I have tried the gratitude journal for a while earlier this year. Tried and stopped. Started again. Two days ago I thought about how I could put out more positive vibes on my social media. I’m still using those more than I probably should, but less actively than before. Sharing some positive thoughts / memories each day might be a good compromise to still be active without posting about what everyone seems to be posting about.
This is what today’s Instagram Story slide looks like
I as well am heartbroken and speechless about what’s going on in Gaza and Israel. Scared about what it might lead to. But a NY Times guest essay “I Don’t Have to Post About My Outrage. Neither Do You.” sums up my thoughts at the moment quite well. This among other things
The impulse toward loud, reductive declarations reflects genuine fear about horrors that lie beyond words. Simple binaries imply simple solutions. And it’s much more pleasant to tell yourself you stand on the side of good, against evil, than to question whether the lines of demarcation were drawn correctly.
Sitting with uncertainty is hard, especially when social media has primed us to expect perfect real-time information during traumatic events and to want instantaneous answers and resolution. Moral certainty is an anchor we cling to when factual certainty is not possible. And the faster we express it, the more certain we appear. The most righteous among us post — and do it immediately.
Elizabeth Spiers in “The New York Times”
