We live in a world of too much information.

We have more information at our fingertips, flashed in our faces, than I think the human condition was ever designed to handle.

In his new book The Resilience Project, Hugh van Cuylenburg shares a story about meeting the most joyful little boy while teaching in India. Stanzin lives a life of utter poverty, and yet his gratitude for the meager things he does have, has a lasting impact on Hugh. He is so happy with so little.

I wonder if a large part of Stanzin’s gratitude has come from not knowing.

Not knowing that there are people out there who not only have hole-free shoes to wear, but have a cupboard filled with the latest influencer-led fashion.

Not knowing that there are children who have more than a broken rusty swing to play on, rather they have toys taking over their house.

Not knowing that for some people, the food he is eating wouldn’t be fit for their pets.

Not knowing about world conflicts, climate change, the latest political scandal. Not knowing about ice epidemics, whether it will rain in three months time, what latest gadget he is supposed to buy. Not having a chance to google any unusual health symptoms. Not following the lives of complete strangers online. Bearing only the sadness and worry of those in his immediate circle of life.

Not having the news of faraway places surging through all of the screens he doesn’t have.

And in this not knowing, maybe he has more space to care for what is really important. To enjoy what he does have.

Of course Stanzin would have things to worry about, things that those of us living in a privileged country with privileged healthcare and privileged education systems, would struggle to understand. I wouldn’t trade places with him.

His life would have been harder than I can imagine, and yet, and yet, his joy.

We can learn a lot from Stanzin.

Information is an amazing thing, but information can get heavy too. Just because we can know something, does not mean that we should.

A while ago, I can’t even remember when, Ash got rid of all social media. He suffers FOMO pretty badly so Facebook and Instagram weren’t serving him well. He now has no idea about people’s birthdays and misses the odd bit of news, but he loves being offline. Just because he could know everything about everyone else’s lives, does not mean that he should.

I don’t suffer FOMO, in fact I’d say I get JOMO (joy of missing out) more than anything. What I do get though, is the worries. And lately I’ve been taking on the worries of the world to a point that isn’t helpful. When I get online my finely tuned disaster radar tends to sniff out the bad news and follow the links, commentary and information down endless rabbit holes until my worldview becomes so negatively skewed that I can’t see the sunshine reflecting off my own kids’ blonde heads.

That is not useful worry.

I got myself in such a state one night, after watching more footage of the recent interstate bushfires, that I messaged one of the only people who has always been able to calm my overthinking, jump-ten-years-ahead brain. I messaged my Dad.

I told him I was in a state of panic thinking about the world my children are growing up in.

Obviously, having raised me, he knows me pretty well. His response was exactly what I needed.

‘I always believe in the future. Our world in the sense of medicine, education, food and even world understanding and tolerance is so much better than when I was a child and the world we are making will overcome whatever obstacles to be even better again. It is a normal reaction to worry for your kids, a desire to protect. You can’t rationalize it, have faith in the future and love them as hard as you can!’

Oh how I hope I can one day calm my own kids adult worries the way that my parents can still soothe mine.

It’s important to be informed, to have an understanding of world issues, to always strive to be better to the planet, to our fellow humans.

But too much information can tip the balance from educated to overwhelmed. And when you’re overwhelmed you’re not much good to anybody.

So I have reduced my information intake. I ‘muted’ some of the accounts I follow on social media that I thought were informing me, but have actually been overwhelming me with negative news stories. I need to know about what is happening in the world but I do not need the bad news stories on repeat. I need to be a gatekeeper for myself as well as my children in terms of what information we are consuming.

I am educating myself in different ways I can help the planet, because although I’m a teeny dot in the ocean, it is important to me, and so I’ve begun donating to a fantastic initiative called carbon8 https://www.carbon8.org.au/ which helps to transition Aussie farmers to regenerative agriculture (I heard about this on the Slow Home podcast). By doing something, however small, I feel a little more useful and a little less overwhelmed. There are so many fantastic initiatives happening that seek to strengthen communities and build relationships between each other, which is the useful stuff. That is what I want to focus on.

There is a lot to be learned from little Stanzin, who in knowing less, somehow seems to know a lot more.

Eliza xx