Google - Year In Search 2018www.youtube.com
When it hasn't been your year, it's easy to feel the bitterness.
It doesn't go away from seeing your Top 9 or your best moments videos because you know what happened in between each of your social media posts that the world does not see. You know the challenges that you faced and the hard times you chose not share with the world.
In the real world, you know that 2018 has genuinely sucked for you and you can't wait to say goodbye.
But just because it's been a hard year for you doesn't mean it was all that bad. All the challenges you've faced, the hardships you've endured, and the losses you've taken might have hurt your year, but it shouldn't define it. It shouldn't define you either.
You're not a failure because you're not where you thought you'd be.
You're not alone because you've lost people you'd never thought you'd lose.
You're not a lost cause because you've made a few mistakes.
It's called growing pains and the sooner you recognize it, the better off you'll be.
If you've ever experienced growing pains, you know it's an excruciating ache. I would get massive migraines, my friends would complain about their knees, and some would have it very easy not having it at all. But this is a universal pain because you haven't experienced it quite yet, you'll for sure experience it in college or in your 20s. It might not be the same physical ache, but you'll know the pain when you feel it.
It isn't fun.
It's not expected.
But it's good for you. It means you're - what? GROWING!
Yes, 2018 was hard, but 2019 is coming.
Instead of putting expectations on your year, keep it wide and keep it open. I've always been a New Years Resolution list kind of gal, but I think it's time to try something new by not limiting all that next year has in store.
You can look forward to next year without putting so much pressure and expectations to complete a list of things you have to do.
You can even look forward to next year without bashing on this year.
Skip the hate on '18 tweets and just try to enjoy the good moments that 2018 did bring you because I'm positive there were good times. You had good days, good weeks, and even maybe a good month. Post your top 9's and share your best moments videos because it's okay to remember them even though it wasn't your year.
It's not the end of the world and yes, it will get better from here.
We All Need To Learn How To Combat Nasty Comments, One Tweet At A Time
To post or not to post . . . that is the question. Ever not known how to get your point across without typing in all caps and hurling insults left and right? Yeah, me too.
I have a hard time knowing how to respond to something that just seems so utterly wrong in my mind. How do you gently tell someone everything they've ever believed is sexist or racist or just unethical? Do you even tell them? How do you decide whether to speak up or not? What medium should you use to talk to them? Will your posts come back to haunt you when you're looking for a job? If you've ever been frustrated with these questions, you are not alone! I still don't know all the answers.
It's difficult to know when and where to post/comment/talk in our day and age where social media reigns king over all. I don't know about you, but I'm paranoid about everything I put on the internet under my name because I'm worried it'll come back to bite me in the butt when potential employers google me. I've had a lot of recent experience struggling with when and where and how to reply to something I don't agree with online.
Check out my article about checking yourself (before wrecking yourself) on your social media comments here!
The things I keep in the forefront of my mind when deciding whether to post or not are respect and validation. No matter what someone posts on their social media page, every person deserves to be respected and to have their experiences and opinions validated. I want to make sure I respect and validate everyone because that's how I want to be treated when someone comments on my social media posts. Even if I just want to tear the other person's argument apart, I do my best to have calm, respectful conversations. If anything, hopefully, anyone who sees your comments will understand your good intentions of educating the person you're arguing with. These good intentions are necessary for the person to actually listen to you.
If I start yelling out meaningless insults in between insightful comments, the person is only going to be blinded by the insults. They won't even begin to consider what I have to say because they're too busy being offended.
My goal isn't to offend anyone - it's to educate them about my thoughts so they can maybe be well-informed citizens. I don't want to make people angry; I want to get someone to rethink their opinions and take a look from a different perspective. No, this won't resolve the world's issues, and I'm not claiming it will. But if we respond out of kindness and understanding instead of hurt and animosity, we just might be able to sway someone's opinion or (as the kids are saying these days) spark some "woke" thoughts.