Who are you Performing For?

Post date: Aug 15, 2014 4:3:44 AM

The other day, my fifteen year old daughter looked at me and asked, “Mom, you know what I like about myself?” “What?” I said. She responded, “I can have fun and not tell anyone else about it.” I smiled at the profundity of her statement.

We are all a part of a culture where every movement made, every trip taken, is posted on Instagram or Facebook moments after it has happened. When I was growing up, we looked forward to our friends coming back from vacations, so we could listen to their stories and see their photos. Today we are able to know the intimate details of our friends and complete strangers lives without them ever sharing it with us face to face. It leaves us unable to sincerely ask someone, “What did you do on vacation,” or “how was your day?” We already know the answer.

To my daughters point: How many times do you actually plan what you are going to do so you can post a “great photo”? How often do you have more fun thinking about who will see your post vs. actually enjoying what you are doing? Performing ultimately leads to comparison. When we compare ourselves to others it is a lose/lose situation. We determine we are either “better than” the other person and boost our ego/pride or more often, we believe we are “less than” and feel poorly about ourselves.