Well, it's been a little while since I've last decided to sit down and pour some thoughts out on this little blog here. Which is strange since I've had the time to do so, and I've had plenty of thoughts to share. I could sit here and tell you that I've just been too busy to write anything, but we're all busy. And truth is, we're really not all that busy. Take out the time we spend looking at screens and we've got plenty of time to do the things that we wish we could have gotten around to. I recently had some extra inspiration to release some of this creative angst that's been building up inside me for quite some time. It came in the form of a question that I had never been asked. Initially, I gave a straight answer; one that I thought was 100% true. However, after taking a few days to digest this question and really evaluate my own answer, I've come to find that it isn't 100% true all of the time. Although I am content with the answer that I initially gave, I think it deserves to be given more though and attention, so we'll get into that now.
The question came about while some friends and I were putting each other in the "hot seat" so to speak. In doing this we would ask each other questions about life, looking for an honest answer. Sometimes the questions got personal, which we were all comfortable with- we have all been close for at least 10 years. When it was my turn in the hot seat I was asked, "Are you as happy in real life as you seem on social media?" Without giving it much thought at all I answered "Yeah, I think?" and went on to explain that I still experience emotions like everyone else, I get sad sometimes, I get lonely sometimes, I get irritated, and I feel all the things that everyone else feels, hell, that's what makes us human. I felt good about my answer, it was honest. But, it has stuck with me now and has had me evaluating everything I see on social media. It definitely has me thinking more about my own content and what I share.
I really only use two social media platforms, Instagram and Twitter. On Twitter I pretty much just tweet things that are little thoughts that I have, things I think are funny, lyrics, or something related to baseball. Usually, the only reasons I really ever post anything on Instagram is because it's something that I think is cool as shit. Sometimes I post little updates on my story, but that's also probably something that I think is cool as shit. Either way- I'm not gonna go off posting something that I don't think is cool. Nobody wants to see a picture or hear about some guy that's sitting on his couch in his boxers, eating ice cream out of the tub with a spoon that's too big at 1am typing on his blog that maybe four people read, three of which are family members. Who cares? I'm also not going to go off posting about all the injustices in the world, Lord knows there's too many. You won't see me sharing sob stories, you won't see me sharing things that don't directly relate to me. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. There is enough bad news in the world and we're inundated with it wherever we go. I only want to share things that make me happy, that make me smile. I follow a lot of accounts that do the same- and I know how that makes me feel when I see it. I've always been the type to go, "Damn look at that! That's so cool!" when I see something I like. And I want to be able to have the same impact on folks that are looking at my profile. I want people to feel good and happy when they happen to scroll by something I post. I want to share something that I enjoyed, in hopes that it brings some joy to someone else. I've always thought that energy is contagious, and if I can convey the energy that I felt in a moment through a few words and a picture, why the hell wouldn't I?! It's never a pissing contest, it's never a "Hey look what I'm doing," it's never about putting on a mask to hide the real me. What you see is what you get.
What I want to get across to you is that we have to remember that social media is just a highlight reel. It is not reality, it doesn't show you everything. It shows you the parts that people want you to see. That might be why everyone else's lives might seem so perfect or might seem so luxurious. I'm here to tell you it's not. Everyone hurts, everyone gets sad, everyone gets happy, everyone gets annoyed, nervous, anxious, bored, tired, or burnt out. Everyone feels. It's all part of the Human Condition and there's no avoiding it. We don't have to wonder, because that is the answer friends. Are they really as happy as they look? Am I really as happy as I seem? In those moments that I post? In those moments that I let you see? In that highlight reel of my life? Hell yeah! I'm probably really happy in those photos! I'm probably really happy even when there isn't photos. But I'll be honest, even I get down sometimes! That's okay, that's life. There are ups and downs. It's a winding roller coaster, it's a river that ebbs and flows and floods and dries up. It's ever-changing. And those lows? They're here to let us appreciate the highs. We have to have them. I'm sure you've heard that before. We can't appreciate a warm shower let alone our accessibility to them without experiencing a situation in where we cannot shower. We can't appreciate the comfort of our own bed without having to sleep on the ground every once in a while. This hedonic treadmill that we're always on in every area of our life is a good thing to take a break from and hop off. There's always going to be a "next best" in everything and getting used to something really really good or luxurious isn't the greatest for us if you're asking me. I think it breeds materialism and synthetic happiness. It buys band aids for injuries that possessions and money can't fix, instead of addressing the root cause of the injury or persisting pain from a bad habit for a better metaphor.
I'm not a huge fan of social media but I know that it can be used to do good and spread good. I'll be sticking to that, er, at least trying to in the best way that I know how. I hope ya smile today. Actually, do it right now- force a smile. It tricks your brain into releasing a lil bit of dopamine and serotonin- which I think is cool as shit. What a neat little biological happiness hack. Cheers.
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