A week ago I was sitting with my friend and we were talking about Facebook envy.
In the past, before the internet, we usually made friends with the people around us, in our neighborhoods, with lives that were similar to ours. The houses looked similar, the people around us made the same amount of money, the kids all played together. How often would you have someone coming over to your house with a bag of polaroids from their trip around the world and the beach house in Maui they just bought?
Facebook changes all of that. We get an inside look at the lives of people all around the world who, without the internet, we’d never get to know. Which is such a crazy blessing, but it has it’s downside now and then too.
We get to see pictures of those trips to India, the retreats in Bali, photo albums of the cherub-faced-angels that you never hear of misbehaving, the brand new house that overlooks the ocean and they all make it look so damn easy. If you’re just an Average Joe (or Jane!) you might find yourself being a little discontent, wishing your life was more like that.
Facebook envy happens over those magical picturesque lives.
Suddenly you start to wonder if you can really be happy with your normal hum-drum life. The pile of dirty laundry calling your name, the screaming-fighting-in-need-of-a-bath-and-nap kids, the apartment that you can’t even call your own because you’re renting it, and vacations? Vacations are those stretches of time when you catch up on chores. Tropical vacations? Yeah, you wish.
Your life seems so far-removed from that picture of Facebook Happy.
Then there are the articles, websites, and blogs that tell you that you can have that life if you buy x, they have the secret and they are willing to tell it to you. Buying x can give you that ever elusive happiness. They have the recipe, just give them a few month’s rent, stand on your head while speaking in Latin and sacrificing a few virgin princesses while you’re at it and you can be happy and rich with a life just like theirs.
That mentality teaches us not to be happy with what we have and where we are.
I want to show you how to be happy in your ordinary life. I want to show you how to make your ordinary life extraordinary. I want to showcase all of those ordinary things that create happiness, because it can be found everywhere, for free even.
Every week I’m going to post an Extraordinary Ordinary Life tip. A simple, easy, reminder for you to do something ordinary and allow it to make your life extraordinary. Those simple joy that get overlooked, the things that make you smile… let’s embrace them and love them and be grateful for them.
I make Facebook friends wisely, just because someone is my close friend doesn't qualify him/her as fb friend if the post were boring, depressing, judgemental.
"The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else's highlight reel." – Steve Furtick
So looking forward to this!
I deleted my Facebook in January, and I didn't have one day of missing it. It had been a place where I looked through old classmates postings when I was bored only to find that I was still housing the "not good enough" demon from high school. Saying good-bye to that profile was a step in my growth and has saved me quite a bit of time!
Love that quote, and it's so true!
I agree!
That sounds like it was a very wise idea and I'm glad it helped! Thanks for stopping by and I hope that you enjoy!
This is a wonderful idea and much needed. Facebook really is a highlight reel because who wants to show all the "mundane" stuff? I may live in tropical paradise, but tropical paradise also comes with electricity outages and spotty internet, plus all the first world luxuries I gave up to live a simple writer's life. People don't see that, just like I don't see all the behind-the-scenes stuff in other people's seemingly perfect lives. The internet is definitely a blessing and a curse.
Contentment with what one has is a valuable practice. Thank you for bringing it to the forefront.
I loved a look into your tropical paradise, it was beautiful!
It's my pleasure! I'm looking forward to the journey!
SO many ordinary things make my life extraordinary. Like Max sitting down in MacDonalds and eating an actual burger (autism and huge diet problems)! Or when My older son Zack comes out with something so aptly grown up that it just makes my jaw drop. Or my friend sending me a wee message to say she's missing me. Or someone I only know a bit watching a scary movie and tagging me in a post about it because she knows I'll get it. The way my dog comes up to me like she thought I was never coming back EVERY TIME I walk through the front door, and watching my boys actually playing TOGETHER (again, Max, autism, I know you *get* it )!
Or even sitting down to read a post and being reminded of thinking of all the little things in my life that make me happy to be where I am right now. :)
Thank you for this post Dominee! <3
Yay Max! I remember when my brother would eat nothing but peanut butter sandwiches on one slice of bread, folded over, and potato chips. Every new food experience was a victory!
So happy that things are going good for you and there's time to appreciate it!
That's Max's food of choice too! Peanut butter sandwiches (or on toast) and crisps. It's a PITA! I journaled about your post on values last night. Seems I had a lot to say on the matter! :) x