How to Stay Sane When the World Feels on Fire with CNN’s Kirsten Powers - Jen Hatmaker

How to Stay Sane When the World Feels on Fire with CNN’s Kirsten Powers

“When you call things out, you need to call it behavior. You need to say, “You’re doing X, Y, and Z, and this is a problem,” versus, “You are X, Y, and Z, and you are a problem.” – Kirsten Powers

Episode 01

Kirsten Powers is a tenured news analyst who lived inside our modern age’s belly of the beast — 24-Hour Network News. Kirsten Powers lived and breathed as a senior news analyst at Fox News and then CNN for years. Eventually, she hit a breaking point and realized living full throttle, enraged about the state of the world, wasn’t doing her or anyone she loved any favors. She pulled back and began examining what it would be like if she stayed engaged in political news but also still centered and compassionate. Through her examination, she wrote an entire book about how to embrace grace and disengage from inflammatory discourse called “Saving Grace: Speak Your Truth, Stay Centered, and Learn to Coexist with People Who Drive You Nuts.”

If you need some advice on how to balance that tightrope walk of being informed and actionable but not totally defeated by the litany of bad news, please join Jen and Kirsten as they determine what grace looks like when the world feels culturally and politically on fire. 

 

Episode Transcript

Hey everyone, Jen Hatmaker here.

We’re back with another episode that originally aired on our premium channel, but it was so good, so timely, that I wanted my whole community to get a chance to hear it. This is an episode that resonated deeply with the people who heard it and I know that it will for you too. This gem features a pretty profound conversation I had with the incredible Kirsten Powers. Boy, do I love me some Kirsten! If you don’t know Kirsten, let me fill you in. She’s a powerhouse news analyst who spent years entrenched in the very overwhelming world of 24-hour network news. She’s interesting because she’s worked at both Fox News and CNN. Kirsten reached a pivotal moment when, the constant high-octane environment, the relentless, endless focus on the tumultuous state of the world, (surprise!) started taking a toll on her well-being, the quality of her relationships, and her life. She realized she had to figure out a way to stay engaged with political news while also maintaining her center and most importantly, her compassion. All of this led to her writing the most insightful book called Saving Grace: Speak Your Truth, Stay Centered, and Learn to Coexist with People Who Drive You Nuts. You can see why I wanted to bring this episode back to the top of the pile here now in this election cycle. 

In this episode, Kirsten and I dive into a rich discussion about the history of Fox News during the Trump era, her secular definition of grace, and strategies for moving away from the rigid, binary thinking that has plagued us. We also explore her framework for fostering healing rather than perpetuating constant divisiveness and we peek into some of the social science that tells us if you’re interested in how to change someone’s mind. So if you are navigating like I am this tricky balance of both staying informed and engaged without living in this constant pit of despair and outrage, Kirsten’s wisdom today is transformative.

Let me share a couple of really thought-provoking quotes from our talk that stuck with me. 

Here’s one, “When you call things out, you need to call it behavior. You need to say, ‘You’re doing X, Y, and Z, and this is a problem.’ Versus, ‘You are X, Y, and Z and you are a problem.’” This set me back on my heels instantly. Here’s one more, “Boundaries were really hard for me. I think I thought of boundaries as almost aggressive. You’re keeping people out, and that’s not actually what they are. You’re actually letting people know how to be in a relationship with you. So it’s actually an act of grace.” I love that part of our conversation and I think you will too. Just as a fun post note since we originally recorded this, Kristin’s trajectory was like moving away from the nonstop binary outrage into a rhythm and pace of life that felt sustainable and nourishing. She and her husband just moved. They bought an old house on some beautiful land in Italy. She just said, “I have got this one life, and I can spend it spiraling and on my heels and fighting and blaming and hustling and rushing, or I can choose something different.” And she did. I cannot tell you enough to follow her and listen to her. She is a wealth of wisdom, and this conversation is no exception. This is loaded with hope. It’s loaded with tangible advice, and a lot of heart, and re-airing this conversation feels as timely as ever, and I can’t wait for you to hear it. So enjoy this episode, friends. Here’s Kirsten.

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