You pull the great tome off the shelf and flip to a random page to begin reading.
You find a conversation…
“
For me, I'd say the main thing is having a better outlook. I found myself spiraling into a pretty dark mindset of not caring about basically anything, but after spending more time with family and my interactions in this community, I've found myself caring more about what other people think again. Which can be a good or a bad thing. Bad because you don't want to place your entire self worth on external factors, but good because valuing other people's opinions helps us feel connected. It's good to be vulnerable sometimes.
”
A person answers:
“
I love this!
Thank you so incredibly much for sharing!
This really fills me with joy.
I wonder if it would help you to replace caring what other people think with caring about how you're making other people feel.
The focus here is not on how you're being judged, but on the moments that you're creating inside the space that you both share.
What are your thoughts?
”
The first person responds back:
“
That's a good point. I do think feelings are ultimately more substantial, but it can sometimes be impossible to quantify. We convey thoughts much more easily than feelings, so sometimes it's all we have to work with
”
…and then the second person responds again:
“
That's true.
I have a lot of content prepared for the courses on how to access this in both yourself and others better, so once that's up, hopefully it'll help!
”
There is one final response in this apparent chapter.
“
Looking forward to it!
“
The rest of this page is blank.
You flip a few more pages and they’re also blank.
You keep flipping until you come across another passage also written in fresh, wet ink.
This page has more hopeful news.
“
Avoiding news on days I know I can handle it, maybe not less scrolling, but changing what I'm scrolling by hiding more stuff I'm not comfortable seeing and seeking out more positive things in my feed, changing which subs I'm seeing, I noticed how a little change can make a meaningful difference in mood.
”
It’s promising to see some good news with all the havoc going on in the world right now.
Maybe even if the world is burning, we’ll still be able to have each other…
