Sharks, Parana, & Sinking Ships: Learning to Avoid the Deadly Waters of Negativity in Social Media

Photo Credit: Unknown, Social Media, 2020

 

 

I’ve never been a fan of swimming in deep waters. I think it’s because I’ve always had a fear of drowning. You know, that feeling of being consumed and deprived of oxygen is probably one of the most terrifying feelings one could ever experience. To actually feel your lungs fill with water and to continually have to gasp for air is just a haunting thought; yikes! Nooooo, thank you!😨

This is the exact same thing I’ve been feeling in relation to having to swim daily through the waters of our humanly disconnected addiction with social media. It's like I’ve been consumed and like I’ve been essentially drowning in all of the negativity that seeps inside my brain,  and that fills my soul with a sh*tload of saturated bat sh*t crazy bull puckie!Its not only drowning it can be quite draining!

So, in order to survive I had to find away around the sharks 🦈 and the Parana that infest the waters of our social media ocean. I've had to figure out a way to keep connected with those I love and value, while also actively managing to block the negative waters from seeping into my soul and drowning me to death.

So, how have I kept from drowning and becoming a social media fatality? Simple, I researched the platforms I’m on and started to filter out the things that no longer served me in a positive way. At first I tried to tune it down with the "unfollow" feature but sadly that has feature has it’s self limitations.

Then I tired to leave it totally and completely but.... the addictive waters make it particularly hard to get others to swim out the bounds of this massively consuming sea of likes, dislikes, and tags. So, I went back to the drawing board and decided what I had to do so survive was to create my own personal space. I had to rewrite how I wanted to communicate and I set my parameters and filtered my feed in such away, that today, all I generally see is the good.

 

It took some work but the results have been simply amazing! Instead of drowning in a sea of negativity I am now I am bathing in the images and the stories of those I love that are both heartwarming and positive. It's such a nice feeling to be able to swim more freely among the welcoming fishes within this vast social sea. 🐠🐟🐠🐟🐠

To be perfectly honest I’m  now mainly utilizing  social media for business exposure these days as opposed to socially connecting with my friends, family and acquaintances. I’ve found a real happiness in reconnecting with people on a personal and less artificial way of communicating. It feels good and I no longer feel as though I’ll succumb to the drowning effects of social media. From here on out it’s minnows in mollies for this woman and less sharks and Parana , and yep, that just the way I like it!

Ask yourself today:

What in my life makes me feel like I’m drowning?

How can i survive this killer?

What habits must i change in order to survive? 

 

Happy Swimming! 🏊

 Carol Hill is a mom, a long time nurse, certified professional  life and leadership development coach, a consultant, and Lead Happiness Ambassador and the owner/operator of Just Chill Custom Gifting By Carol.