Online Self-ie

How much do you want to be KNOWN?

In no time in history, I believe, have people been given this much opportunity to let themselves known.  Vloggers, bloggers, even people who are actively engaged in online communities have all the avenues open to them to expose their thoughts, feelings, and whereabouts.  

Sample of a heavily edited selfie!

Nowadays, the ability to become vulnerable is being hailed as a strength. A symbol of honesty. Putting oneself out in the open, where people can form an opinion of you, is the consequence of social media whether it is welcome or not.  

Indeed, this is what we are making every time we post.  We form a public profile.  An image, the way we want to represent ourselves.  Needless to say, the opinion of others will get to us no matter how ready we are of them. 

So today I want to share some thoughts on how to keep sane in a world where other's opinion of us are inadvertently invited into our lives in our effort to put ourselves and thoughts out in the open.  

1.  Make Social Media about others, not about you.  Yeah, I know. Its your choice what you post.  I just thought that if we post to thank people or share an information that would benefit others, no matter how other people would view it, you know that you had the best of intentions and that it was of benefit to others as well.   In the event we engage in other people's post, display understanding and be kind with your words.  It is SOCIAL media for engagement, not division or isolation.  

2.  Know your core.  No one sees the whole picture. Social media or not. Not even people close to us knows every intention, every experience or every realization.  So know who you are, know where to form your opinions, know what matters and know what you can let go. 

3. Have a life.  Do not live your life so you have something to post.  Putting yourself out there is more valuable when we know more of ourselves through our experiences rather than letting other people know us with our posts.  Enrich your life daily.  At the end of the day, ask yourself what you learned today, what life sent you today.  

In the end, no one really thinks of us more than we do.  People's opinion of us are fleeting. Positive opinion of us should be taken with gratitude but should not be the center or source of how we feel about ourselves so as not to seek them needlessly.  Negative opinions may be caused by experiences known only to the person forming the opinion so do not be too hard on yourself.  

If for anything, I hope that forming online profiles make us more reflective of how we really are as a person, how we compose ourselves, how we structure our activities and how we are making a difference with the lives we are given.