This Is How You Rob Yourself Of Peace

Learn to pick your battles

Yesterday, I stumbled across some incredibly hateful tweets and threads on Twitter. The way people were going to town on each other just because they didn’t share the same views was crazy to witness.

It completely shifted my energy just reading these tweets; I had to get off social media. There was just so much negativity and bad energy on there, and I felt this even though I was just an observer.

Imagine how negatively the people who actively engage in these hateful tirades actually feel?

Wasted energy

What is mind-blowing to me is the fact that these people who waste so much energy fighting others on the Internet are essentially fighting with complete strangers.

People they have never met and probably will never ever meet. Yet they are so willing to sit there and engage in this type of behaviour that puts them in a bad mood, and then they carry this foul mood to their real-world lives.

No wonder there are so many angry and aggressive people in the world. If you spend all your energy being hateful and argumentative it's bound to affect your mindset, and, essentially your life.

The cycle of hate

Just as we do with most things, we have managed to turn the Internet into an ugly and dark space. One where people feel comfortable saying hateful things they would never dare say in real life.

Some people think the fact that they are anonymous on the Internet and are hidden behind a computer screen makes the hate less real. That it somehow protects them from taking anything so personally, but eventually this cycle of hate will break even the toughest of people.

Getting offended or angry about every little thing is no way to live. It just means you will never ever be at peace.

Pick your battles

Anger is just one of the many emotions we as humans have the capacity to withhold, and there are times that call for anger. When we see injustices in the world, or someone or something threatens the people we care about or ourselves, of course, that calls for anger.

But sitting around on the Internet fighting with every other person just for the sake of it is no way to live, at least peacefully anyway.

There are people who genuinely thrive on this feeling of anger. It motivates them. It gets them out of bed in the morning. But that is so unhealthy. This just causes their angry temperament to spill over into other aspects of their lives.

This affects their careers.

This affects their relationships.

This affects even their ability to evolve as a person.

We should express anger yes, but for the things that actually matter.

This is actually the general theme of Mark Manson’s book “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck” where he talks about the fact we have a limited number of things to care about, we may as well make them things that truly matter to us.

“The key to a good life is not giving a f*ck more; it’s giving a f*ck less about less, giving a f*ck about what is true and immediate and important.” — Mark Manson

If more people adopted this way of thinking the world would be a peaceful place.

We need to learn to pick our battles. Fight for the things that truly matter to us. Not pick a fight with any person that does the slightest thing to annoy us. This is no way to lead a peaceful and fulfilling life.

Re-channel that energy

I never waste time or energy on the hateful part of the Internet, so when I saw the enormous amount of negativity being spewed it was pretty sad actually. That people have reduced their lives to becoming trolls.

If these people channeled their energy in a positive way they could achieve so much. Rather than spread hate, they could be spreading knowledge and peace.

We already have so much hatred in the world; there is no need for further contribution.

It takes hard work to cultivate peace of mind, but it is so worth the effort. Conversely, it is so easy to be a hateful person, yet it is so detrimental in the long run.

Identify what your principles are and what you truly care about and concentrate on those. Don’t waste your energy fighting everyone over every little thing.

This robs you of your peace.

This robs you of your life.

Focus on what you hold dear to you and watch your life change.