Not Every Day Has to Be Great

In these times where social media blatantly lies to us about the lives people live, it’s become almost a sin to have a bad day… and guess what? Bad days happen and life is not always sunshine and birdsong.

It’s not to say that you can’t strive to have a good day or get in a better mood, it’s to be accepting that not every time at bat will be a homerun. Sometimes you’ll foul out, sometimes you’ll strike out, and hell, sometimes you’ll get hit by the damn baseball.

Sports analogies to the side, we live in a time where social media puts us at risk of thinking we’re not good enough pretty much every day. This happens constantly where we find that we’re not as “attractive”, or “fit”, or “successful” as other people. The reality is that when it comes to social media, a LOT of what we see is directly comparable to a selfie, meaning that if you find the right angle, EVERYTHING looks awesome.

I’m pretty active on several platforms and although I do strive to be as positive and optimistic as possible, I also do my best to keep it real and share about the struggles as an indie writer, a Puerto Rican, a man, and a human. Life isn’t meant to be easy but it’s meant to be lived and enjoyed and even with whatever challenge or frustration I go through, I do my best to have a good time. My approach to social media is to share smiles, good times, and hopefully inspire someone to have fun, pick up a book, try a new food or restaurant, and enjoy the experience. But I also don’t make it a secret that I have bad days and that life isn’t easy. I share the times where I want to tear down a wall, where I’m frustrated with myself, where the need to want to be better is almost counterproductive. I try not to dwell on it or focus on that because I do believe we can will ourselves to a better headspace a lot more often than we’d like to accept. But I do still share a good angle of me and am in control of what I project. By this, I mean there’s a lot that people don’t see. The breakdowns, the mistakes, poor decisions, the lack of reward of investment, the getting stuck on a page, a word, or a feeling, the at times negative feelings we have.

That’s because we ALL edit what we share. Sometimes it’s in the hope that the projected life eventually becomes our real lives, but oftentimes it’s so people have a positive impression of who and how we are… what we live… what we experience. And too often, reality falls short of projected reality. That we even have a need to project anything says a lot of the times we live in. We want to inspire, to motivate, and who knows? Maybe some of us want others to feel jealous of what we experience. Maybe some of us want to seem more beautiful than what we feel… or happier than what we are. It begs the question, why do we share what we share? Are we being honest with what we share? Is there an ulterior motive?

 

For me, I do work hard to share things that’ll hopefully make people smile, laugh, chuckle, think, or have something resonate. It’s an extension of what I do with my writing and it’s me wanting to make a positive impact. This mindset comes from me NOT wanting to have a negative impact or draining people… because I did that for a long time and I didn’t like how that made me feel. Rough times happen. Bad days happen. And sucktastic moments unfortunately happen as well. But hardships are supposed to help us focus on the good things life brings along, or at least that’s what I choose to believe. As for what I share on this blog, on social media, on YouTube, or in an event, I work hard to remain true to the old adage, “what you see is what you get.” How about you? What do you think about the projected lives we see on social media? How far do they stray from the truth? Why do you think people do that? How do you handle social media?

As always, thanks for reading and til next time…

Peace, love, and maki rolls

JD