#109 - What is Yours to Carry? {Reflections}

A scoop of creatine goes down the wrong pipe and suddenly there’s panic, coughing, and no air. That small scare becomes the clearest picture of modern life: we’re breathing in more tragedy than our souls can process. Violent headlines, viral clips, and hot takes pile up until anxiety becomes the soundtrack of the day. We don’t just hear about suffering anymore; we watch it in graphic detail, on demand, and often before we’ve even had coffee.

We talk candidly about tragedy overload and the illusion of being everywhere at once. Technology grants a kind of faux omniscience and faux omnipresence, tricking us into thinking every crisis is ours to carry. The result is predictable: dread, helplessness, and compassion fatigue. Instead of hardening our hearts or spiraling deeper, we name a better way to live with wisdom and care. We give permission to set boundaries, release what isn’t ours, and focus on meaningful action close to home. This is not apathy. It’s ordered love.

You’ll hear four simple, protective practices that make a real difference: unplug with intention, refuse graphic videos you can’t unsee, go outside and reset your body, and ask God to reveal what is actually yours to carry. From there, we move from global doomscrolling to local presence—serving neighbors, showing up for our communities, and trusting God with the rest. If the constant feed has left you tired and tight-chested, this conversation offers breathing room, grounded faith, and a path back to peace.

If this resonates, share it with a friend who needs lighter lungs today. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us one boundary you’ll set this week so others can learn from your practice.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:15):
What is up everybody?
Hey, this is Ryan and welcome toour Reflections podcast.
And okay, I want to start thisone by telling you a quick story
that is kind of light and thenget into something a bit more
heavy.
So uh buckle up.
But you know, I take thissupplement every day.
It's called creatine and it'slike a powder.

(00:36):
And my son taught me how to doit a couple years ago.
He calls it dry scooping.
You take a scoop of it, it'slike a dry powder, and you just
dump it in your mouth, whichsounds terrible.
And then you drink a swig ofwater, and then it, you know,
sort of mixes in your mouth, andyou can swallow it.
Well, it actually isn't as badas you as I thought, but the
first time I tried it, I put thedry powder in my mouth and then

(00:57):
breathed in.
And as you can imagine, thepowder like coated the inside of
something, my lungs or mythroat.
And I was like, ugh, and I itwent down the wrong, the wrong
pipe.
And I was like choking andgasping for air.
I couldn't breathe.
And my kids were like, what areyou doing?
And I just couldn't breathe, Icouldn't catch my breath.
And it was like it was just allway too much going down the

(01:19):
wrong hole.
And I almost suffocated.
I thought I saw my life flashbefore my eyes.
But I I think about this oftenbecause I feel like that's kind
of not to make it too much, butlike I feel like this is kind of
how we are today in our culturetoday.
Uh, and here's what I mean.
This is where I take a bit of aturn to more of a heavy uh bit
here.
But there's a guy named AlanSchlemann who wrote an article

(01:40):
called Tragedy Overload.
And he talks about in thisarticle the amount of tragedy
that you and I have ingested inthe last just couple of weeks,
um, depending on where you live,but also the amount of tragedy
we have access to, like thatwe've had access to for the last
many years.
And it's just, it's all so much,like too much.

(02:01):
And it's as though we're likebreathing in stuff and just
going down the wrong hole andwe're choking and gasping for
air, and we can't catch ourbreath because it's just all so
much and too much.
I mean, here in Minnesota, wehad a tragic shooting at a at a
school where two young childrendied.
And then not long after that, wehad the Charlie Kirk murder,
which was more of a national uhsort of event.

(02:21):
And then we had that same day,there was a shooting in in my
home state of Colorado atEvergreen High School, the same
day.
And then a week earlier, therewas the murder of the Ukrainian
refugee uh Irina Zarutska, andthere was graphic footage that
was shown of her murder that weall probably had access to, many
of you probably saw it, and it'slike it's all so much, and it's

(02:42):
like it's too much just goingdown the wrong tube.
And and we seem to havewitnessed all of it.
Like we have either live folkssaw it live, and the Charlie
Kirk murder happened in frontof, I don't know, thousand
people or something like that.
Or do you've seen video footageof it?
You've had friends who've toldyou about it.
And we have today in ourculture, with because of
technology, we have access tonearly everything.

