This January you will see almost nothing but New Year's resolutions on social media. Most of the resolutions are "new year, new me" whether it be a new haircut, body modification or even new clothes or to lose weight. My resolution is "new year, less people". I understand that sounds odd to probably most of you, but let me explain.
Since I was little I was either an outcast because of my disabilities or borderline popular because of my smarts or looks. This led to me having a lot of acquaintances and at the time made me feel like I had a lot of friends. I experienced this all throughout high school. I was that "lucky girl" who was "friends" with the entire football team even though I was in the marching band. It made me feel special then, but now I realize they were my friends because I would help them in classes if they asked me.
Continue on to college and it's a different world practically. It was definitely a fresh start which was good for my depression and bad for my anxiety. The media tries to tell you that the more people you have in your life, the happier you will be, but I have learned that is not the case. I tried everything to immerse myself in collegiate life and meet as many people as possible, which was very stressful for me. I joined more than one greek organization and once you are bound in that organization you feel like all of those people are supposed to be your friend. That is certainly not the case.
In college, I learned that you will have a lot of fake friends that say they want to go out and do things and they never invite you anywhere, and there will be some that will be there through thick and thin. Your Facebook will have close to 1000 friends on it because of all the people that you met over the years, but how many do you talk to? This past semester for me was rough emotionally and I found out just how many people I actually had and it hurt a lot. My depression increased by a great deal because I felt like I had all of these people and then all of a sudden I could count my friends on one hand. I felt very lonely, so I came up with a resolution.
In the new year, I deleted everyone I do not speak to that claimed to "be my friend" and claim "I'll be here if you need me" and my Facebook alone went from 500-600 "friends" to 149 and there are still people on there I do not talk to very much. At first, it hurts and you feel really alone, but as long as your true friends back you up it will all be ok. Since cleaning out my social media, I have felt a weight off my shoulders. Even though these people could confront me in person about unfriending them or what not, I have the power to control who is in my life so I am not worried. I realized that I don't need all those friends that society thinks you need and that I am a lot stronger and more independent than I thought I was. The new year is off to a tremendous start because I feel like a new person. Who knew it felt this nice to not be stressed socially.
