From time to time, I have mentioned God. I have mentioned some of my beliefs (which I think are different from other believers). But recently, God has been nudging me a whole lot. He has been knocking on my heart.
He wants something more for me.
Maybe it is the season of Lent. Maybe it is that I have been hearing some very inspiring and thought provoking words. Maybe it is because I have been spending more time doing quiet, individual Bible study.
I really don't know.
But as I explore these thoughts, I'm probably going to have more posts about Christian things or thoughts I have.
So just a word to the wise. I don't know how long this will last, but as long as I feel the spirit moving me more than usual, I'll be posting stuff about it. I know I have at least three coming.
I will still attempt NaPoWriMo, so be watching for that in April!
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Sunday, February 15, 2015
Twitter-zilla
Twitter. It can be a great social media device.
Or it can be a friendship destroying monster.
It all depends how you use it.
I tend to use it frequently with random content. From complaints about neighbors to buzzfeed quizzes to following bull riders to pictures of cute animals to venting about friends.
I've seen it before. A girl posts something nasty about a friend, the friend finds out, and then they aren't such good friends anymore.
You would think this cautionary tale would have stopped me from doing what I did. But it is like second nature to me. Something frustrating or annoying happened and so I pulled out my phone and tweeted it. It is so fast, so easy. And that's exactly the problem. In 140 characters or less, you may have just torn another person down. You don't have to think about it. You just type it in and press tweet and bam, it is out there for the world to see.
You might not have meant anything by it (I didn't). It might have been no big deal to you. You might have just been annoyed or frustrated and so you wanted to vent and so you did. It was easy. And now you just move on.
Or if you are like me, you probably tweeted ten (or more) things (or one really long thing that takes more than one tweet to explain) and then you moved on. You probably didn't think about it again (I didn't). You just moved on, relieved of your complaints; you vented, you drained, you released, you blew off steam. So you're fine.
But here's the thing: the internet doesn't know that. The person reading the tweet doesn't know that. The person reading the tweet, who the tweet is about, who you were certain would never read the tweet, doesn't know that you are completely fine, that it was no big deal, that everything is fine as far as you are concerned (that's another problem with social media, it's so self-centered).
But to them, their world is deflated. They think you hate them. They think you can't stand them. They are hurt.
You didn't mean anything by it.
But they are devastated.
And maybe they say something about it. And then you are taken aback. Then you scramble trying to figure out what to do. You say you were just venting. You look at your tweets (most of which you have completely forgotten about) and for the most part, you feel like they were fine, that there is no reason for the other person to be upset, but maybe there are one or two that you read and you cringe, you think "I really should not have said that." You know just how much it would have hurt if you had read that one particular tweet. And yeah, you can delete them so that no one will ever read those tweets again.
But it's too late.
The damage has already been done.
I don't really know what to do about that. I'm still in this whole process. But here is what I do know:
1. You have to be very careful what you post on social media.
You might think you know who will see it and read it. You might mean nothing by it. But in reality, you can't control what other people read or how they feel about what they read, so you need to be very mindful of what you post. It could definitely have negative repercussions. So THINK before you post.
2. Everyone needs to vent.
No one is happy with 100% of the people around them 100% of the time. And that is totally okay. But be careful how you vent. Write it in a journal. No one else will read this. It is a safe place for your thoughts. Or you could write it down, tear it up, and throw it away. I really, really don't see how that could go wrong. If you really need to tell someone, be selective about who you tell. Don't tell a mutual friend or the biggest gossip you know. Tell someone who will understand that this is just between the two of you and that things are fine between you and whoever you are venting about.
3. If you have been on the receiving end of this, I'm sorry.
Words can really hurt. But try to remember, more than likely things are okay. Everyone needs to vent. I'm sure you vent too. Maybe you are more tactful about it, but think of your parents, significant other, friends. Think of all the people who you love, who you care about the most. At some point or another, you have been mad/embarrassed/frustrated/annoyed with them, that's a normal part of relationships. And maybe you wrote something about them in a journal or on a blog or on twitter or maybe you told a good friend. Maybe you even told them something really hurtful to their face. You were venting. Everyone needs to vent. Not everyone deals with these sorts of things the same way and that's okay. You have been mad/frustrated/annoyed with someone that you could never imagine not being a part of your life. It doesn't mean that they dislike you, we all need to vent and it doesn't necessarily mean anything bad for the relationship.
