Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Unfiltered

Madison Holleran, a 19-year-old varsity athlete at the University of Pennsylvania, jumped to her death in Philadelphia last January in an act that shocked her family and community.  I might not known about this except for Kate Fagan, who wrote the article about it for ESPN has a younger sister who played basketball with my daughter.  

Fagan wrote about the very filtered life Madison led on Instagram, then launched a social campaign under the hashtag #LifeUnfiltered to start a conversation around mental illness and the ways people filter their experiences -  both online and off.  

Fagan writes:   “Everyone presents an edited version of life on social media. People share moments that reflect an ideal life, an ideal self.  Young women growing up on Instagram are spending a significant chunk of each day absorbing others' filtered images while they walk through their own realities, unfiltered.”


On Tuesdays I usually post my “Full of Grace” list of things I am particularly grateful for. This exercise has been very useful to me in my PTSD recovery, and I'm truly grateful for the abundance in my life.   However, I am also aware that these posts might present a much rosier life than what my day to day existence actually is.  As Madison once posted "Even people you think are perfect are going through something difficult."

And so today I will highlight some of the more difficult things currently happening in my life:

My current Town Supervisor will not be running for re-election this year which means, no matter what, there will be a change in administration.  If the Democrats win, they have already told me they want to restructure the department and if I wanted to go back to working full-time the job would be mine.  But I really don’t want to go back to full-time.  If the Republicans win I am most certainly out of a job as I am too aligned with the Democrats.  This is not as financially devastating as it could be as I am already collecting my pension and have paid health insurance for life.   However, it is still a big financial hit I was not yet prepared to take.  Mostly though it is the fear of closing a door that I am not ready to close just yet.  And leaving a work family to whom I have become very attached.   This job has kept me centered and balanced.  I’m not sure what will happen if/when it ends.

My sister fears she is losing her mind.  At first I thought it was just mindlessness because she is so busy.  It seemed natural that some things would start to fall through the cracks.  But it has grown into something much more frightening.   She now often calls me crying because she is forgetting very important things and she knows that something is happening that she cannot control.  Often she calls and forgets why she called.  And then she starts to cry because of that.  I have no idea what to do.

Our youngest daughter seems on the verge of screwing up a well laid out plan for her career to go and live with her boyfriend who is moving out of  state.  Martha and I have lost many nights sleep about this and wind up arguing with each other when really we are just angry at Peachie who is so defensive about the whole thing she is almost impossible to live with.  And every time that tension bubbles up, her response is “this is why I don’t want to live here anymore!”  At this point I wish I could go live with someone else out of state.  My once very happy home is filled with stress and everyone walking on eggshells.

PTSD - I have come a long, long way is healing from trauma and PTSD.  But I am finding that all this tension and change and the unknown is making me very shaky.  Which makes me wonder how much I have really healed as much as I think I have.  It is a endless circle of anxiety which feeds more anxiety which feeds more anxiety . . . .  I am sometimes very scared.

________________________

I knew a woman who created quite a social media image of herself.  She tried to project a woman of strength and morality and compassion.  She called herself “a socialist for Jesus.”  But the more I got to know her, the more I realized that it was all smoke and mirrors.  Basically she was a bully who demanded people treat her one way while she treated others with contempt and ridicule.  It was a hard but important lesson for me in just how false on-line salesmanship and image making can be.

I do not want to present a false image of my life here.

Focusing on gratitude helps me avoid falling into the rabbit holes I used to live in.  My former experiences of poverty and trauma and cancer has made me acutely aware of how precious life is and just how much I have to appreciate.   I have written extensively in the past about my battle with PTSD and trauma and cancer.  It has not all been rosy and some of it has been like crawling through glass.   But lately it seems that I only write about the good things.

And so I just wanted to open the other side for a bit.  Am I extraordinarily grateful for the abundance and love in my life?   Yes I am.  And I practice mindful gratitude every day.  But is that my whole life? Not by a long shot.   I don’t want to present a fantasy image of my life, nor do I want to wallow in the hardships and failures.  It is a difficult balance to achieve in the internet world, I think.



7 comments:

  1. Oh I think anxiety is always a dog eating its own tail and there's really never an end and never a beginning. It just IS ans there is only management of it - I myself spiraled super out of control last week and let the anxiety overwhelm to the point that it was unbearable and I was an absolute mess. Thankfully, thankfully I have a million blessings in my life, mainly a partner who can see through the fog of anxiety and deal with it very calmly. I like your Full of Grace posts, I like reading about the good stuff in your life and they always make me smile, so keep sharing. I'm sorry for the stress and tension at home and leave you with the thought that as adults, we each need to steer our own ships and you've raised a wonderful, amazing daughter who is very, very capable of handling herself. Trusting others who trust themselves is often very difficult. I wish you peace as you navigate those waters (I remember being Peachie's age and just knowing I knew what was best for myself and although I've certainly had many bumps in the road, I'm thankful my parents stepped back and let me "ruin" my life - I got two amazing and wonderful kids out of it that are my life's greatest joy.)

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comes at a timely moment. I was just having a discussion about how people come to church with so much brokenness inside yet they sit there looking like bright shiny pennies not wanting anyone to know. I am going to share the article with my group and hope that it leads to further examination of this issue.

    Thank you for sharing your unfiltered life. I think it can give others the courage to do the same. Many prayers are being said for you, your sister, your daughter and your family.

    ReplyDelete
  3. First: Thank You. Second. A daughter and her choices. Oh, yes!! Third: Jobs and monumental change. Oh, hell-to-the-yes. Fourth: Someone produced a video that was (I think) widely shared on FB--a guy lamenting all of the "good news" his "friends" shared feeling more and more morose, until the "created" a different existence for himself. The likes lit up his wall which brightened his mood--temporarily. Fifth and finally: Fear, sitting at the base of my skull, resting in the small of my back, ribboning about my two achy knees. Yes. Must. Write. or something.

    And, (I know, I said finally up there) but...my thoughts are with your sister and the family and this new journey she have begun. I cannot fathom . . . I wouldn't know what to do either.

    ReplyDelete
  4. This was so wonderful. So wise and so true. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have a quote on my desk that says much the same thing. That we need to remember that everyone we meet is facing some hard reality. I keep that in mind when I think someone leads a charmed life. But, you know...how wonderful it is that you can find those kernels in your life to be thankful for.

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousJune 04, 2015

    One of my daughters was commenting the other day how some of her friends just put "happy" stuff on social media - to the point of bragging. I reminded her that they all have their burdens as well, but that we all like to share our happy news. It is all of the challenges that help us appreciate the good stuff. The circle of life...

    ReplyDelete
  7. It's finding the balance that's so challenging.
    Thank you for sharing both sides with us. As a Pollyanna, I tend to share the good stuff too. But I hope I am realistic enough to share the bad with the good. Or at least reference the bad, acknowledge that it exists and has it's own seat at my table.
    Thanks for bringing up reality, 8. It's where we all live...
    Love to you and yours and all of ours.
    Xoxox

    ReplyDelete