We may have a desire to know what’s happening in the world in detail or think it’s important to be aware of at least the news headlines but there can be downside to this. If we are already feeling low or anxious, looking at stories of news items involving tragedies can leave us feeling hopeless or overwhelmed with anxiety. If we have experienced trauma we can retraumatized by watching news reports that are triggering for us. Often there isn’t a warning on reports as to what’s included and we can inadvertently become seriously unwell through our exposure to images or sounds that are remind us of harm we have suffered.

It can be helpful sometimes to step back from keeping up with the news. A digital detox can be valuable. Being selective about what we look at can spare us having experiences which disable us. One way of engaging with news stories which are hopeful and less likely to cause us difficulties is to choose sources of news which are of good or uplifting news stories. The Happy Pod produced by the BBC and available on iplayer is one example. If you are struggling with exposure to the content of the main sources of the latest news perhaps this podcast is one which you may find helpful? Making choices that are good for us can spare us being negatively impacted in ways that can take us a long time to recover from. What are you watching and are you looking after yourself in the choices you make?