Episode 004 - Cut the Cords

This is In Brief. Let's get to it. Hey everybody, this is Jordana from the Recon Network here with another episode of the In Brief podcast. If you're not familiar with the podcast, this is where we take just a few minutes each week to dive into a topic that hopefully makes your post-military transition a little bit easier but at the very least gives you a new perspective to take into the week. This week, we've got a topic that I'm very passionate about, and it's cutting the cords. So every day you and I are bombarded with a ton of information from advertisements to work emails or social emails. It's actually estimated that we consume about 12 hours of information a day. In fact, a recent report from the University of California in San Diego noted that we consume about 34 gigabytes of data and information every single day. To put that in more relatable terms, we're absorbing enough data every day to stream every single episode of Stranger Things or read every single article on Wikipedia 3 or 4 times over. That's a ton of information. And while we're trying to absorb all of this information coming at us, guess what? The people around us are too, right? No one is immune from this. And that means that under all of the data and the constant stream of noise, there are other people out there who are under information fire as well. So it's no wonder that in our culture today, we have such an issue with mental health. We have issues with relationships. It's because we're literally buckling under the weight of just living in a world with the technological advances and access that we do. It's really hard to find peace when there's a constant stream of information coming at you 24/7. So how do we combat this? Well, there's a lot of different ways that people suggest that you can reduce noise and find peace. There's meditation, obviously exercise, all of those type things are self-care items that we can use to basically invoke more peace into our lives. However, At some point, we have to make cuts. And whether that includes relationships you may be in that take more than they give, or things you've done just because you can, or you always have, sometimes cutting the cord is the most direct path to more peace and less noise. And now keep in mind, sometimes we don't have to cut something out forever. It may just be for a season. So if you're focusing on a big goal and need to spend more time on it to achieve it, It may mean that you cut out your time on social media or meeting up with friends for a while. These changes don't have to be permanent. They can simply be a way to reduce distractions or stress for a period of time too. But whether you're looking at making serious life changes or simply auditing how and where you're spending your time, here are a few quick ways to identify things in your life that you could cut out. 1, is it a negative influence? If something or someone is constantly causing negativity in your life, It may be beneficial to remove them. Is it unhealthy? If you're in an unhealthy relationship, whether it's romantic, platonic, or even professional, it might be necessary to remove yourself from that in order to improve your well-being. Of course, this goes for things that are unhealthy too, like eating fast food every day for lunch. What are the unhealthy things that you can cut out in order to improve your life? Number 3, is it a waste of time or a distraction? Sometimes we find ourselves spending a lot of time on things or people that don't align with our goals and priorities. These things might be taking your time, energy, and focus away from what's important and preventing you from focusing on what is important and your own goals. And 4, is it clutter? Whether it's mental clutter, like long lists of things you need to fix at home, or physical clutter, like the last 3 months of mail that are sitting on my counter, reducing clutter can be a quick solution And a quick path to mental clarity. So maybe in this, you've identified a few things that you could cut out from your life that will bring you a little bit more peace. But now what, right? How do we actually cut the cord and move forward with whatever this is that we want to leave behind? First, you have to be honest with yourself about why you need to remove that thing or that person. And then find the why and use that as your reminder when you inevitably think about pulling it back in. Right? There's going to be a time that you want to go back to that status quo. You want to go back to that routine. You want to revisit old times or, or memories. So at some point you have to say, no, I'm doing this because, and have that why that you can remind yourself. Then prepare yourself. Removing something or someone from your life can be challenging and sometimes brings along a sense of grief or a sense of loss. So you have to prepare yourself mentally and emotionally for that if it's something that you have maybe had in your life for a very long time. Sometimes having an accountability partner, telling a close friend that you're making these changes can be helpful and bring you support you may need down the road. And finally, the biggest thing of all is to be kind to yourself. Life is hard. Cutting out things that have been in your life for a long time isn't easy. Remind yourself of your why and focus on your growth instead. So this week, I want you to take a minute and really evaluate the things and relationships that you're spending time on and explore how they're serving you and taking space in your life. If you can find that one thing that you can cut out or even simply reduce and make a plan for doing that. And then when you cut it out, don't refill that space with more clutter. Don't refill it with More distractions. Find out what in the world is going to bring you peace and fill it with that. Sometimes making big cuts is the best way to not only reduce the noise around you, but a way to make space in your life for something big to come along.