What if I cut out social media for a month? What would that do for me? How would I feel?
Thinking back to what I learned about myself when I was in Thailand, one of those things is my remarkable ability to hold other people's emotions for them. I learned that if I am feeling something uncomfortable, it's best if I take a second to think about who's emotions they are. Are they the person sitting across from me, talking about stresses in their own life? Am I taking on energy from people that I don't even know who are standing next to me? Is this feeling really my own? I found that when I brought the emotion to a halt and examined it, I was really able to get more clarity to what it was and if it was even necessary for me to be feeling it.
Social media is sort of like having loads of one-sided conversations, all at the same time. You are on the receiving end of whatever people what to put out there. Someone is having a bad day? You are essentially holding a little space in yourself to read and feel that for them, whether you know it or not. I think it's easy to get into a mode of comparing and contrasting yourself to what other people have going on their own lives. That in itself can be distressing, and for me personally, it adds another obstacle to living fully in the present moment and being content with how full and beautiful my life really is.
I learned that I need to form a little bubble of emotional protection from this by being selective to who and what I am exposing myself to day-to-day. Is that convenient? No. But does it help me keep my shit together and be a happier person? Yeah, I really think it does.
So I'm thinking about it.
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