Last year, I gave up Facebook for a few months. The gloom and doom of the year that was 2020 proved too much for me. My Facebook feed was full of people double-downing on anger about absolutely everything. I needed a break.
When I finally decided to come back (I missed seeing what people were up to), something interesting happened. My Facebook feed was completely different.
*Putting on my digital marketer hat*: Your Facebook feed is based on an algorithm which shows you what Facebook thinks you like based on your past activity. Well, I had 4 months of silence and I think I put the algorithm into a tizzy. I was seeing things from people whom I hadn’t engaged with as much in the past, and it was good stuff. I discovered there were more like-minded people that stood out above the noise. Sure, they weren’t happy about what was going on in the world, but they didn’t let it consume them. They waxed poetically about movies, gardening, music…life.
They helped me rediscover my love for astronomy.
They helped me rediscover my love for movies.
They helped me rediscover my love for writing.
They helped me rediscover who I was as a person before I cared about what everyone else thought about me and my life. They brought me back to my 10-year-old self who questioned everything and realized that we’re all so insignificant and it’s in each of our own hands to make our life what we want it to be.
In turn, I’m happier. Being around like-minded people makes one happy. I realized my husband, daughter and I are so much more alike than we are different, because I’ve become more of me.
Try it yourself. Don’t let inertia make you continue down a path because it’s what you’re used to. Don’t hang around the same people who bring you down because you feel you owe it to them. Say “yes” to the unknown more often.
Pause. Breathe. And just enjoy the short blip called life, on this planet called Earth.
Explore the Youniverse 