A friend recently gave me his take on the phrase “you are what you eat”: If you substitute “eat” for “consume”, it expands that sentence so much farther. If you look at it as “we are what we consume”, it can change our interpretation. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Because what I “consume” now becomes everything I look at—my brain consumes it—be it books I read, TV shows I watch, and the endless scrolling of social media. How much “consuming” do we even have the ability to do these days?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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And everything our brains are consuming is going right in there if we’re not using Healthy Self Esteem.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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For example, one night I was doing some mindless scrolling on IG and I started feeling…CRAPPY. I went into comparison mode. “She’s prettier than me, she has more followers than me, she has this and that…” ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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I caught myself comparing and shut the app. (Even though I love this topic and teach it, I still have to catch myself and be mindful, too!) ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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We can use healthy boundaries: “I don’t have to absorb everything that comes at me” (the other is “I don’t have to speak everything I think”) If we’re looking at social media, it’s that protective, emotional boundary that keeps us from “consuming” everything. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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We can also say, “This post is affecting me, don’t look at it.” And then there’s the option of not going on social media, either by limiting usage or abstaining altogether. (Except my page, of course!) These are tangible boundaries.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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The people we compare ourselves to are only showing their strengths, not their weaknesses, and we all have both, we all have worth because we were born, and that’s what makes us all human!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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I can help you explore where your self esteem and boundaries fail and make the changes that will improve every aspect of your life and relationships. Contact me here to book a call to see if we’re a good fit! I offer therapy online (anywhere!) and in Norwood, MA in person.
