in Prism of Life

 

We live in an age where there is a fire-hose of information, and there is no hierarchy of what is important and what is not. Where the truth is often fashioned through a variety of digital means. Are you your avatar? Who are you in social media? What face do you turn toward the world? How much does it have in common with who you actually are? David Carr

The new breed of millennials have taken the subtle art of impersonating a celebrity life to a whole new level. In fact if you happen to look at their social media profiles (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or Snap-chat) they all seem to enroll for an insanely popular course where they all are in fact getting credits for successfully projecting themselves as the most coolest thing ever to hit the internet.

And the best part is quite a few of them are indeed successful in projecting themselves as someone already living a brand of larger than life.

Going by the quality of wisdom at display through daily broadcast of quotes and memes in their media feed, they all seem to have matured way beyond their biological age to successfully attain “nirvana” without breaking a sweat.

Social media is changing the way we communicate and the way we are perceived, both positively and negatively. Every time you post a photo, or update your status, you are contributing to your own digital footprint and personal brand. Amy Jo Martin

In fact a majority of them have mastered the craft of personal branding without having any professional degree. They don’t shy away from investing enormous amount of time in building a public image with a sole purpose to gain more acceptability among their peers. 

Time that should have been ideally spent on exploring things and gathering different experiences is spent on fine tuning the profiling of their personal brand.

The world is the true classroom. The most rewarding and important type of learning is through experience, seeing something with our own eyes. Jack Hanna

Dig a little deeper into these profiles and you will be exposed to most of their insecurities and vulnerabilities, stemming from a single belief that they are not enough. That there exists a very long list of deficiencies in their personality. That the simple way to address those deficiencies is to deny their presence.

As a result this new generation of millennials end up developing an imperfect imaginary perception of themselves. A perception that needs constant validation for its momentum. Masking the real persona by hiding/denying all of their vulnerabilities makes them more susceptible to an unexpected outburst or unaccountable lapse in behavior. The frequency of this lapse is something that can be detrimental to long term mental health of these kids.

So what’s the AntiDote?

The strategies to break free includes volition to make some bold choices.

Being aware of your own thoughts

As an innocent victim of information overload we are susceptible to spending a lot of our daily time in consuming and communicating. But at the same time our hunger for more remains insatiable. The time to reflect or even observe our own thoughts becomes the usual casualty.

What we choose to do with this deluge of information has the ability to shape us in the long run. Therefore our choice to filter most of them should invariably keep us in good stead; provided we believe in our own ability to keep track of both our thoughts and associated feelings.

Acknowledging the presence of shadows in your life

In our eagerness to project ourselves as some extraordinary specimen possessing all exceptional talents, we fail to recognize and acknowledge our own real persona which might include different shades of shadows often relegated to some obscure corner of our subconscious mind.

Once you connect and listen to your inner voice without being heavily influenced by the outside world, you give yourself an opportunity to integrate your own disowned shadows into your true persona.

Getting in touch with your core set of values

The World expects you to be consistent in your behavior primarily for its operational efficiency. So there is no need to fall for this.

The multidimensional facet of your personality is completely dependent on your core set of values; values that often get crystallized by the time you leave your school.

Therefore it is far more important that you become self aware of all those unique thing that forms an integral and inseparable part of you. In fact sum of all those things end up defining your true identity.

Being useful

There is a lot of satisfaction and pleasure embedded in completing small but useful tasks. You can choose to ignore their significance at your own peril.

When you do little useful things every day, it adds up to a life that is well lived. And in the long run there is every likelihood that you might end up having your own share of small but significant contributions.

The last thing you want when you are on your deathbed is the realization that there’s zero evidence that you ever existed. And this is definitely not the kind of evidence that we often witness in social media where every silly minute details of insignificant lives are so very meticulously documented right across every media platform.

Find out your “WHY” and your “HOW” will be taken care of

Even if you choose to be the 117th manufacturer of an undifferentiated product, your WHY is going to be different than the rest.

That’s the reason you got to find your specific WHY. Because if you are not convinced about your own WHY then you would not be in a position to build a robust structure around it or pursue it as a passion for far too long.

Its the self belief in your own “WHY” that has potential to pave the way for you to find out all the answers related to “HOW”.

If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much: Jim Rohn

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Let me know your thoughts, I’d love to hear them !

Have an amazing weekend!

 

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  1. I just entered college and felt so intimidated of the life that follows. I can easily fit in me and all my peers into the case you’ve mentioned. I have been a learner through experience and accepted the fact. But here life is so fast paced that I felt I was losing track of my identity. Your writing brought me relief and comfort. Thank you so much!