Dropping Out Of The Brat Race

In a recent post, I offered the advice that you should simply block out those folks whose personalities/quirks/accomplishments/circumstances either cause you to take great umbrage at the inequity of how the universe divides its spoils or inspire gnawing envy in you.

Photo by larry&flo

I recently did just that. I stopped keeping tabs on a whole gaggle of online peers. Stopped reading their blogs, stopped following them on Twitter, stopped subscribing to their proverbial newsletters as it were. And I can vouch for how utterly liberating it is to tune out the white noise. And so far, it’s worked beautifully. Ignorance really is bliss in this case.

This wisdom flies in the face of keeping both your enemies and your inspirations close at hand and using the success of others to motivate you to new heights. That, my friends, is BS. Self-loathing BS. Do you really need more people to compare yourself to? Do you really want more benchmarks and yardsticks to measure yourself against? Do you really think reading or hearing daily updates on someone else’s good fortune is going to be the kick in the pants you need to go out and conquer the world? No, no it isn’t. It’s simply going to make you feel inadequate and resentful and behind the eight ball because you’re not doing likewise. Why would you willingly sign up for that in the name of self-improvement and motivation and keeping in the all-important “loop”? That’s like beating yourself over the head with both the carrot and the stick. Repeatedly.

And you’re only seeing a tiny sliver of the full lives of these folks that you follow, an edited sliver at that. Of course, they’re putting their best foot forward. It’s all fist-pumping and high fives, no mention of nights spent crying into a bottle of gin or the fact they haven’t spoken to their siblings in six years or trips to the free clinic or the fact that starlet x gets by on 700 hundred calories and two hours of cardio a day to have to her “effortless” body, or whatever the heck other warts (heh) they purposely choose to exclude from their public personas. Don’t base your own choices and sense of self-worth on their intellectual photoshop job.

It feels freeing to let this stuff go. Unfollow, unfriend, put down US Weekly, whatever it takes. Stop paying attention. Eyes on your own paper. Run your own race. Or walk. Or sit down by the side of the road and refuse to take another step. Just stop inviting competitors and distractions  into your life under the guise of motivation. Your blood pressure will thank you.