Too Much with Which to Catch Up

The news has been coming at me from all directions and I've promised myself to decrease information intake so I can focus on myself. Financially I am behaving like an ostrich with head in sand, yet I do make efforts to manage things more realistically. How are we to get through this patch of economic downturn? I think we should learn from it and use the time to create new opportunities to make a life less centered on materialism.