Digital Diet Takeaway: Why Do We Do What We Do?

My digital diet definitely had its challenging moments, particularly in the beginning. That exasperating and unsettling enemy for so many of us – not knowing – was front of mind those first few days as I wondered about whether my posts had resonated with anyone or, for that matter, if anyone had even read the posts.

But it led to a very pertinent and provocative question…

Does it matter?

It’s not easy to create something and put it out into the world, especially when it’s personal. Yes, I’d love for my writing to resonate with people... but what if it doesn’t? What does that mean for me? Do I stop writing?

Do you do what you do because you love it or because people respond to it?

In a perfect world, you don’t have to choose but no one needs me to tell them the world isn’t perfect. So if you have to choose, what’s your choice?

The answer for me was quite clear: no, I wasn’t going to stop writing or sharing what I write because writing is as much for me as it is for my readers. I hope that what I write connects with people, stirs up questions and starts conversations. I hope that it helps people feel less alone, in the knowledge that we all struggle to one degree or another but that we can also find courage and support in each other so we can get up, try again and do better or differently, whatever that looks like for each of us.

For me, the act of writing is as frustrating as it is exhilarating. Sometimes the struggle to find the right words, rhythm and tone is a head banging, energy churning, visceral battle; other times it’s a sit-and-stare-into-the-distance-until-you-don’t-know-how-much-time-has-passed kind of struggle. And then there are those moments where it feels like the writing already exists in some other space-time, thought up by someone (or something) far better at this than me and I’m just here as a vessel for the words to travel through.

Without social media, I thought less about how my choices compared with other people’s choices. Without social media, I simply made fewer comparisons to anyone else about anything else. My perspective became focused on whether I was doing the right things for MY life and MY path and how those choices affected those around me.

Comparisons only confuse things: you spin round and round until you can’t tell what side is up nor which step is forward. Instead, stand still and find your ground. Claim your space. Feel your feet beneath you. Take stock of what’s around you and what’s inside of you. Only you can be you.

“Every man has a vocation to be someone: but he must understand clearly that in order to fulfill this vocation he can only be one person: himself”

-Thomas Merton