Social media is a great way to find out what everyone is thinking.
Unfortunately, it can show the dark side of people all too easily. Sometimes it is extreme and explicit, and sometimes it is subtle, but either way, people have a capability of being quite terrible.
They voice their anger and opposition about things that don’t impact them, and you might strongly disagree because it does impact you and your loved ones.
It can be painful at times, especially if they get personal. You can get riled up. You can get angry.
And there’s nothing wrong with feeling this way.
It’s just that it saps your energy so you can’t spend that energy on something better.
My friend Danyelle posts a weekly video called Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom in which she shares a quote and talks about how it resonates with her, and her video on July 15th was about letting go of outrage:
It’s one thing to be passive in the face of anger. It’s another to decide to spend your time on something with more consequence. People on Facebook or Twitter can easily share their opinions that no one asked for, and you don’t have to engage at their level.
Someone shares a hurtful meme? You might not even know about it because while they’re on Facebook posting something that people may or may not see, you’re setting a good example by your actions and making a real difference in the world.
It can be somewhat addicting to want to get into the anger and outrage debate, but when you look back in five years, are you going to be proud of the online arguments you participated in willingly, or are you going to be grateful you let those things go so you can spend your time making real progress in your life and the lives of others?