Only you can control what you feel and project because you are the one that controls what you consume. For example, obviously you know the McDonald’s you are about to eat is going to make you feel sick and sluggish, but YOU choose to eat it anyway. Something healthier will definitely make you feel energized and refreshed, but it’s up to you to make that decision. The truth is, food isn’t the only thing you feed your body. It’s also in the music you listen to, the social media you consume, the books you read, the people you surround yourself with, what you prioritize, and what you choose to do with your time.
There are so many aspects of life that you control. At the same time there are a lot of aspects just out of your hands. The question really is: Why make yourself feel bad, when you have the choice to be the best you?
Digging into some of the things you can control, music is a huge one for me personally. I have found that when I listen to sad and depressing music, I then start to feel that way. For years that has been a huge struggle for me because it’s so hard to let that go since I love sad songs. Recently, I have been getting a lot better at cutting those songs out of my life. When I’m sad, I definitely still listen to them, I just don’t surround myself with those songs anymore. And that is exactly my point: there is nothing wrong with being sad or liking sad things, it’s just the problem of making yourself feel bad for no reason.
In regards to social media, one thing that I can’t stress enough is that most times it’s usually not social media that’s toxic, it’s your feed. If every time you go on social media it makes you feel sad or depressed, most of the time it’s you that’s making it that way. I will say, there are so many things on social media to make you feel down that you can’t control, but depressing posts are on your feed because you put them there. The more you like, comment and interact with those posts, the more they will pop up on your phone. That’s just how algorithms work.
Another reason social media may be making you feel depressed is because you are letting it consume you. How you choose to spend your time affects you a lot. When I go home and spend my night scrolling on social media I feel so lonely and sad. Other days I go home and clean my room, or find something creative to do, and it makes me feel so good about myself. What you feed your soul is so important because it’s what you end up feeling and projecting out.