Loved this report from CNN about a guy named Eric Bell who was making $100,000/year and is now unemployed. One of my favorite quotes was, “For somebody that’s unemployed right now, you need to turn off the news,” he said. “It will affect the positive attitude you need to have. You’ve got to be positive, because it’s not easy. All you read is the job cuts: It can be very depressing.” And I concur with Donald Latumahina in his blog posting, “Do You Want to Stay Positive? Turn Off the News” who extends the “Turn off the News” message beyond job seekers to…well…everyone. Lloyd Garver has even gone so far as to propose a National “Turn off the TV News Day” on February 22nd.
When I Googled “Turn off the news”, I found a great posting by Douglas E. Welch and appreciated his take on how “lately the mainstream news sources have begun focusing on what ‘may’ happen instead of reporting on what ‘is’ happening. ” Thank you, Douglas!
My favorite paragraph in his whole posting was, “…there is a great difference between being aware and wallowing. Being aware means taking action — adjust our budgets, reduce our debts, look for alternative work, if needed. We might even investigate a little freelance work as a hedge against layoffs. This is what we should be doing. Instead I am witnessing more and more conversations where we bemoan our fate and wallow in the unfairness of it all. We see deeper and darker trouble just over the rise or just around the corner. We postpone action, paralyzed with fear and indecision, wondering what next ax will fall in our careers and our lives. Even worse, this is easy to do as the media and those around us continue to feed our fear.”
Back at the CNN story, psychologist Erik Fisher’s take echoed Douglas’s “take action” message by saying, ”Life is about lessons, and it’s about learning. In this situation, it’s not about feeling bitter and resentful. It’s about moving forward.”
I’m all for productive action. Maybe more of us need to take heed and power down the PC, switch off the boob-tube and click off the radio dial for a while.
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