Here’s a rant. Just so you know.
I am tired of the number of posts, clickbait links, blog posts, etc., that focus on all the things we are doing wrong. (Caveat: these aren’t real lists, I’m exaggerating.)
– Fifteen things you’re doing wrong in your marriage.
– Five reasons your cat hates you.
– Three things you don’t know about the color pink.
– How you are pooping incorrectly.
– Ten reasons you will never be successful.
– Eight ways you’re hurting your children.
– Thirteen books you haven’t read.
– Nineteen things you’re doing wrong.
– Forty words you’re mis-pronouncing.
– Seven things wrong with NCIS.
– Twenty-two items you’ve been using wrong.
We had parents who spent our childhood correcting us. Our teachers corrected us. Even our spouses and children correct us still. We are absolutely wired to pay attention when we are told that we are wrong.
The problem is – in many cases, our response should be ‘so what? I’m doing it my way.’
But we’re terribly afraid that we won’t be like everyone else, so we’d better get on the ball and discover what we don’t know.
These stupid lists make us feel inadequate.
Which, by the way, is the reason that most advertising succeeds in this day and age. Advertising reaches to the very basest of our fears – that we are missing something extraordinary if we don’t purchase the perfect floatie for our pool or the newest fad hair color or fill our homes with junk … on and on.
I’m the worst when it comes to being susceptible to good advertising. I don’t even like Coca-Cola (I know, shame on me), but if I see an ad showing a coke being poured over ice, I salivate. Every single time. Billboards with that image just about do me in.
Anyway … back to those lists of things we’re doing wrong. I get all ragey-furious when I see those in my Facebook feed. I’m so tired of people thinking that the only way to get my attention is to tell me I don’t know what I’m doing.
Now here’s the deal. As long as we continue to click on those links, those lists will continue to be made and propagated in your feeds.
There is so much negative information that comes at us every day. We’ve become inured to it and have learned to live with it, but in truth, we don’t have to live with it. We can choose to set it aside. Hide those lists when they show up. Push the negative away.
I discovered a couple of months ago, as I hid so much garbage from my Facebook feed, that it soon began filling up with things I loved. Pictures of kittens and dogs, stories of kindness and goodness, encouraging words and funny jokes. The other creeps in, but I no longer find myself growling at the screen.
We get to make the choice – either be concerned every day about what we’re doing wrong – or find joy in the life we’re living right now.
I choose joy.
Which makes the title of this blog post ridiculous, but it got your attention. I should be ashamed. LOL.
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Thank you to those of you who have written reviews for Book 18 – Just Around the Bend and the Prequel – Finding the Road Home.
If you haven’t had an opportunity to do so, I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you share your thoughts on Bellingwood with the world. It’s hard for me to ask, but then … look … here I am asking. These are so important to have as I move forward to let others know about Bellingwood.
Right now, I’m most interested in building the reviews up for the Prequel. If you’ve read it and would tell others how much you enjoy reading the Bellingwood series, I would be grateful. Click on the book titles to get to the Amazon page for the books. Thank you!
