Protecting Your Peace (Or, You Don’t Owe Anyone a Thing Part Two)

Things are going to get a lot harder on the Internet, and soon. With the COVID vaccine coming soon (which I’m extremely thankful for, because science is awesome!), the holidays happening, and the country remaining largely divided, this is a stressful time to peruse social media. But, guess what? You don’t have to. Like I’ve said before (in this post), you don’t owe anyone your time, your attention or your peace. All of that belongs to you, and though I don’t advocate for baseless selfishness, I do advocate for self-care, and self-care is not selfish. Protecting your peace is not selfish. And here’s why…

You have the right to be happy, and no one has the right to take that from you

A hike I recently took in Fayetteville, WV. All about protecting my peace and keeping my mind clear, lately. How about you?

Especially on the Internet. Let’s face it, the Internet and social media are not natural parts of the human experience. We aren’t supposed to live our lives knowing what’s going on in the mind of others 24/7. This has also, of course, given way to cults of personality growing into full-blown conspiracy theorist driven cults, which can be seriously mentally draining to bare witness to (especially when you don’t fall for it, lol!) But, I’ll say it again— you don’t have to subject yourself to any of it.

You have the right to stop scrolling. To stop posting. To not engage on social media at all, if you don’t want to and if you find it’s negatively affecting your mental health. You have every right to turn it all off, and focus on protecting your peace in the real world, in tangible ways that make a real difference in your mental health and wellbeing.

I don’t have much more to say, but just know that in this season of my life I won’t be “scrolling” much on social media, anymore. Posting updates here and on other channels about what I’m doing? Sure— I like sharing with you all, and it makes me happy to share. Engaging with all the drama online at the moment? Nope— because I don’t owe anyone a thing and neither do you.

Protect your peace, especially during this crazy time, and take care of yourselves.

Xoxo, MM.