I think there comes a time when we need to make sure we aren’t longing instead of living. – Sara Frankl, Choose Joy
In Chapter 9 of Choose Joy, Sara talks about the ways she stayed connected with her friends and family and how she dealt with missing out on all the things that were going on outside of her apartment.
She brings up a good point that social media became her lifeline to those she loved. When you go days where you can’t get out of the house, or like Sara, you become totally housebound, social media can provide you with a connection to others you wouldn’t have had ten years ago.
For me, I have a love/hate relationship with social media.
I love it for the reasons that I get to stay in contact with my nieces and nephew who all live out of town. I love seeing the pictures and being able to watch their kids grow despite the fact that I only get to see them about once a year. Not to mention friends and other family members that live far away.
I hate it for the fact that I think it gives us a false sense of knowing each other. I guess it’s all in how you use it. But it seems we’re quicker to post something online to the masses and slower to pick up the phone and actually have a conversation anymore.
And the drama… Oh, the drama. Especially now that the presidential race is underway here in the U.S. It seems we’re so much braver typing angry replies or jumping into an argument than we would be if we were actually face to face with that person.
I also don’t like the envy it can spur in me sometimes. This brings me back to the quote from Sara that started this blog post.
I think there comes a time when we need to make sure we aren’t longing instead of living. ~ Sara Frankl, Choose Joy
A few weeks ago at church, the pastor said that moms will get jealous of the images shown on Facebook of the perfect little child doing the most adorable thing ever. What you don’t see is the other 23 hours and 59 1/2 minutes that same mother was pulling her hair out and considering running away because that adorable child had been a complete terror.
For the most part, people only share the “perfect” side of their lives. Images and posts that show a life they wish they had 24/7. You don’t often see pictures of the laundry pile that needs to be washed or the overflowing trash can or the unmade beds or the kids sitting in time out.
No matter what we’re seeing others do, by way of social media, we have to be sure we’re living our own lives and not wasting hours clicking through images of other people’s lives with a longing for everything we don’t have or get to do.
Use the medium for what good it can bring to your life. Connection. Interaction. Encouragement.
But jump off the minute you feel the negative effects. Jealousy. Anger. Longing.
Then go about living your life instead of longing for the sugar-coated glimpses of someone else’s. And above all, CHOOSE JOY!