(03:03):
And so we don't just knowinformation about things or
events that happen halfwayaround the world that we have
nothing to do with.
We also, we don't just hear it,we also probably see it.
There's video, and it getspassed around like instantly.
And I'm sure you've noticed itbecomes this extremely heavy,
heavy burden.
And Alan, in his in his article,Alan Schlemann, he argues that

(03:25):
we humans are simply not able todeal with this.
We don't have the bandwidth, hesays, to know and to see and to
carry all of this stuff.
Because never before, thinkabout it, never before in human
history have we ever had accesslike this.
You know, I never knew whathappened over in Thailand on a
Tuesday afternoon because itthere was no way for me to know.

(03:45):
And also it just wasn't mine toworry about.
Well, now I do.
Now I can see live video of, youknow, some small remote village
in Thailand and hear aboutwhat's happening there.
And uh, or I can have a friendwho's living in Portugal post
something and I can know aboutit right away.
But this is a brand new thing inthe history of the human world
and in existence, and maybe Goddid just didn't intend for us to

(04:06):
be able to carry all of thisstuff.
And Schlemann says thattechnology has produced like
this faux omniscience and fauxomnipresence, that that we have
this sense that we areeverywhere and know everything.
It's not real, though.
It's like a faux or fakeomniscience, a fake
omnipresence.
And it's actually hurting usmore than helping us in any way.
And the problem, as you canprobably sense it, it and even

(04:28):
as I'm talking, maybe you feelthis sense of dread creeping up
from down below.
I don't know, but the problem issomewhere down in our souls,
because our souls, which aregentle, fragile things, I feel
like, they they just can't takeit.
And they can't take it all in,they can't process it, they
don't know how to deal with allof it.
And like back in the day, if youthink about back in the day,
even not that long ago, um, afew decades ago, we only really

(04:51):
had to worry about our family,our closest friends, maybe our
extended community orneighborhoods or city, maybe
state, maybe a couple ofsignificant events at the
national level, maybe one or twoworldwide events that we all saw
in the news.
But even a hundred years beforethat, we didn't even know things
that were happening outside ofour own little area.
And now with social media, wecan see everything and we

(05:13):
witness it as though it's oursto deal with it, as though that
village over in Thailand was myvillage, and those people were
my people, and as though it's myburden to carry.
But most of these events uh Ican do nothing about.
I literally can't do anythingabout them.
And so what I end up instead, Ifeel helpless and scared, maybe

(05:35):
anxious, maybe just this heavysense of dread or uh depression,
and it's all so much.
That's too much because we arenot God.
Uh God alone really is the onethat is able to see all of this
and deal with it.
He has the bandwidth.
We don't.
Our shoulders just are not broadenough, but God's God's are.
Now, look, I love technology,but technology and information

(05:59):
does have a price.
We have to be honest about this.
There's a give and take here,and this is the price of
technology, of access.
We know a lot of stuff that wehave no business knowing, and we
carry burdens that we have nobusiness carrying.
So, one, I'm gonna I'm gonnagive you a couple ways I think
that can help us cope.
But one, I just want you to hearme say there are many things

(06:20):
that you are looking at,watching, hearing about that you
have nothing to do with.
They're not yours to carry,they're they're yours to let go
and trust that God will takecare of them, or that the the
local officials in that smalllittle area in Pennsylvania will
handle that.
Or the voters in, I don't know,Papua New Guinea, they'll

(06:41):
they'll sort that out.
But uh so I want you to hear megive you permission that there
are things you just don't needto worry about.
You don't have to have anopinion about them, you don't
have to post about them.
You can just go about your dayand give those things to God.
Okay, but here's some practicaladvice for how to how to handle
all this.
That's so much and too much anduh keep you from suffocating.

