I used to do this crazy sales job in the summertime during
college. And when we had days where we didn’t sell anything, those were
referred to as “character building” days. Which was true. When you get told no
so many times and yet you still keep going, you add to your character’s stock
value.
Now we as human beings are designed for interaction with
other people. Even if you collect Star Wars figurines or have 7 cats, you seek
some sort of relationship with other people.
The culture that we live in currently, it’s hard to find someone that
isn’t checking their cell phone at every red light to see how many more people
liked their Facebook status. Or sending a “hey” text to 4 people for the mere
sake being connected. We like to be
social.
You see the issue that is hard to swallow, is that it’s
healthy to be disconnected and lonely every once in awhile. With all of our social media outlets and the World
Wide Web, we are in an age where it is very easy to keep in touch at all
times.
Thankfully, it doesn’t happen often these days, but there
will be times where my phone is quiet for an entire day. No texts received. No phone calls. And socially, I have a character building day. End of the world right? But it’s not really a
sad thing. Zero days, as I refer to them, help you gain a sense of self
confidence that you wouldn’t get had you checked your Instagram just one more
time. I call it a state of being “perfectly lonely.” One short moment of lonely can help you get past being dependent
on your social media crutch.
Good or bad, something we are losing with our ongoing online
presence is the concept of just being. Having nothing to entertain us but our
thoughts is becoming a rarity. What we
have developed, is this habit of always being connected, and along with it, a drastic fear
of being lonely.
You’re always welcome to tell me I’m wrong, but give it a
whirl next time you sense that lonely feeling coming on. Instead of tweeting that you’re probably going
to die alone, just sit with your thoughts. A little lonely is normal and in my
opinion, good for your self being. I’m not encouraging being lonely all the
time, like I said we are creatures built for relationships. But since we know
it’s inevitably going to happen at some point, we may as well embrace that
lonesome feeling as something that’s good for us. Build some character, be lonely. I dare you.
New in my life: Two-for-one beers on Tuesday are good for
me. Confidence comes from keeping busy.
Make different moves, get different results. #legendary
Keep smilin'
JM
