The year 2020 has been a doozy. First COVID: school cancelling, home lockdown, quarantining, social distancing, people dying all over the world….I mean GROSS! Then the murder of George Floyd. I think of it as the straw that broke the camel’s back. The match to light the flames. The Black Lives Matter movement exploded with strength and passion to fight for the end of racism.
With all of this crazy stuff going on, I feel overwhelmed. The thing that overwhelms me the most is the Black Lives Matter movement. I know it is important, but let me explain: this movement has evoked so much built up anger, and it has surfaced the controversial topics once more. Now, more than ever before, these controversial topics are the highlight of conversations, of social media, of world issues, of people’s thoughts, and most importantly, of 2020!
Yesterday, a friend of mine told me that she went to a protest, and it was a super cool experience for her. It made me nervous. Am I doing enough? Do my friends and family share the same views? What if they don’t? How do I know what to believe if those I love believe different things? How do I stand for what’s right while everything around me is crumbling?
After talking with my dad, I felt a little bit better about everything because I decided to give those I loved and cared about the benefit of the doubt. For most people I know, love, and care about have good intentions and a good heart. This leads me to believe that if we, as a human race, had all the information, had been educated in every sense of the word, had been witness to the issue and had all the answers, then there would be no controversy.
In psychology, we learned about child development. Every single child is affected 50% by nature, (their chemical and biological makeup) and 50% by nurture, (their childhood, parents, and the society around them). With this information, it is a fact that each and every child is 50% affected by their parents and their parents’ views. This is one of the main reasons racism persists; the cycle continues because little children learn to be racist and grow to become racist adults.
I’ve also realized that social media can be a very brainwashing place. There are rarely hard proven facts on social media; mostly opinions and controversies and false information. I recently posted an Instagram post talking about it. I think I’ll just copy and paste it here. 😉
First off, I got a job at SodaRush. I’m super excited about it, and I’m very grateful it all worked out. Getting a job right now is so tough! I start training today, June 23.
Second. I have been feeling frustrated, angry, confused, distraught, sad, hurt, and many other not-so-fun feelings. They all stem from social media. If you don’t know where you stand, if you don’t have a solid foundation, then the waves will overcome you. They will push you every which way. They will trample you and stomp on you and suffocate you and leave you feeling numb. I’ll admit, I got swept away in them, and it was REALLY SCARY!
The problem with social media is that is provides the waves to sweep you away. Opinions and ideas are all around, and they will not stop for you. They will not give you a second glance; they will simply drown you in them.
It’s been so hard for me on social media with all the controversy amidst my feed and on my screen. I feel people are posting and sharing things on their story that they do not have the full story of. They haven’t been fully made aware of the whole picture. Instead, social media shows them and me what it wants us to see and believe. It manipulates the truth and hides the whole story. The current generation and future generations are in a really tough position because their source of knowledge stems from social media. I’m sorry to break it to you, but social media is a brainwashing place! It is NOT a credible source. Sadly, I didn’t realize it until recently.
So if you’ve been swept away, and you feel you are lost in sea, take heart. Maybe take a break from social media and decide where you stand on issues without the influence of other people on social media. Try to find the whole picture. Try to understand what is happening in the world and WHY. Sadly, social media will not tell you. It doesn’t have the answers you’re looking for.
In conclusion, if you like mangoes more than oranges, EDUCATE YOURSELF.
That’s a joke by the way 😉
(Also, I hate the term “educate yourself” currently because it is thrown around like it’s candy, and it implies that you are idiotic and stupid….UGHH!)
I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from the post, both on Facebook and Instagram. It makes me confident to post my future thoughts there too! Thank you to everyone who commented positive feedback. ❤️
To branch off into a different topic, I wanted to explain why I titled this post “Believing when Hope Seems Lost.” To me, it fits my feelings. It wraps this entire post and all my thoughts into a simple 5 word phrase. Because as stated above in my post, I have been feeling frustrated, sad, angry, confused, drained, and so on…and I realized the best way to calm and quiet those feelings was to believe. Believe. Believe that things will work out. Believe that there is a loving Father in Heaven who is aware of you. Believe that these controversies don’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Believe that all will be made clear in the right time.
Once you start believing, these things stressing you out start to fade to the background. It’s so refreshing!
So as the Instagram post says, take heart. Be brave. Take a leap of faith. Most importantly, believe, and know you are loved.
I am reading these post to lift my spirit today!! HOPE only a 4 letter word, but it has so much meaning…sometimes it is all we have..for now I will let that be enough. I have HOPE!!💜🧡💚
I’ve felt the same. Social media has been super overwhelming, and several times in the last months I’ve had to take long breaks. It can be hard to step away, but we have to take care of ourselves, and as you said, we need to believe things will be okay.