(07:03):
Okay, number one is I wouldencourage you, and I've done
this in person at Central manytimes, but unplug.
Unplug.
You have the controls in this.
I know it's hard.
I know we're all addicted to ourphones and the social media, but
I'm telling you, for your soul,protect your soul by unplugging
from the news, turn off thenews, especially if it's a far

(07:23):
left or right kind of leaningnews sort of echo chamber, just
turn it off if it tends to leantowards the catastrophic, which
most media outlets do.
Uh, by the way, there's adifference between between media
outlets and real news, but butunplug, turn it off, turn off
the internet, turn off socialmedia, unfollow certain people
who only post provocative,clickbait, you know, insightful

(07:47):
things.
Just unfollow them.
You don't have to make a bigdeal out of it.
Um, also schedule times to notuse it or to use it.
Like, hey, I'm gonna use socialmedia for half an hour right
now, and don't do it before bedor right when you wake up.
Okay, that's just my advice.
Don't do it when you wake upfirst thing in the morning, when
your brain and your soul havebeen at rest all night, and then
just don't turn your phone onand read all the tragedies.

(08:10):
And before bed, too, that canjust mess with your sleep.
So don't do that.
So, and as you unplug from thenews and internet and social
media, you know, uh engage insome IRL activities.
If you don't know what thatmeans, that means in real life.
This is the code word that theyoung people say.
IRL in real life.
Do things in real life.
Gather with friends, throw afootball, or play a game of
clue, or Yahtzee, or whatever,or go bowling, or play

(08:33):
pickleball.
I don't care, but do somethingin real life.
Okay, so number one, unplug.
Uh number two, you know, if youcan avoid those graphic videos,
they're all over the internet.
You can see the graphic videos.
I'm not gonna say what they are,but many of them.
Yeah, if you can avoid them,just uh you can't unsee them.
So avoid those, protect yoursoul and just avoid those.
So number three is uh gooutside.

(08:54):
This is kind of like unplug.
Number one is unplug, two, avoidgraphic videos.
Three is get outside, go for awalk.
You know, take your dog outthere for a walk, go watch the
birds and the trees, even if youdon't like birds, I don't care.
Go watch some birds.
It's good for your soul.
Go outside when it's raining,look at the rainbows, go
snowshoeing this winter and uhget outside, get some oxygen,
get some fresh air.

(09:15):
And then number four is, and Imean this, ask God to show you
what is yours to worry about.
Like, should you really beworrying about a vote in
Thailand that prohibits localvendors from using bananas in
their street cuisine?
I don't I don't know.
Probably not.
Let those local vendors inThailand sort that out.
So instead, ask God, okay, whowhat news should I be ingesting?

(09:40):
You know, whose burden should Icarry?
Who's my family, my tribe, myvillage?
Not that you shouldn't careabout the global community or
starving kids in Africa or, youknow, the unrest in Sri Lanka or
whatever.
I'm just saying, like, what'sreally yours to carry and affect
change and impact?
And it probably is those localclosest to you.

(10:00):
And so uh ask God, what whatshould I care about, God?
And where should my energy, mytime, my attention go?
So those are the things.
So uh one, unplug from the news,internet, social media.
Uh so unplug, get outside, doreal activities.
Uh avoid, number two, gra avoidgraphic videos.
Number three, get outside and gofor walks, refresh your soul in
the natural world.
Number number four, ask God whatand who is yours to worry about,

(10:24):
uh, which is your circus, whichis your monkeys, yeah, uh, and
then let God show you.
And uh, and then tomorrowmorning, get up and do whatever
it is that's yours to do.
And let the rest go.
Trust that God will take care ofit.
Trust that God won't hold youaccountable for what happened in
Thailand with those local bananavendors.

(10:46):
It's not yours to worry about.
So do what's yours to dotomorrow morning.
Love God and love your neighborsand let God take care of the
rest.
Okay.
And also, then may you be atpeace in this time.
All right, love you guys.
Peace.
Hey, if you enjoy this show, I'dlove to have you share it with
some friends.
And don't forget you are alwayswelcome to join us in person at

(11:09):
Central in Elk River at 8 30,which is our liturgical
gathering, or at 10 o'clock, ourmodern gathering.
Or you can check us out onlineat clcelkriver.org.
Peace.