As Bo Burnham aptly put it in his special Inside – “Is it necessary that every single person on this planet expresses every single opinion that they have on every single thing that occurs all at the same time? Is that necessary? Can anyone shut the fuck up? Can anyone, any single one, shut the fuck up about any single thing?”

I know. I’m a writer. I put my opinions out there too. I have them and I state them and they are a large part of who I am. BUT, I will say that I pick and choose what battles to fight. I legitimately care about what I talk about. I am not just willy-nilly on the internet commenting on anything and everything like anyone gives a fuck.

In my opinion, this world has an enormous communication problem. I mean, beyond ridiculous. Social media has given us a false sense of power. We are all so busy screaming over each other that we forget to listen. Worse, we really don’t want to listen. We’ve decided that no one’s opinion matters but ours.

It’s a dangerous game we’re playing. Every single person has their own reality, their own perception of the world. If we cannot learn how to see and accept opinions that differ from our own – or even worse, we state our opinions as the indelible truth – shit is going to continue going downhill.

We live in a world of information overload. We can find someone who will back up anything we want to think. Most of us barely bother to do any research or check to see if our sources have any credible background. It’s a fucking free-for-all out there. If each one of us decides that we are right and everyone else is wrong, what kind of world are we living in? One filled with discord, chaos, anger and division? Does that sound fun?

Honestly, I’m tired. I just want everyone to shut the fuck up about everything for a while. Focus on bettering themselves. Mind their own business and use their energy in a more productive, positive way. Why the hell are we wasting so much time tearing each other down? So we can feel “right”? Sitting on our individual mountaintops without community or support? No thank you. I’d rather search for some compassion and understanding within myself and try to bridge the gap. I’d rather shut up and listen for a change.

We are inundated every single day with mass amounts of bullshit. This is the world we live in. We believe this to be normal, and it’s just not. It’s toxic, disruptive, divisive, and sensational. It’s bad enough that our media does this to us. Must we also do it to each other?

It’s just gross, you guys. I’m exhausted by the mass amounts of toxicity flying about, and I want to run away and hide from it all. In my opinion, this is not a world worth living in. I want to go find another way. A healthy, balanced, loving way.

I am doing my best to shut up and listen. We have so much to learn from those around us – there are endless stories, endless perspectives, endless struggles. When we listen, we are able to find compassion for those who are different from us, even those we don’t understand. We learn about people, and we learn to love them, regardless of what we do or do not have in common. To believe that our individual reality is the only one is unspeakable arrogance. It is fear. Fear has no place in an evolved, high vibration world.

We learn nothing by staying on our side of the fence, in our comfort zones. We learn nothing by only listening to the sound of our own voices. It’s time to behave differently. This narcissist need for attention is not working. Our society is not working.

I am sending you so much love and compassion, even if you are shitty at shutting up and listening. There is always time to change. There is always time to learn. We are all learning as we go. The danger is in believing we have nothing left to learn, that we have all the answers – because that’s never the case.