Unplugged

November 5, 2024. Election frenzy everywhere. Candidates stepping aside. The euphoria of change. The possibility of… everything.

I was exhausted. Not from following the news – from the weight of caring about everything, all the time, with no power to change any of it.

I made a different kind of decision that day.

I decided to unplug. Completely.

The Rules

No news websites. No news podcasts. No news radio stations.

I kept CBS Sports. I kept Splendid Table. I kept classical music.

Food. Home. Sports. That was it.

HGTV and Food Network became my background noise instead of cable news. I spent my time developing recipes, learning the science behind ingredients, building Remixology.

The First Five Days

The hardest part? Breaking the URL muscle memory.

After Wordle each morning, my fingers would automatically start typing news sites I’d visited for years. It took about five days for that reflex to die.

Then… nothing. I stopped thinking about it entirely.

What I Missed

A year later, here’s what I didn’t know was happening:

The number of ballots cast for both sides of our election. Destructive fires a few hours away. The heavy toll from the ongoing conflicts halfway around the world. And a different black smoke from a different election at an assembly of cardinals.

Even the small stuff – like when we turned the clocks back last Saturday.

What I Gained

My head is lighter.

I’m more peaceful. More mindful. More intentional about where my attention goes.

I spend my energy on things I can actually affect: friends, family, something to look forward to, creating something that might help someone else too.

Occasionally I got asked why I’m so quiet.

“I’m just observing,” I tell them. “Taking the entire experience in.”

The truth? I’m free.

365 Days

Tomorrow is November 5, 2025. One year.

I made my goal.

And I’m not going back.

This is my life now – creating instead of consuming, building instead of reacting, engaging with what’s in front of me instead of obsessing over what I can’t control.

The news will always be there, spinning and urgent and demanding our attention.

But our life is here too. Right here. Right now.

I chose this. Because whatever you water grows.

What are you watering? Share your thoughts on IG @remixology