It has been a while since I last posted.  I purposely took a break from most social media.  It was taking over my life.  I would find myself staring at my phone a lot throughout the day.  It wasn’t good.  I wasn’t having a great time on social media anyway.  I was allowing what I saw to determine what I should be doing.  No topic was off limits: relationships, business, success and the like.  It’s amazing how seeing the same type of things over and over again can give you the idea that your life is inadequate.

In other words, subliminally it was telling me how to think.  I remember when I thought more for myself.  Crazy right?

So, the social media break was much-needed. Now, I focus on the things that are most important to me.  Family, love and helping others is just the tip of the iceberg (and that list may grow depending on the stage of my life).

But that social media “trap” I fell into still has me unsettled, more than a bit.  How could I be so cautious about most things, but not about that?  I mean, it is true that you “are what you eat,” and I was eating a lot of junk food.  Don’t get me wrong: social media has its perks, but that’s not what I’m talking about at the moment.  The totality of social media is not remotely my life.  But it goes a bit deeper than that.

I had to come to understand a few things.  Firstly, people put their best-foot-forward in most situations.  People rarely post things that put themselves (or those they love) in a bad light.  I haven’t read a post entitled, “It’s Monday people!  I hope your day is as jacked up as my life is! #nopeace #nolove #effmylife #effyourstoo.”  With that being said, we aren’t privy to the dark times that many people face (but I wasn’t thinking about all of this as I was perused through status updates).  Does it mean that people aren’t experiencing challenging times?  It most certainly doesn’t mean that.  It just means that people are more selective with what they post.

Secondly, we live in the world of absolutes.  This means that people post memes that sometimes are polar opposites.  Statements like,”If you’re not for me, then you’re against me,” for example.  Or maybe this one: “If you can’t hunt, or change a tire, you should cut your beard off because you’re not a real man.”  What?  Are people serious?  These quotes are so ridiculous that they’re laughable.

Lastly, we’re all in search of the same, basic things out of life.  We all want to be loved.  We all want to know that we matter to someone else.  We all want to be happy.  That means that we’re more alike than we are different.  We’re all just human.

So, I guess in a round-about-way, I learned how to not take social media so seriously.  Instead, I’ll choose to hold dear those things I cherish most.

Until Next Time,

Love & Peace.

-Herbie