Picture this: you have a wonderful day. You do the things that make you happy, positive things happen throughout the day and you can rest your head on your pillow at night knowing the day was great. But you didn’t share it with anyone. You spent the day in your own company. You didn’t even share any of it on your social media.
Did it really even happen then?
Who will validate this? You have no evidence except for your feelings to confirm this.
You can still FEEL happy and experience happiness but sharing it with someone else helps us justify this feeling. Feeling it isn’t enough, we want validation that it was a great day. So we go seeking attention from others.
Now think about the above scenario but change it to sharing it on social media. You post pictures of your day, perhaps a selfie, or a photo of your delicious dinner. Your likes start to climb and comments start to pour in. BOOM! NOW, you’ve had a great day because others have just confirmed it.
See the difference?
We seek that instant gratification from our network and if we don’t get a certain amount of likes or comments, it’s almost as if it devalues our day or the feeling we experience from the day.
We’re driven by attention from our audience. We crave it and if we don’t get it, we spend time asking why, rather than just, simply moving on with our lives.
Think back 20 years ago, there was no evidence of every moment. We only captured the ones that we truly wanted to look back on, and we even still have some of those photos sitting in a box somewhere. Now, we document everything. Everything that happens is a highlight reel. Are we missing out on the moments by spending time focusing on trying to capture the moment to share with everyone else? Why can’t we just enjoy the moment without looking for validation?
If we feel a certain emotion, why do we have to instantly share it? What is this doing to us? Why can’t we feel these emotions and experiences with those who are with us? Why do we feel the need to invite everyone else in to chime in, validate or devalue how we feel?
Do we have the discipline to just, live?
