Tag: happiness

Navigating the Digital Noise: How to Protect Your Peace

In today’s hyper-connected world, we’re constantly bombarded with information. From social media feeds to 24/7 news cycles, everything is shared in real-time, often without a filter. While this connectivity has its benefits, it can also lead to a constant state of sensory overload, taking a heavy toll on our mental health. It’s okay—and essential—to step back and unplug to protect your peace and sanity.


The Weight of Constant Connectivity

Multiple studies have linked heavy social media use to increased risks of depression, anxiety, loneliness, and feelings of inadequacy. The “highlight reel” of others’ lives can make it easy to fall into a cycle of comparison and fear of missing out (FOMO). Beyond social media, the relentless stream of traumatic news—whether about politics, natural disasters, or inhumane acts—can lead to compassion fatigue, a state where you become emotionally exhausted and numb to the suffering of others.


Empaths and Sensory Overload

For empaths and highly sensitive people, this digital onslaught is an even greater threat to their well-being. Empaths absorb the emotions and energy of those around them, and this extends to what they consume online. A barrage of negative news or social media conflict can feel like a direct assault on their nervous system, leading to emotional exhaustion and overwhelm. The constant noise makes it difficult to differentiate between their own feelings and the emotions they’ve absorbed from the world.


Why Unplugging is an Act of Self-Care

Taking a break from the digital world isn’t about being ignorant or uncaring; it’s a vital act of self-preservation. A technology detox, even for a short period, can have profound benefits:

  • Reduced Stress and Anxiety: Cutting back on screen time can significantly lower levels of stress and anxiety, allowing your mind to rest and refocus.
  • Improved Focus: Constant notifications and the urge to check your phone can impair your attention span. Unplugging helps retrain your brain to be present in the moment.
  • Deeper Connections: When you’re not distracted by your phone, you have more time and energy for meaningful, in-person interactions with friends and family.
  • Time for Self-Reflection: Without the digital noise, you create space for hobbies, self-reflection, and activities that nourish your soul.
    How to Start Your Digital Detox
    You don’t have to quit social media or news cold turkey. Start with small, manageable steps:
  • Set Boundaries: Dedicate specific times of the day to be completely screen-free, such as during meals or before bed.
  • Curate Your Feed: Mute or unfollow accounts that consistently bring negativity into your life.
  • Seek Out Positive Content: Actively follow accounts that are uplifting, inspiring, or educational.
  • Reconnect with the Real World: Spend time in nature, read a book, or engage in a hobby you love.

  • In a world that demands you to be “on” all the time, remember that it’s perfectly okay to be out of the loop, especially if it means protecting your inner peace. Your mental health is a priority, and sometimes, the best way to care for it is to simply unplug.~micaiah

What If Tomorrow Never Comes

Don’t Wait Until Retirement to Enjoy the Fruits of Your Labor

Retirement is often seen as the golden period of life, a time when we can finally relax and enjoy the fruits of our labor. However, waiting until retirement to celebrate yourself and enjoy life can be a risky gamble. Once you retire, you have more days behind you than ahead of you, and the reality is that tomorrow may never come. It’s crucial to stop waiting and start celebrating yourself now.

The Importance of Living in the Present

Life is unpredictable, and the future is uncertain. While planning for retirement is important, it’s equally vital to take time off and enjoy what truly matters—spending time with family, friends, and loved ones. These moments of joy and connection are what make life meaningful. They are the memories that will stay with you forever, far more valuable than any material possession.

Laugh, Live, Love.

Jobs Serve a Purpose, But Shouldn’t Be Your Sole Purpose

Our jobs serve a need—they provide financial stability, a sense of accomplishment, and sometimes even personal fulfillment. However, they should not be the sole purpose of our lives. It’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of work, but it’s essential to remember that life is about more than just your career. Taking time to enjoy hobbies, travel, and simply relax can lead to a more balanced and fulfilling life.

Celebrate Yourself Today

Don’t wait for a milestone like retirement to start celebrating yourself. Take a day off to do something you love, plan a weekend getaway with your family, or simply spend an evening with friends. These moments of joy and relaxation are not just indulgences—they are investments in your well-being and happiness.

Take time to enjoy life

Remember, while it’s important to plan for the future, it’s equally important to live in the present. Don’t wait until retirement to enjoy the fruits of your labor. Celebrate yourself today, spend time with loved ones, and make the most of every moment. Life is too short to wait for tomorrow—embrace today and live it to the fullest.~micaiah

The Unfortunate Habit of getting Burned

When you are little your parents, if they are the nurturing and loving sort, try to warn you from all the ills in life that will bring you pain. They tell you, “No, sweetie don’t touch that hot pot you’ll get burned.” “Don’t climb so high you’ll fall down.” And sometimes you listen and stayed safe and sometimes curiosity killed the cat or at least curiosity burned your hand, as you learned the hard way that it hurts to touch a hot stove.

