Image from Redbookmag.com
In a day and age where everyone is telling the world about whatever is on their mind via Twitter, Facebook and other social networking devices, it seems that it is only fitting that we go one step further down the social networking spiral. That’s right! Anonymous posting of events in your life. See, its one thing to go and let everyone you know what’s going on, or even 1,800 total strangers (like I do from time to time…what is wrong with me? 🙂 ), but its something entirely different when you can share an event with a bunch of people, and make it completely anonymous.
Enter FMyLife.com and GiveMeHope.com. Two distinct sites with two distinct purposes. FMyLife, in case you couldn’t tell by the title, is a site where you share a terrible event: something ironic, funny, or just out and out painful, and at the end, put the letters: FML. In essence, the idea is that because something bad happened to you, well, then we should just *F* my life. Now granted, I understand the nuance of sarcasm, and recognize that this sort of thing can be helpful and cathartic. However, is saying F My Life really the way to go here?
And if it is, what does that say about our perceptions of life, and its value? This has to do with Words, what you say to yourself and others. The quesion here is, are your Words affecting how you perceive yourself and your life?
The other side of this coin is GiveMeHope.com. This site is all about things that happen to people, good but also some bad, that give people hope to go forward with their lives. Same concept, but different spin. There is certainly a stronger level of optimism in the posts, and people seem to want to inspire others to hope as well.
So what’s my point here? Great, Jim. Two websites, one thinks life sucks, the other is about hope. Big deal.
Well, it is a big deal if you consider that our Words have been shown to affect our attitude about ourselves, our lives and those around us. Not only that, but it can also affect your overal physical health. Don’t believe me? Go take a look at what the Mayo Clinic has to say about the power of our words over our lives. Here’s what popped out at me:
“Researchers continue to explore the effects of positive thinking and optimism on health. Health benefits that positive thinking may provide include:
- Increased life span
- Lower rates of depression
- Lower levels of distress
- Greater resistance to the common cold
- Better psychological and physical well-being
- Reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease
- Better coping skills during hardships and times of stress “
So my point is, think about how your negative self talk and thinking affects you. I know it got the better of me this week (what, with my celebrity envy and all), and it really affected how I saw myself and my world. Once I snapped out of it, things seemed to go a lot better (I usually don’t let things get to me for more than a couple hours, give or take).
Moreover, think about what thinking positive can do for you. I’m not talking about the corny Stuart Smalley stuff. I’m talking about just straight up honesty about how good things are in your life. For me, the key to contentment in life is humility and gratitude. If you can’t be grateful for what you have, then you’re going to be ungrateful for what you don’t.
So be careful with all this FML stuff. Consider that perhaps your life and how you see it has much to do with your attitude, and if you let the negative stuff get the best of you, it can have greater consequences than you think.
Kate Le Page also has a good article on this at Suite101.
On a housekeeping note, I have got to fix my email notifications, because it seems my WordPress doesn’t like telling me when I get comments. Its either that or my new Motorola Blur. Not sure which one is in the wrong here, but I’ll figure it out. 🙂
Hi Jim,
It’s so true that our thoughts and words effect our world. I think people need to become more responsible with that because our own suffering often creates suffering for others. Which means the opposite is true, as we help ourselves, we help others. I had to learn this lesson the hard way….not worth droning on about…but I think it’s an important message to get out there. And I agree with you that you can’t just do the old Stuart Smalley stuff. I think too many people try to disguise a negative thought with a positive one without looking for the answer of where the negative one came from in the first place. It’s been my experience that you need to make peace with the negative perceptions (and yourself) in order for them to not control you anymore. Then the new positive thoughts and words have space to honestly live within you. At the risk of being really corny here, you really have to love and appreciate yourself (faults and all) to live in true peace. I love your “grateful/ungrateful” line…I think this is so key for the way we feel about ourselves as well as our lives. The more you can appreciate yourself, the more you will grow.
Stacey,
You make a lot of sense here, and I think loving yourself is part of all that. Because if you love yourself, you love your life. Sometimes you have to see what is good or what can be good about your life in order to take the first step in loving yourself.
Hey there’s a funny site like these but where people tell their darkest secrets, it’s http://www.whatasecret.com