The Mental Health Message | By: Dr. Porsha Dodson
With so many streams of stimulation in our age it can be hard to live a life that reflects your own personal choices. Influence is all around us and it can be hard to decipher what pace or lane we should be going at given the reflection of other people’s lives in our peer group. We see others running a fast race, which is often interpreted as successful, or a really slow race that looks peaceful and calm or Sometimes unfulfilled. We judge ourselves on the standard of what other people are doing… and we have social media to blame for most of this. We watch moms have babies and “snap” right back and we watch others smile while managing multiple streams of income and two children. We see some people in a different city every other month, sipping cool drinks by the beach and we wonder how? We can sometimes feel a tinge of disappointment rise up from our gut as we think about that trip we’ve been meaning to take or that business we once had an idea for but never started.
The stimulation doesn’t stop there as we often see images of our own people being hunted by the police varied with gossip filled celebrity stories. All leaving us to wonder about our own purpose and if you are doing enough….
Simply put: the life that you have created is beautiful without the validation of a story post and subsequent likes. The life that you currently have has twists and turns that are unlike anyone else’s story… but when you accompany that life with the stimulation of social media and television you can find yourself confused. Overstimulation is a presentation of more sensations, activities, influences, and overall input than what we can cope with. This overstimulation can blur the lines of individuality and cause you to feel drained as you try to navigate your own twists and turns. Your little voice inside is pushing you to eat better, work smarter, exercise more, be more fashionable, be smaller, save more, vacation more, hair care this and that, and just just… be more.
Let me say this here and now. Life is a process and a journey. The life you have should be centered on you and your interests, goals, and dreams. The life you have should reflect you. Otherwise we find ourselves in a race that doesn’t have a finish line, jumping from race to race trying to win a win that will never come. My challenge for you this month is to turn down the excess stimulation. Put the phone and the computer down at night. Reflect on where you are and where you want to be. Start to take steps at accepting the space you’re in. Loving the process can be hard but we are clear about where we are going and we understand that there is no other place we would rather be.
Social media can curate a life for us that is reflective of everyone else’s values and marketing strategies. Let’s live a life curated by you. A life you can calmly navigate with the influences that best match your background and the path of your future.
Affirmation for the month: I am doing the best to be the captain of my own ship. I know what is best for me and I am headed in the right direction.
Be well.
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