Every morning, shortly after waking up, I scroll through my newsfeed and read about what my peeps are up to…just the same as you. There is laughing, absorption of sad news, and the usual suspects: cat and dog vids, smiling selfies, Live virgins sloughing off their fears to stand resplendent and virtually naked.
But my newsfeed is also a little different.
Within three hours’ time, I might read about a life coach’s innovative approach to growth, celebrate the expansion of soul through a series of memes offered by an A-Player entrepreneur. I will devour hundreds of more memes telling me I am capable, to seize the opportunities in front of me, and after I am done reading these I feel like a superhero.
The interaction is even better. If I am trying out an experiment and need suggestions, high producers comments flood in. These are people who have been where I am trying to go. The interaction is invaluable.
Positivity and self-belief is cultivated numerous times per day and when you are inundated with such energy, you can only go on and apply it to yourself, and then spread it around. You will locate within you, the ability to boost people up and cheer them on to their goals.
It wasn’t always this way. Before I opened the door to people who make it their business to rewrite success, I endured the college friend trashing their relatives, the “poor me” people who labeled themselves as unlucky. The snarky comebacks from peeps who thrive on drama.
Without question, this exposure to the brighter side of life, to the refusal to engage in the negative shapes my attitude every single day.
When you are surrounded by people who are mentally unstoppable, who every minute are trying to be better than they were yesterday, more receptive, more curious, more tenacious in their pursuit of living life, you can’t help but to adapt that thought process as well.
I don’t complain anymore, don’t engage in needless drama, refuse to be gaslit, verbally abused; I will not feed any nasty mechanics.
If you can’t bring yourself to unfriend the people on your page, there is a reason for the unfollow button. Be responsible for the information you take in. This is another method of self-care, when you defend your right to encourage more peace.
Some real-life examples taken from this past week:
- A friend wanting an answer about the most influential thing you’ve ever learned.
- Team collaboration to generate leads for a group.
- A year of leveling-up update with a handful of new glossy selfies from a friend.
- The invitation to add a mental health ambassador badge to your profile.
- Social media experimentation and all-in-fun challenges in the name of discovering insight every participant can leverage.
- A request to tag favorite mom inventors.
- The value in knowing your purpose.
- The importance of building up family on social media.
- “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” Hippocrates
- One man returning to his mission better informed and sharing lessons after scaling his team.
- The passionate outpouring of love from a yoga business owner.
- “On the road to success there are no shortcuts.” ~ Unknown
- The encouragement to enjoy the moment and eschew the “what if.”
- Rooting peeps on to step into the spotlight.
- The support to expose your heart, both its vulnerable parts and the powerful.
Take a minute and assess your feed. What do you notice? Are there people you have wanted less interaction with? What has been holding you back? You are the only person who can set the boundaries you need.
Ask yourself if you are like the flow of a river, going along with whatever the consensus is. If you are this way, and there is nothing wrong with that, this is an exercise to simply identify a tendency, then you need to be careful that you tacitly do not endorse your ingestion of this kind of content.
No one else is going to customize what you consume. It’s all up to you. What would you like to see and read each day?
Ignoring toxic content as you read it has limitations because you still take in these conflicting and negative messages.
If you want to feel like a superhero, start unfriending and unfollowing and then take note of the changes that happen within you as well as the lightening of your attitude.
Don’t forget to post about the differences that improve your outlook.
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Photo credit: Getty Images