Change how you consume. Change how you feel.
One of the biggest drivers of how we feel is what we consume.
This clearly exists on a physical level. Eating a lot of junk food leaves us feeling bloated, lethargic and generally junky.
But I’m interested in the other ways this comes up. We’re always making consumption choices. What we watch, read, listen to, who we spend time with, the activities we undertake—whatever we focus on—is, ultimately, consumption. We absorb what we take in, and that shapes how we feel and how we’re able to show up for others.
This has been on my mind as I’ve wrestled with social media in recent weeks. I appreciate that it helps me share my work. But all too often, a two-minute task, like sharing a post, leads to getting lost in the rabbit hole.
Mindless scrolling turns into examining other people’s lives. I wander in with intrigue, and then lose myself. It’s like a drug. I’m partly fascinated—there’s a touch of pleasure—with glimpsing what particular people post. But it becomes irritatingly easy to stalk, compare and even space out romanticizing their lives. Needless to say,this does not feel good. It makes me less present and appreciative of my own life, and that’s not how I want to live or show up for others.
What do you habitually consume that, if you’re really being honest with yourself, doesn’t make you feel good?
I could kid myself and say that perusing social media is a fun distraction. That’s true sometimes. But more often it brings me down.
It’s worth reexamining our relationships with whatever has this effect. The answer isn’t necessarily abstinence. You don’t have to quit cable news, interacting with certain people or checking Instagram cold turkey. But perhaps consider a different approach.
For example, it doesn’t make sense for me to never log onto Facebook again, so I’m now experimenting with “liking” everything I see (unless it’s sponsored). My idea is that this might help remind me to be a liker—which I really want to be—not a judger.
Short of removing the giver of bad vibes from your life completely, is there anything you could try to shift how it makes you feel?
It’s too soon for me to report on the success of my social media study, but the idea feels good. Call that promising results so far.