One of the unintended consequences I found when I started blogging is that I become connected to the legal community, and inspired to blog, via the content produced by others.

Reading and experiencing what others share inspires me to want to add my voice to the conversation.

I have not been inspired of late.

It is so ugly out there in content land. My Facebook, Twitter, and news feeds have been taken over by politics. I was hoping it would die down after the election. It didn’t. I was hoping the new year would give way to new hope. It hasn’t. I have some friends who 100% of the time that they post, it’s political, and negative. Even Above the Law is bringing me down.

I want more puppies.

I want to live vicariously through your vacation pictures.

I want to discuss AI in law firms and be inspired to blog my thoughts about it.

In a Facebook group today we were discussing pay-to-play when it comes to speaking at conferences. I find it sad to say, but this was the most robust business-of-law related conversation I’ve participated in in a long time; one that got me thinking and inspired to the point of wanting to write.

Almost.

Your Facebook feed is not reality.

I get it. I get that people are upset. I get that people are scared. I also get that my Facebook feed is not a microcosm of the reality of this world. It is reflective of the city I live and grew up in, the socio-economic and education level of my peers, and the industry in which I work. All of which lean progressively left.

I’m not saying don’t share your concerns, fears, or outrage. Just that the majority of American do not live in that same world of outrage, no matter what your Facebook or Twitter feeds say.

In preparing for an upcoming speaking engagement, I ran across a recent study on Millennials. The amount of stress that they live under is mind-blowing. Their whole lives it’s been stress from 9/11; stress from the Great Recession; and now stress from the 2016 election and aftermath.

I get it. Hell, I’m stressed over it all, but at least I have the “good ol’ days” to reflect back upon.

What now?

So what to do moving forward?

I choose to take positive actions: To look for the positive in each day. To seek out the positive in each story. To share positive content. To create content that can inspire.

I can also refuse to give in to the ugliness that exists out there.

While I do enjoy political discourse, I can also choose to avoid it moving forward. No good ever comes out of it. I have tried to have positive debates, and provide a forum for all sides of the political spectrum, see if we can find common ground and understanding. But that isn’t working out too well.

So, rather than take my toys and go home, I’m going to share different toys and hopefully distract others to come and play along with me.

I’m going to return to my (new) normal. I’m going to share content that inspires:

And content that makes people smile:

Or content that can get us thinking, and talking, about how to move the business-of-law forward:

I am going to be, as my friend Sharon says, a “force for good” in this universe.