For roughly half of 2023 I have not engaged in social media aside from this blog. Abstaining from social media when I did had been crucial for my mental health and was a tool to help me survive the end of the 2022-2023 school year. I utilized social media to dissociate and often spiraled into negative thoughts…most of which revolve around the theme of “everything I am not.” In the past few months I have debated a return. It wasn’t intended to be a challenge of “can she stay off for a year?!” More so feeling out what I needed with no set end date in mind. Social media, in all its positives and negatives, is an essential aspect of our world and our daily lives. Although not being involved on these platforms is a form of self care, it removes me from where a majority of the worlds communities meet and interact. Not being involved in some form takes me away from an aspect of how our world communicates and evolves with each other. It also limits my ability of self discovery and identification. This blog has been vital for me to process what is going on in my brain during this period of my life, however, you can only grow so much in a vacuum.

South Korean Actor Lee Dong Wook (이동욱) mentioned how he has evolved when it comes to how he processes his thoughts and emotions. Like me, he is known for his solitude when he has down time.

“Lee Dong Wook revealed that while he used to prefer solitude, he now tends to overthink when alone. He expressed that meeting and conversing with people helps him feel refreshed and invigorated.”

Devdiscourse. (2023, June 13). Lee Dong Wook opens up about his struggles and source of his energy. Devdiscourse. https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/entertainment/2486482-lee-dong-wook-opens-up-about-his-struggles-and-source-of-his-energy

This was a reminder that I am in a constant state of evolution. That I have permission to do something different if it means I am more in tune with who I am, who I want to be, and who I need to be in any given moment. Reconnecting to others and meeting communities where they are is part of that so that I may once again engage in discourse and expose myself to others ideas and paradigms. Not only would it widen my views, it would also challenge me to stay true to myself. An aspect of which is helping others. An underlining part of why I blog is to let others see that they are not alone. That someone else may share their thoughts, worries, struggles, joys, and discoveries and to foster empathy and compassion for others.

So…how do I make my interaction on the various platforms positive and healthy? What boundaries need to be in place or skills do I need to focus on so that I don’t fall back into the vortexes that revolve around the web. Recently I started watching YouTube and reactivated my Tumblr. YouTube has some amazing resources for my language learning journey as well as interactions with some innovative and unapologetically themselves creators. However, if I am not careful, one of those maelstroms will suck me in and the negative thoughts start spinning. Tumblr is this strange junk pile of glittering baubles that us treasure goblins happily share. It is probably the only social media site that hasn’t sent my brain tumbling (pun intended) and usually generates just positive, warm fuzzies, that it was natural for me to come back to it first.

Part of my debate is also what it means to engage on a website as that is actively promoting who or what may be behind it. For example, despite the fact that Twitter is…or was…a place to interact and share information, it is no longer a company I will support in its current state. Facebook/Instagram also gives me pause, however, this also brings up the balancing scales of which side is heavier, connecting with the community that is established or the decision to support or not support that company. Different generations and cultures use different platforms and how I wish to interact with those groups also determines which accounts are reactivated.

Most importantly, how do I engage with intention? I wish to be true to myself, engage with others in a way that prompts empathy and understanding, and in some way gives back to the communities I am in. That is a rather heavy goal for someone who is not a typical content creator (blogging, i.e. reading, is not at the current forefront of information sharing). Although my engagement does not need to always be in that vein, it is a part I wish to cultivate.

So…I suppose it is time for me to step back into the waters. It is a mix of feeling right, feeling necessary, and a feeling of apprehension. Despite that mix, that should be what a lot of our journeys are. Taking a step forward down a path with the hope that it is the right direction for that moment.

With that…lets reengage, shall we?

Want to know what I was listening too?