affirmation on social media

By taking a break and cutting back on social media, one of the things that I have been seriously looking at is the need for affirmation.  We all have it and I am no exception to that.  We all want it and, honestly, it's a great feeling when it comes.  For me, though, there is a lot of pressure when it comes to social media and affirmation. 

On Facebook, there is always that inner monologue going on in my brain as to how many people have liked my post.  As more time passes and the likes don't come as I hoped they would, I start to feel bad about myself.  Why isn't anyone liking it?  Whether it be a meme or a pic or a post or what I'm doing or listening to, Facebook almost always ensures that it's never liked enough and could be more.  They even send you summaries on which of your posts were liked the most.  And now that I have left that competition, I'm like what's the big deal?  It's a post.  It's not my life.  It's not me.  And that feeling is pretty amazing.    And there was also the inevitable comparisons with friends who get more likes.  I know people who can post a selfie from the driver's seat of their car, and granted they've posted like 75 identical pics of this, and they'll get 300 likes in 2 minutes.  It's so random and would build up resentment that I couldn't bring myself to like the pic, whether or not it was a good repeat of a previous post.  And taking away that need to compare myself to someone else, constantly, is so absolutely freeing and liberating!  When I do get on FB now, it's a totally different feeling for me and I actually enjoy it more now that I'm no longer trying to impress anyone or myself.

And what I've discovered is that yes, I enjoy affirmation of my achievements, opinions and happenings, but I don't need them from a non breathing entity.  I want affirmation in my real life, which means I need to work on my real life in order to get them.  Actual human contact.  Talking to someone about something going in my life and getting a reaction is so much more rewarding than a 4 sentence post on FB.  And there's nothing wrong with people wanting that affirmation on FB.  It is what it is.  I just know that it's not how I want to get it anymore and I feel much better having made that choice.

That is all :)