Perception vs Reality

Perceived vs Actual Realities

As a married, middle aged woman who stays home all day and tends house, people will often ask me what I do all day. The starkness of such an empty enquiry never ceases to perplex the deep recesses of my mind, and I can't help but feel a painful twinge of sympathetic compassion for the one who asked.

I recently saw a quote that read something to the effect that spending merely a few seconds glancing at personal images, memes, short quotes and phrases, (as millions habitually do daily via social media), can actually cause damage to the structures of the brain! This is because our brains are not only "wired" for love and positivity, but they are designed for deep thinking, which is simply not accomplished in a matter of moments.

With so much going on upon this beautiful earth in which each of us calls home, it is impossible to keep up with each and every issue, cause and event for which so many individuals relish in loudly declaring and even (perceptibly) imposing their personal opinions upon those of others.

Do you ever feel like that when you open a page of your choice of social media, you are immediately thrown into a "sink or swim" predicament which can cause you to nearly mentally "lose" the main reason you arrived there in the first place? Perhaps you went there to joyfully post a simple and tasty recipe that you know could delight and simplify life for your friends, or a maybe a video you watched and found deeply moving with which you now desire will help to encourage others.

It is so easy to get caught up in the "competitive feel" of needing to vie for position on the latest political topic everyone is talking about, until, you quite simply realize that you don't need to. There is no literal person (I assume) looking intently over your shoulder or glaring menacingly at you from across the room impatiently waiting to see how you will respond. The people whose written thoughts you are reading not only have no idea that you are indeed spying their typed thoughts at that exact moment, but also have no real concept of what it may (but hopefully is not) doing to your insides. Upon reading what they have written, is there a tension or even slight nausea in the pit of your stomach? A sudden tightness in the back of your neck threatening a headache and other bodily pain? Has your breathing become imperceptibly restrained?

I understand the feeling when conscience and morality seem to dictate a deep desire to lovingly set another person straight on any given issue that you see as an absolute; wrong or right, black or white, sinful or righteous. Fill in your own sentiments. But, unless the Holy Spirit mandates you to respond, whether publically or privately to that person, it is often best to ignore it and move on.

Why is it, that when we set out to have a gentle, relaxing and thoughtful day, that when we decide at some point to open a social media page, we feel that we must "fight back" with our own thoughts and opinions?

Let me ask you a better question. Are all these mental, physical and emotional reactions worth it? Can you open your social media account without allowing all those glaring and strongly opinionated comments to affect you?

Maybe these things will help:

Most of us on social media live in countries where free speech is a right and we would do well to make sure that we are grateful for that right.

Those people writing their personal thoughts and opinions are simply airing their grievances for themselves or others while excercising their rights to free speech.

Their writing is *not* a challenge to you personally because your eye caught it when you went to that page on your device.

Not reacting to it is completely fine.

Consciously deciding to put it out of your mind and moving on to the specific reason you went to that page in the first place is even better.