Sharing good things online
Skuka says they barely share good things online and I understand why. I understand it's a big, vulnerable leap. The void is infinite and cold and the silence is deafening. They are talking about personal stuff but I thought about it more broadly.
My take, though, for myself, is that this is all the more reason to. There's so much negativity online, and in life generally, that I feel like I actively want to try to redress that balance. I'm not saying I can but I want to. I certainly don't want to be heaping more steaming shit onto the scales.
There's plenty of stuff I could have a rant about. I understand that helps some people, being able to vent. I'm not sure it helps me though. I think it acts more as a wallow, in my case. The bad thing happens, one. I'll probably tell the story to my wife or someone, two. It probably goes in my journal, three. So it's already repeated a couple of times anyway. If I blog about it that's another time it's happened to me - likely at least two given the minimum drafting and editing. Refuelling and stoking the annoyance or humiliation or sadness. That's too much.
Writing for the blog is choosing to spend time and energy on something. I would prefer those to be good things. I could be remembering fun conversations with my niblings, thinking about all the fun things I have to look forward to, sharing enthusiasm about a new hobby, or any number of things that make me feel better rather than worse.
I used to have pretty serious anxiety. I'd say I'm now at about five per cent of that. One of the changes that made the very biggest difference for me was getting extremely strict about what I allowed into my brain. A lot of that is external, as in choosing what 'content' to 'consume'. But a lot of it's me too - choosing what I put time and energy into, where I let my mind dwell.
Some people might think this is toxic positivity. I'd argue it's not. I'm not denying the shitty bits. The shitty bits are coming anyway. I'm choosing not to focus on them any more than I have to. And to make hay while the sun shines. Because at some point it's going to piss it down.
So, yeah. Share good things. If no one responds at least you've told yourself something good one more time.