Be careful with your words.
Live in harmony with each other. Don't be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don't think you know it all! - Romans 12:16 New Living Translation
Or it can be a friendship destroying monster.
It all depends how you use it.
I tend to use it frequently with random content. From complaints about neighbors to buzzfeed quizzes to following bull riders to pictures of cute animals to venting about friends.
I've seen it before. A girl posts something nasty about a friend, the friend finds out, and then they aren't such good friends anymore.
You would think this cautionary tale would have stopped me from doing what I did. But it is like second nature to me. Something frustrating or annoying happened and so I pulled out my phone and tweeted it. It is so fast, so easy. And that's exactly the problem. In 140 characters or less, you may have just torn another person down. You don't have to think about it. You just type it in and press tweet and bam, it is out there for the world to see.
You might not have meant anything by it (I didn't). It might have been no big deal to you. You might have just been annoyed or frustrated and so you wanted to vent and so you did. It was easy. And now you just move on.
Or if you are like me, you probably tweeted ten (or more) things (or one really long thing that takes more than one tweet to explain) and then you moved on. You probably didn't think about it again (I didn't). You just moved on, relieved of your complaints; you vented, you drained, you released, you blew off steam. So you're fine.
But here's the thing: the internet doesn't know that. The person reading the tweet doesn't know that. The person reading the tweet, who the tweet is about, who you were certain would never read the tweet, doesn't know that you are completely fine, that it was no big deal, that everything is fine as far as you are concerned (that's another problem with social media, it's so self-centered).
But to them, their world is deflated. They think you hate them. They think you can't stand them. They are hurt.
You didn't mean anything by it.
But they are devastated.
And maybe they say something about it. And then you are taken aback. Then you scramble trying to figure out what to do. You say you were just venting. You look at your tweets (most of which you have completely forgotten about) and for the most part, you feel like they were fine, that there is no reason for the other person to be upset, but maybe there are one or two that you read and you cringe, you think "I really should not have said that." You know just how much it would have hurt if you had read that one particular tweet. And yeah, you can delete them so that no one will ever read those tweets again.
But it's too late.
The damage has already been done.
I don't really know what to do about that. I'm still in this whole process. But here is what I do know:
1. You have to be very careful what you post on social media.
You might think you know who will see it and read it. You might mean nothing by it. But in reality, you can't control what other people read or how they feel about what they read, so you need to be very mindful of what you post. It could definitely have negative repercussions. So THINK before you post.
2. Everyone needs to vent.
No one is happy with 100% of the people around them 100% of the time. And that is totally okay. But be careful how you vent. Write it in a journal. No one else will read this. It is a safe place for your thoughts. Or you could write it down, tear it up, and throw it away. I really, really don't see how that could go wrong. If you really need to tell someone, be selective about who you tell. Don't tell a mutual friend or the biggest gossip you know. Tell someone who will understand that this is just between the two of you and that things are fine between you and whoever you are venting about.
3. If you have been on the receiving end of this, I'm sorry.
Words can really hurt. But try to remember, more than likely things are okay. Everyone needs to vent. I'm sure you vent too. Maybe you are more tactful about it, but think of your parents, significant other, friends. Think of all the people who you love, who you care about the most. At some point or another, you have been mad/embarrassed/frustrated/annoyed with them, that's a normal part of relationships. And maybe you wrote something about them in a journal or on a blog or on twitter or maybe you told a good friend. Maybe you even told them something really hurtful to their face. You were venting. Everyone needs to vent. Not everyone deals with these sorts of things the same way and that's okay. You have been mad/frustrated/annoyed with someone that you could never imagine not being a part of your life. It doesn't mean that they dislike you, we all need to vent and it doesn't necessarily mean anything bad for the relationship.
Be careful with your words.
Live in harmony with each other. Don't be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don't think you know it all! - Romans 12:16 New Living Translation
Think before you post!
Sharon
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