only get better.  So don’t think that just because things are bad now that means they always will be.  And don’t think that just because something unfortunate happened to someone else that it will definitely happen to you.  Nothing is promised tomorrow today, and nothings set in stone.  Have faith and good things will happen soon.

     4.  Don’t act helpless.

Ok having your faith trampled by hearing about things going from bad to worse can be pretty brutal.  But it does not mean that all hope is lost.  No matter how hard you have it these days, no one (YES I MEAN NO ONE!) is helpless.  There’s always something that you can do, when people say their helpless is dosent translate into “i need help” or “feel sorry for me” it just says that there’s something you can do, but you’re not willing to go that far for yourself.  And honestly, no one will help you then.  They’ll just pity you.

     5.  Don’t stop caring.

Even if it seems like all the hard work you’ve done isn’t going to help you in life anymore, don’t stop. Don’t ever stop working hard and don’t ever give up on your job, your family and most importantly yourself.  Because (like i said before) things will not stay the same forever, and when things get good again you would regret it if you gave up before just because you couldn’t be strong enough to just hold on a second longer until things went back to normal.  

Well as for my question, I’ve basically answered it.  I don’t know what you go through, how you live, or your morals. And honestly I’m not going to take the time out to guess and label everyone.  One thing i do know is that even when things get bad (like they are right now)  sometimes all we need is a reminder that this isn’t how its meant to be, therefore this isn’t how it will stay.  And if all of the ideas above fail, and you have honestly tried your best not to be paranoid, then i say stop watching the news for a while