Week one off social media
“The pressure to do things quickly or have success happen right away is ingrained in our culture of instant-gratification, but really your real life is so long. There are so many things that you can do and there is no reason to panic when you are in your 20s. Sure, you only live once, but you also have this long life ahead of you.”
It's now been about 10 days into my social media leave. Here are two things I've noticed so far:
- The number of thoughts of comparison I have with others has dropped a lot (obviously)
- I am noticing what behaviours replace social media (ie: obsessively checking NYTimes)
I think my biggest slip-up thus far was waking up and spending 30 minutes online shopping. #fail.
I feel like removing myself from social media has largely reduced the mindless, inadvertent comparison I make with every swipe up the screen. The thoughts that usually occur are subtle and insidious. I think I've been feeling a lot more ease in going about my day to day without the need to compare myself to every other person and filmmaker in the world.
I've also been re-discovering the nuances between urgently doing things now and playing the long-game. Within myself and peers, I observe a pressure we sometimes put on ourselves or by comparison with others. I see it in myself and wanting to achieve lots in my personal and professional life in such a short time.
Since leaving social media though, I feel like I've been having a greater sense of contentment with my everyday. I've been feeling less like I need to be anywhere. I have a greater appreciation for the small-wins around me.
