we live in a time and place in which individualistic excellence is the rule of the day. 

what can you do?  who can you become?  what do you have that sets you apart from the rest?  phrases like ‘find your truth’, ‘be your best self’, and ‘do what makes you happy’ litter the skyline from one coast to the other, telling us that all we have to do is be our unique selves and self-satisfy our desires until we are living our happiest lives. 

socials have a direct connection to this ideology because they are a part of what thinkers long before us called the ‘flat world’.  the creation of the internet changed life, making information and the dissemination of information, as easy as picking up a cell phone. 

socials plug right into the flat world because they give every average joe a chance to become known, famous, or gain influencer status.  socials flattened the world to the point that anyone who picks up a phone can shoot their shot at becoming ‘something’.  

it’s truly amazing. 

on the surface, this observation may seem irrelevant to this project, but it’s not. 

this place – the place away from the incessant voice that says life is about the pursuit of fame, glory, influencer status, likes, and follows – is a place of great freedom.  it’s the quiet place away from the haunting of unmet potential.  it’s the place away from the lie that an individual’s value is measured only by social media status. 

the pursuit of individualistic excellence in and of itself is not a bad thing – and it exists and has been glorified outside the world of socials for decades.  but the existence of socials and their flat world nature exacerbate the negative side-effects of the pursuit of individualistic excellence to the point that folks aren’t feeling worth much if their socials aren’t popping off. 

see, there’s one very big problem with the unending pursuit of individualistic excellence:  it can’t fill the bucket. 

by the inherent nature of its call to ‘be all you can be’ and ‘live your best life’ we’re being set up to expect to be filled in the pursuit and acquisition of whatever thing it is. 

and don’t get me wrong, i’m all about having a dream.  by all means, identify your strengths and passions and giftings and go do the thing.  that’s what makes our world beautiful and our lives rich, along with many other things.  but the challenge – the very big challenge – is to identify and pursue our dreams without placing our identities there, without getting our value there.   

there’s a documentary out about a professional athlete who is on the brink of retirement.  while being interviewed about his decision and whether or not it was time to move on from the world of professional sports, he said, “i’ve only ever been [an athlete].  it’s who i am.  it’s all i am.  i don’t have anything else.”

he was tired.  his body, mind, and soul were weary of being a professional athlete.  but he could not stop because he perceived that it was all he was. he perceived that it was where all his value was held. 

this challenge used to reside largely with the rich and famous, but socials bring it into the flat world.  with socials’ promise to make us ‘something’, we get on the content train and the hungry bot tells us our every moment should be analyzed and captured for something post-worthy.  our every engagement in a day becomes strategic.  the expectations rise and internally, something begins to shift.  as the likes and follows build – or don’t build, as the case may be – our value begins to derive from the responses on the screen.  our identity begins to take shape in the person we’ve portrayed there, and soon, we are the professional athlete, who’s weary of mind, body, and soul but feels no freedom to step away from the thing that’s pounding us down.  no freedom to leave the audience behind.  because our perceived value, our identity, is no longer resting in something eternal, but is fragilely held within the palm of our own hands, ready to shatter at the first drop onto concrete. 

here’s what is true: no number of likes, applause, follows, or affirmations will fill our souls.  

and the tricky part is that if we catch some wind on socials for a while, it’s likely to make us feel great.  but it will be temporary.  ask anyone at the top if it’s all they thought it would be.  if it silenced the doubts they had about themselves.  if it got them the ‘happy’ they thought they were after.  google the rates of happiness among the rich and famous and you’ll find egregious amounts of dissatisfaction there.  fly to a third world country where folks are completely unknown and living out of the hoods of gutted cars and you’ll find the most joyful and satisfied people you’ve ever met. 

the act of identifying and pursuing what we were put here to do is important and it will add richness and growth and beauty to our lives.  but it cannot be ultimate.  and in the place away from socials, away from the lie that our value is held in the palm of our own hands, away from the incessant chase to ‘be something’, there is great, great freedom. 

this is life without social media. 

this is life.  Unchained.  

love, Nic