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Thursday, January 20, 2011

My Relationship with Social Media

Some days I come to this little blog of mine here in the great big cyberworld and just as soon as my fingers hit the keyboard, the words flow out of me as if by magic, like the post is writing itself and I'm just along for the ride.


I love those days.  


Other days I come here with so many miscellaneous and random thoughts, words and ideas bouncing around in my head, yet find it impossible to separate them and string them together into a post I find acceptable and worthy enough to share out here on the worldwide web because like most of us,  I am and most likely forever will be, my very own worst critic. 


When those days happen, I feel somehow off my axis for the rest of the day.  It's as if something is missing and I'm incomplete.   


I'm a quiet person by nature...always have been.  There have been times in my life that I wished that were not the case and tried desperately to change, to be more like those charming, witty, outgoing individuals I've always been drawn to.


But that is not who I am, not who God made me to be, and once I accepted that and embraced it, I became a much happier me.
 
Expressing myself out loud is often very difficult and challenging for me.  I struggle to find the words, pull them out, and push them past my lips in a way that truly gets my point across.  I always beat myself up after a conversation... Why did I say?...What I really meant to say was...
 
But here, in cyberland, it's so much easier to be the charming me, the real me who often struggles to get out.  
 
Social media has fast become an addiction for a great majority of us.  Facebook started it all for me.  I find it much easier to send someone I kinda know, or knew once upon a time, a friend request than I would ever find it to walk up to them and initiate a conversation in the real world. 

Here, online, I can be one of those witty, charming, outgoing people I have always admired and noone is the wiser. 

I think this is one of the many reason why I love blogging so much.  It allows me to free myself of some of the random thoughts that clutter my mind.  It calms and soothes me in a way that nothing else can. 

While I wouldn't go so far as to say it has changed who I am as a person, other than the part about me carrying my blackberry around like it's some sort of oxygen tank I need to breathe so that I can check to see if anyone told me how awesome I am on my blog or facebook today  it has awakened me and allowed me to become a better version of myself. 

So what about you?  How has social media changed or affected your life? 





16 comments:

  1. I want to say DITTO on your post. I think I agree with everything you said and can say that I feel the same way:

    Stopping by via Mama Kat's and am now one of your new followers. I look forward to reading future posts!
    Come by and visit me at Bees With Honey sometime:)

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  2. Loved this post, I feel the same way most of the time.
    Thanks for visiting my blog :) We live in KS so we get this snow a few times a year normally. Kids were out of school two days last week and again today.

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  3. Oh man. I am way too addicted to social media. It takes over I swear. But I love it and I agree with everything you said. It is so nice to have all of my bloggy friends. It's been amazing!

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  4. I've never had a big social life in the small town we live in. Social media has opened up a whole new world to me and relieved so much of my loneliness.

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  5. You know I am constantly defending myself to my husband, "I sleep with my Blackberry because it's my alarm clock!" The fact that I can use it to check my blog, Facebook, Twitter, emails and text messages while I'm there is just a bonus!

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  6. Coming from Mama Kat's

    I think social media does open up doors that normally you would feel awkward opening. I have learned quite a bit about blogging and still learning.

    I know what you mean about the blackberry, I look at my android and check my emails too.

    Good post.

    www.bubblingwitheleganceandgrace.com

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  7. Diana, I can relate to so much of what you posted! I tend to have many more days where I can't seem to articulate my thoughts into a meaningful post, and similar to you, it's usually because I'm being much too critical of myself.

    I'm learning to be happy with who God made me, but darn it's hard sometime!

    Love the blog and will be back. :)

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  8. Very reflective post. I can really identify with it.

    I'm stopping by via MamaKat and I'll be back!

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  10. I think that's how it is for me. I always feel judged IRL and online while I may be judged I don't face the scrutiny. I've met some of my best friends in cyberland!

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  11. It's changed me, but it's also something I have yet to figure out how to balance. I want to be in so many places at the same time and can't do it.

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  12. I often feel like my written words are sooo much better than my spoken words.

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  13. My blog has been a way to keep God's arms around me this past year through some of my darkest days. My 24 year old son took his life the day after Easter last year. Easter was my birthday and my daughter turned 20 the day after his heart wrenching choice.
    The past 9 months have brought us all closer to each other and to our Heavenly Father.
    Along the way, I have blogged. I am a Young Life leader who knows God is using these words to reach others who are going through storms in their lives.
    In Him,
    Joyful

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