People that give and give of themselves, never setting boundaries with others that gladly take from them, are like that small child, that heard the warning yet still took the chance of being burned.

Sure, everyone knows that you can’t pour from an empty cup. But no one explains how to break the cycle of feeling as if we have to please people in order to feel love. Or how gratifying it can be to give to yourself what you so freely give to others.

From the time we are young, we see examples of our mothers giving of themselves to take care of the children, the home and their mate/husband. We see single moms that make things happen when there is seemingly no way they should. We see adults tired, working day in and day out so their families can survive. So, we absorb that mentality that you give to those you care about even if they never have anything to give you, you just keep giving. Even to the point of defeat and exhaustion. Working and giving of themselves sometimes straight into early graves.

It’s a seriously flawed concept. One that often leads to couples staying together to raise children only to divorce later once the kids are “old enough,” often feeling they lived a life unfulfilled. And single moms feeling as if they wasted all their good years on their grown, ungrateful kids. While sometimes that is the case, oftentimes these feelings are a result of extreme burn out. Of having your soul depleted to the point you have nothing to give, not a thought, worry or care, not even for yourself.

We have to change the mindset that is is better to give than to receive. Let’s say, it’s better to give just as much as you get, even if those things you get are a result of your own doing. We have to learn to refill our cups. We are solely responsible for maintaining our inner peace and happiness. Can other people lend to those feelings? Absolutely! But they are not the driving force behind those feelings. That is an inside job.

People will tell you “No” is a complete sentence. Yet, you will still worry your nerves over saying it, feeling as if you need to expound on the reason. You do not have to feel guilty for using your excess on yourself. Whether that excess is time, money or energy. You are not obligated to give so much of yourself to anyone that it leaves you with nothing left for you.

You have to learn to schedule and set aside time for yourself. Give yourself gifts, write yourself notes affirming how amazing you are. Buy yourself those flowers, or that pretty dress. Dress up just because you like the way it makes you feel. When you start treating yourself right and ensuring your cup stays full. People will reap the benefit of your overflow. You’ll be so full, you can’t help but to give that overflow to others and it won’t even be as noticeable.

Stop allowing yourself to be burned by the expectations of others. Stop equating your acts of service as fair exchange for love, affection and appreciation. Those things should be given freely and not contingent on what someone can get from or out of you.

You are too amazing to keep allowing your soul to be exhausted. Guard yourself and set those boundaries. People that truly love you will never want to see you get burned.

~Micaiah

In the Spirit of Maturity

In 2022 and beyond, what we’re not going to do is waste time explaining the things that should be apparent. Like being mature after a certain age, treating people how you want to be treated and common courtesy even in the midst of differing opinions.

If you are grown, let’s spend more time acting grown, than we do announcing it. Let’s perfect the art of minding our own business versus mindless gossip. I don’t know about the next person, but between tending to my child, work and elderly loved ones I could care less what the next person is doing. And since I waited so late in life to have a child, forget keeping up with the Jones’s I need to keep up with her. Let’s just say, that’s no small feat with these bad knees, lol.

Why can’t we, as grown adults, find real joy in the happiness and victories of others versus feeling jealous and insecure in our own short comings. People need to understand that timing is everything and what looks like an easy win, may have come on the tail end of hardship, sacrifice and struggles. And that just because someone else’s success manifested itself first, doesn’t mean yours isn’t still coming. Don’t block your blessings harboring negative feelings.

Being grown isn’t just an age range it’s a state of mind and being. It should be a time full of introspection and peace. Time to realize or finalize plans and dreams. We should be well beyond petty disagreements and the inability to communicate respectfully. We should be well versed in agreeing to disagree without falling out and playing the victim.

I refuse to waste time and energy on people that refuse to act their age. I’m not explaining things to people that are far beyond the age and have the mental capacity to understand. I will not carry the burden of other people’s immaturity and selfishness. If they love drama and chaos leave them in a cage or on the stage, because life is short and grown ups have better things to do with their time and energy, or at least they should.

I also fully understand that some people often grow old, but never grow up, but they need to take that Peter Pan mentality and stay far away from those of us that have relinquished our lives as caterpillars and are flying on the wings of our lives as butterflies. If you can’t fly with us, do us the favor and move out our way.

Let’s spend our time investing in ourselves and in those that invest in you. Live your best life and encourage those around you to do the same. Lifting up others is a sure fire way to elevate yourself. You won’t have to announce you’re grown if your actions speak for you. So, protect your peace, sage your life of negativity and float into your best years.

~Micaiah

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