This year has probably been one of the craziest years of my adult life. There’s been a lot of change. I’m currently on Job #4, we moved to a new city (which I’ll touch more on in a following blog post), and definitely experienced some level of burnout.
I know this because I’m:
- Easily irritated
- Often tired and feeling generally run down
- Can only mentally handle 1-2 social interactions a week
- Have been looking to my small screen for answers
Last night, I couldn’t sleep and therefore had a lot of time for introspection. My partner was being so sweet (as per) and for whatever reason, I couldn’t stop being irritated with him. He hadn’t done anything, and both of us didn’t understand where it was coming from.
Rather than just laying awake and not taking the time to address myself, I decided to sit up in the living room and really think it through.
What’s not adding to my life? What’s making me tired and angry?
The first answer that came to mind: social media.
There is SO MUCH STRESS delivered through social media. Everything from politics, to advertising, to ideal images of a wholesome Canadian Thanksgiving (which after all this time still isn’t the happiest holiday for me). As a marketer, I’m always looking at the numbers, and I realized I was playing a numbers game with myself. The race to 1000 followers on Instagram was constantly on the brain, and I had my account open, exposing myself and those snippets of my life to strangers and people that don’t matter.
So, I started to audit.
I started with my Instagram, unfollowing accounts that don’t add value or just constantly sell to me. Then, I removed all of the random and unwanted followers that I had let into my digital space. I then went and did the same thing with Twitter.
Both of these accounts are now on private, which gives me control over who sees what I choose to share. The number of people that have chosen to engage with my content doesn’t have any bearing on whether or not the content is valuable. If it feels good to share, then I will.
I think I really felt the stress when my partner and I were at the Bon Iver concert last weekend. It was such a beautiful, spiritual experience and yet there were people close to us who literally could not put their phones down.
There was a couple in front of us where one of the partners literally filmed both Feist and Bon Iver in full, not once did she hold hands with her significant other, share a kiss, or just say a word. If you’re going to go out with someone, you should acknowledge their presence and give them that respect. Not to mention, the experience probably looked s****y through her small phone screen.
The girl sitting beside my partner would not stop checking her social media, texts, and setting up her alarms for the next day. She obviously got dragged there by her other three friends, but she really missed out on the experience, and honestly, got in the way of ours a bit.
The point that I’m trying to make, especially as we round off mental health awareness week, is to check in with yourself as much as you check your phone. Whatever your guilty pleasure or vice, make sure that you’re embracing it in moderation and doing it because you want to or it brings you joy, not to hide from the reality of life happening all around you.
Think of all of those times where you were looking at your phone, rather than making eye contact with your loved ones that you’re in conversation with. You wouldn’t notice their disappointed faces as they tell you something of importance and you can’t be bothered to break from the infinite scroll.
That’s all time that you can’t get back, and when you’re at the end of this thing called life, you’ll likely wish you had treated differently in the moment. Do your best to be present, take time reflect on yourself and situations, and do things differently as you learn.
Khadijah Plummer Consulting 