The Quiet to Think

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Frustration. Confusion. What do I do now?

Several days ago, Instagram and Facebook shut down, completely changing the trajectory of my day. I had set aside two hours for social media – content creating, engaging with other bloggers, and strategizing for @ordinarychristianity. While the two hours were set aside strictly for “work”, I knew in the back of my mind that those two hours would be full of fighting distraction, giving in to distraction, and maybe even giving up because social media is a trap that all too often I surrender to. Don’t get me wrong! I love social media, and I actually believe that it makes the world a better place depending on how it is used. (I wouldn’t be doing what I am doing if I believed otherwise.)

Social media can be a space for connecting with people you never would have had the chance to connect with before. A space where community is found and where those who are struggling can discover that they are not alone. I have also seen social media be used as a worldwide prayer chain, as people from all over the world can be updated on how someone they are praying for is doing.

But I am also aware that social media breeds discontentment, fuels the struggle with self-esteem, and encourages a distorted view of reality. If only I had hundreds of filter options on the days when pimples randomly decide to invade my face or when the humidity makes my hair look like I am trying to get reception, then I would be confident, having nothing to fret over. Or if I just constantly had the distraction of other people’s lives then I wouldn’t have to think about my own problems.

Social media is just one prime example of how we use distractions to well…distract us. TV, bad relationships, travel, drugs, alcohol, movies, video games, these are all examples of potential avenues of numbing the mind. I use the example of social media because that is what I use to distract myself. The never-ending mindless scroll through pictures of people I don’t know or don’t really care about puts my mind in a haze that can’t seem to think of anything in particular through the information overload.

But when Facebook and Instagram were down the other day, I sat in the silence and listened. While my mind was not quiet, per say, I noticed that my line of thought was different. Something was missing. Then it hit me.

My mind, in a sense, was quiet. Quiet of comparison and all things “society fed expectation”. Productivity came easier and was more fulfilling in the process, because the feed of my mind was absent of pictures of beautifully decorated kitchens, vacuums that are much nicer than mine, or the popular goldendoodle that I don't have. All things that I would love to eventually have, but now is not that time. Because those images had not been placed inside my head yet that day, I found myself whispering prayers of gratitude as opposed to grumblings of discontentment and wishful thinking.

"Thank you, Lord, for a kitchen to be able to clean. Thank you for all the lovely things I have that were so graciously given to me. Thank you for a patio so that I can enjoy the sunset each evening. Thank you for the quiet."

What I learned when Instagram and Facebook were down was this - being still is a choice. A choice that I have the power to make. When I become frustrated with what I don't have, how I look, or what I wish to be, I am the one that chose to water and grow my own discontentment.

If you know what you are prone to - negativity, discontentment, anger, laziness - then you make the choice to not water what you are inclined to. Choose to read a book rather than get on Instagram for the thirteenth time that day. Choose to spend quality time with others rather than sit in front of the TV for three hours. Choose friends that encourage you toward optimism rather than feed your tendency toward negativity.

Give your mind the quiet to think and make wise decisions, because when you fill your mind with all the noise of things that don't really matter, it is harder to sift through the noise and discern what is true.

Stop pursuing the extraordinary so much so that you miss the beauty of the ordinary.

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“Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10