Lately there have been no words.
There have hardly been thoughts. I have been consumed with work and trying to get sleep. My creativity is dormant. I constantly feel like my brain just needs a break. My throat hurts.
I have been beating myself up about this lack of word flow, I am not concerned that my creativity has gone missing. But I do feel like I am disappointing everyone. That I am not contributing. That somehow, if I’m not putting something out there, I am missing out, not connecting. There have been loads of things written about our dependence on Facebook, Twitter, email… But this is deeper than social media. This is verbal, person to person. I, for some reason, feel like I am failing as a human because my soul craves some downtime. Some solitude.
I sat down to write this, and after a few attempts, those few sentences were all I had to give.
Why do I feel guilty that all I can offer is silence?
Jen McKelvie lives and works on the island of Manhattan, the first place she has been ever been happy to return to after time away. Her soul flies highest when she is wandering the streets laughing too loudly with best friends. She loves yoga, her dog and green juice. you can connect with Jen@jenny_jump_up or here.
Ed: Brianna Bemel
Incorrect source, offensive, or found a typo? Or do you want to write for Elephant?
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Jen,
I thank you for this piece~
This piece for me, reaffirms that there is this inverse paradox: we are devoted to social media because EVERYONE is connected to social media (i.e.our friends, coworkers, colleagues and family); we have built our lives around social media because it makes us feel included, accepted; and yes, there is this implicit expectation from society that, well, demands our constant energy, full attention and devotion to social media. And if we are not consistently following companies' tweets, friends' updates, and news stories, then we feel we are lagging behind, failing as social beings.
Yet, the more time I spend on e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and even YouTube, the more I crave downtime, the need to disconnect from society; a period to decompress from all of the posts, photos, updates, and well…jargon.
Breathe deeply, Namaste~
Thank you, Elana! I really appreciate your thoughtful response and your connection to my words. Thank you for taking the time to read and respond! Much love