I have personally been having a fairly tough time of things lately.
When you work for yourself you need to learn to deal with all sorts of challenges. Most new businesses fail and there are lots of reasons for this, the odds are stacked against you.
Then in comes 2020.
For the most part I can’t really complain about my personal situation, I’m doing better than a lot of people, especially in the fitness space as my business was already set up to take advantage of the online world.
This isn’t really a poor me post either but I’m really struggling to come to terms with the state of the world right now.
I run my businesses on social media, so I spend a lot of time engaging and talking with people in the online space.
In the last few years I feel like social media has become much more viscous, perhaps keyboard warriors are a feature of social media itself, nasty comments an inevitable byproduct of removing the personal side of communication.
I’ve been talking about this trend for a while now, even before the lockdowns started, but now I feel like the nastiness is so obvious in it’s manifestation that I sometimes find myself getting a bit depressed after spending time scrolling on my feed.
I have a diverse group of friends and let’s just say that some of them are disagreeing in violent fashion at the moment. There is misinformation and parroting and virtue signalling and self righteousness everywhere I look, from both sides of the issues.
It’s like the whole world forgot how to settle the fuck down and talk to each other.
I get why people are angry too, this whole situation is a complete shitshow, it’s being managed terribly by pretty much everyone, governments are flying by the seat of their pants because they don’t have any idea what's happening and the people are losing trust in a constantly changing narrative.
I’m not going to put my beliefs or opinions on what you should or shouldn’t do here. There’s more than enough people doing that right now. Message me directly if you’re that curious.
When I started my business I decided that it was going to be a positive force in the world and I haven’t yet seen someone state where they stand on this topic without it turning into an absolute mess in the comments. I just don’t need that negativity.
I remember a time when we could all have different opinions on things and could actually get along. Society doesn’t work so well if we are all being cunts to each other.
I certainly don’t have any sort of solution here, but I have a suggestion or two.
Before you attack someone in their comments, perhaps stop to think that they arrived at their opinion through a series of events that you probably know nothing about. They are not necessarily stupid, so get rid of your superiority.
I have seen a few friends post some crazy shit recently, so I message them direct and ask them how they came to the opinion. Mostly because I like and respect them and I actually want to know.
Some of these conversations have led me to upgrade my own opinions.
Firing off an assault under someone's post critiquing their opinion is almost definitely not going to change their opinion. Just polarise them even more.
If we can’t learn how to communicate peacefully, this whole situation is going to be much harder.
Another tip is to get your own head right. That’s actually the point of this post.
I had worked myself up over weeks of taking hits in business and struggling with social media and as a result had stopped looking after myself. I was hardly exercising at all and hit a low that I haven’t hit for years. This just led to me handling the whole situation even worse.
Remember that your body and mind is your shield when everything is falling apart around you.
It took me a week or two to get things back on track, I started walking again everyday, reading, learning and all of a sudden the world is a lot brighter. I’ve picked myself up off the floor many times, so I’m getting better at it.
If you are struggling right now to come to terms with things, know that until you get yourself right, nothing else will fall in place.
I know the damage that has been done to so many people's mental health is that bad that I’m even prioritising it in my upcoming challenge.
With lifeline taking record numbers of calls, this has become urgent.
We need to start helping each other get through this, not holding each other back.
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