Stop Doomscrolling, Start Living: Choosing Joy in a Chaotic World

In a world filled with constant headlines, political unrest, and the looming fear of “what’s next,” it’s easy to feel powerless, anxious, and stuck in a cycle of despair. In this episode of Clear & On Purpose, I share my personal journey of going from hyper-informed and constantly outraged… to grounded, present, and intentional with my energy.

You’ll hear:

• Why staying too informed can actually make you less effective at creating change
• How I shifted from living in constant fear to noticing the good all around me
• Practical ways to protect your energy while still making an impact
• How to focus on your immediate surroundings for real, lasting influence
• Why joy, gratitude, and high-vibration energy are powerful tools for change

If you’ve been feeling heavy, overwhelmed, or like the state of the world is draining your ability to be present in your own life, this conversation will give you permission—and practical steps—to reclaim your peace without ignoring the problems.

Because the truth is: the world might not change overnight, but you can change the way you show up in it. And that changes everything.

Resources Mentioned:

• Join The Village: Click here to connect with our community.
• Sign up for the Momentum Challenge: Click here to get started.

Resources & Links

• Follow Christina @christinaslaback
• Email us at hello@christinaslaback.com
• www.christinaslaback.com

Transcript

Finding what you're looking for

[00:00:00] when I started to let go of that need to constantly be informed, when I took breaks from the news cycle of social media and all of those charged conversations, I noticed that I started to feel happier. I started to notice the good around me instead of all of the bad. I started to be able to pull back and see people as whole human beings again instead of simply being on my side or not.

And I decided that all the effort that I was putting into literally screaming and to avoid would be better spent trying to improve the things that I had direct contact with. If I wanted more light in the world, I needed to be that light, and that wasn't going to come from anger and self-righteousness.

Christina: Welcome to Clear and On Purpose, the podcast design to help you cut through the noise and get back to what matters most. If you're feeling stuck, but needs to take intentional action, you are in the right place. I'm Christina Slayback, homeschooling mom of [00:01:00] two and life and business coach, helping you drop in and align with your values and create more space.

Each week I'll be sharing practical insights and simple. Actionable steps to help you find clarity, boost your energy, and design a life that balances ambition with mates. Let's dive in and get clear on purpose.

/If you are someone like me, you are probably thrive on considering yourself well informed on someone that is interested in their community and the world around you, and wanting to be able to make that impact. And in order to do that, you really do wanna know what's going on. You probably have, are very passionate about a lot of issues and keep up and have.

The feeling that you want to continually stay up to date with all the things that are going on so that you have the [00:02:00] ability to make the biggest difference. And I know that I hear a lot of talk amongst in or in my circle of friends and family, just generally with all of the constant keeping up on media cycles and on social media and the news, and it can really.

Feed into a lot of negativity. There's a lot of terrible things that are going on and a lot of things that we don't have control over. And I've also heard a lot of people talking about this impending World War II that we're headed for constantly. And while I do agree that it's important to stay aware of what's going on in the world and to be able to do our part and take action when we can, mostly what I hear when I'm talking to people about these things is not this sense of.

Of insight and, ability to see what the impact that we can have. But it's more so this feeling of [00:03:00] despair, this constant uncertainty and anxiety and this just overwhelming sense of dread. And it's impacting the making future plans of being present and grateful in the moment, and knowing that more bad news is always just another click or a headline away.

And taking action and being an informed citizen to me doesn't mean holding all the burdens of the world by needing to stay in the know all the time. So a while back I became really vigilant in keeping track of the news cycles, of contacting my local legisl legislators about issues that were important to me, attending rallies and protests, and really just doing all of the things and it led me.

To a really dark place. Instead of feeling empowered by the things that I was doing, I felt even more powerless and helpless. I became angrier about all of the perceived injustices that I felt were occurring. I talked incessantly about everything that was going on and everything that was wrong [00:04:00] in the world, and it felt like that was all there was like I was simply witnessing reality, and the reality was terrible.

And this really got me upset. It got me a little depressed and I stopped enjoying all the things that were around me. I complained constantly. I would get into arguments with strangers online or even just in my head, constantly trying to prove my point, and I started to pull away from friends and family that I loved simply because of the difference in views and because I believed that everything was going wrong.

That was all that I saw. And when I started to let go of that need to constantly be informed, when I took breaks from the news cycle of social media and all of those charged conversations, I noticed that I started to feel happier. I started to notice the good around me instead of all of the bad. I started to be able to pull back and see people as whole human beings again instead of simply [00:05:00] being on my side or not.

And I decided that all the effort that I was putting into literally screaming and to avoid would be better spent trying to improve the things that I had direct contact with. If I wanted more light in the world, I needed to be that light, and that wasn't going to come from anger and self-righteousness.

The world didn't change, but my perception of it did. I want to raise my children to see the good in people, to see the good in the world. I don't want them living in a constant state of fear and anxiety, and so I knew that I needed to model that for them. I believe that most people are good. I believe that most people are doing their best.

I believe that with most behavior, that it can be explained with enough context. I also believe that we have more power than we think, and the biggest area that we have power over is ourselves and our immediate surroundings. We [00:06:00] are energetic human beings, and the energy that I was bringing was really negative.

I was putting that out into the world and that I wasn't. Wasn't surprised that that's what I was getting back and when instead I started to focus on raising my own vibration of looking for more things to be grateful for, to focus on doing more joy, for looking for positive stories and positive things that were going on.

I began bringing that energy to the spaces I inhabited, and I could even raise the energy in our house and the energy and the surroundings that I frequented just by what I was bringing in. Because we find that we're looking for, when I was looking for all the negative, that is what I found, and that is what I was constantly feeling was my reality.

But when I started looking for and finding the positive, I'm training my brain to notice and appreciate all of the good. And by noticing all the good, I'm helping others notice it all as well. The more positive people and the more that we fill our own cups and [00:07:00] increase our capacity, the more impact that we can actually make.

By noticing and owning what I had control of and not outsourcing my thoughts and feelings, I began to be able to find my way back to myself again. The world didn't change. There are so many things that are scary and they do require our attention. However, I no longer feel like I need to be aware of everything that's going wrong.

I can instead selectively choose to use that energy and instead of simply diffusing it into all of the areas and all of social injustices in the world, I can direct it to where I can make the biggest impact. And for me, the biggest impact that I can make right now is for myself, for my family, my friends, my clients, my children.

I can help them to maintain their energy, to increase their capacity so that they can make their own focused impact as well. And then those efforts can ripple out and make more lasting change. And a lot of times it feels [00:08:00] like it's not enough, and there's always more work to do, and everyone's interests and capacities are different.

But by noticing what's giving and draining your energy and where your focus is directed, you can better utilize and improve your capacity. I am always much more inspired by acts of love, kindness, and humankind helping each other. More than arguing and fighting. So much of what we're fighting against is fear on both sides.

So instead, let's sow more peace, more love and understanding, and see what comes from it. And if you can't do it for yourself, do it as an act of civil service for those around you that you love and that you care about. And remember that what you are looking for is what you're gonna find. So if you start looking for the positive.

You'll see more of it.

/

Christina: Thank you for tuning in to clear and on purpose. If you're ready to [00:09:00] take intentional steps toward a more fulfilling life and wanna customize the approach, I'd love to work with you. Visit www.christinaslayback.com to schedule a free consultation or explore current offers designed to help you gain clarity.

And reclaim your energy. And don't forget to subscribe and share this episode with a friend if you found it helpful. It helps others find the show and grow our community.