Social Media

It is a truism to say that spending too much time on social media is bad for mental well-being. But, why? I am not going to talk about its addictive nature. For me, its bad because it constantly shows you the extremes of human condition. It shows you people at their best and at their worst, both in terms of their behaviour and their achievements and failures/misfortunes. Constantly hearing about how great (some) people are doing can excite envy and insecurity. it is one thing to know that there countless people who are infinitely smarter, more talented, more hardworking, more fortunate and more successful than you, and it quite another to have that fact demonstrated to you everyday. On the other hand, constantly hearing about how badly (some) people are doing can spark anything from despondency, fear (that that thing might happen to us) and guilt (for finding life difficult even in the absence of a personal calamity). The banal middle of the human experience is missing on social media. It is healthy to see normal people going about their mundane lives,, with nothing terrific or terrible to report. But, of course, that is boring. Which is why the best strategy is to reduce time spent on social media. 

Back to Yoga

The past five weeks have been my longest break from yoga and blogging. I have gone off blogging because I suddenly realised its a blog on the internet and could potentially be read by anyone. What started as musing on life had morphed into occasional musings and more frequently grumblings about MY life. The blog has become more of a personal diary and a window into my soul. I am not comfortable about that and I am not sure how to proceed. The blog started as a collection of insights I had gleaned about life, armed with emotional and intellectual tools acquired during the previous year. Maybe I am done with the easy pickings of wisdom and any additional wisdom is much harder to acquire. But, as I ponder about the future of this blog (in a post on the blog), I am happy to report that I have not gone off yoga permanently. I did a session today and it felt like I imagine a comfort blanket would feel. That is extremely reassuring.