Loving Yourself in a “Profile” World

Editor’s Note: In our blog’s summary statement, “bringing awareness to neuro-immune illnesses and mental health,” we view the term ‘mental health’ in a broad spectrum. There will be many posts that will be dealing with the depression, anxiety, and the more well-known usage of the phrase; but there will be other posts, like this one, that will encompass health of the mind in a variety of topics. I believe these posts will be just as meaningful. Enjoy the read and join the discussion!  

Every person wants to be viewed by others in a positive note. Especially with social media, people are striving for the most likes, the most followers, and a positive view of themselves with others. What can separate you from others is being the most self-confident no matter what stage of like you are in. Every person has the capability to have a positive mindset and to view themselves as another positive piece of the society in which they live in.  

Dr. Karin Anderson Abrell says, “[w]e spend so many years battling with the one person who sticks with us through thick and thin—ourselves.” She also states that the best way to cope with this battle is to love ourselves. 

I feel one misconception that people have with my identity is that people view me just simply a sports nut. Yes, I do enjoy sports very much, and my current employment situation deals with sports, but there’s much, much more to me than just sports. I am a person of faith, a musician, a board game enthusiast, a people person, and someone who cares about every person that comes my way. But many of those attributes are not present on social mediums, or what I feel is being portrayed on my social media, or quite frankly, in face-to-face conversations.  

Please realize no person has it all together. The person with 10,000 Instagram likes may very well be very depressed and feel very lonely. The person who only gets three birthday greetings on Facebook may very well be grateful for those three, and enjoying life to the fullest. 

No matter what situation you are in life, whether you are completely healthy, or on your deathbed, very popular or not, everyone can have a positive outlook, and love who they are as a person. There’s always something to be thankful for, and a glimmer of hope for tomorrow. If you don’t feel this way, I invite you to do some soul-searching to see what is out there. I have found a solution in my faith that will keep me in a joyous and hopeful perspective my entire life. 

I am by no means perfect at this, and I need to practice being content in my current state, but I would suggest the following items to keep you feeling content with where you are at in life.  

1). Limit technology: It’s hard in today’s society. I get it. Andy Crouch, Author of “The Tech-Wise Family” suggests that people should be off technology an hour a day, a day a week, and a week a year. This is a good model to attempt to practice for all of us.  

2). Be thankful for what you have: I am trying at least once a day this week to be thankful for what I have. I invite you to try as well.  

3). Don’t worry about what other people are thinking of you: I spend WAY too much of my day thinking about what other people think of me. Focus on what you can do to make the world a better place.  

Hopefully these steps will help you shape the identity that you want to have in your life. Please feel free to give feedback on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages (@mindsofmeaning) and let’s reassess throughout the week. This is supposed to be a community, not a lecture. God bless!