Skip to main content

What is something not many people understand about you?

To be fair, I guess I don't know if people know this about me, but it's something I've noticed about me and I've never heard anyone comment on. 

Anyways, here it goes:

You can usually tell how well I'm doing by how many photos I'm posting online.

I love to take photos (of my friends, of my dog, of my neighborhood, of things I just find interesting or beautiful or funny) and I love to share the photos on Instagram and/or (usually and) Facebook. The better my mood is, generally, the more photos I take and share.

Now this isn't a perfect rule, but it's a pretty good rule of thumb. 

The sharing part is key, though. Just because I take a lot of photos, doesn't mean I'm doing well. It's the sharing that is the real measure. If photos are like a week or more late in going up, it probably means I've been struggling to find the energy to do it. Now I don't really edit my photos except for bits on Instagram but I do usually take more than I post and it takes energy to go through the photos, edit them if I'm going to, prepare to post them, caption them etc., and then share them. Finding the energy to do all of that is usually not something that I can do if I'm in a low mood as I rarely find the energy to do much when I'm in a low mood. I also often find that people expect that when I post a photo that it was taken that day. This is just typical of the world we live in right now, but sometimes if I miss posting photos that day (often because the day went late), then I feel this pressure about posting them and confusing everyone so I end up delaying it. If I am in a low mood, I let this pressure get to me and it can mean I post even later because I've built up anxiety around posting the photos.

While the sharing portion is key, so it the number of photos I take. If I'm not noticing the beauty around me then I'm probably in a low mood. If I'm not taking pictures of friends it might mean that I'm not seeing them or that I'm too self-conscious to ask people to take a selfie with me (I'm always a bit afraid that I'm being annoying when I ask for a selfie). If I'm not taking pictures of my dog, I may not be appreciating having him in my life enough (or sometimes lighting is just too bad or he's moving too fast when I am). All of these can be symptoms and/or causes for a low mood. When I'm in a better mood, I notice more things and moments that I want to capture and share and get engagement from (a big reason why I share my work both visual and literary). 

The engagement on my work also helps put me in a higher mood. Getting a simple "lol" on a goofy photo I took makes me smile. Getting likes on my blog posts makes me feel seen. If I'm not seeking out this engagement, then I'm likely in a low mood with little to no energy and/or convinced that I won't get the kind of engagement I want. In a better mood, I may not even care if my goofy photo or blog post gets likes, but I share it anyways. In a low mood, I may never want to share my work.

I'm not sure when I noticed this pattern myself so I really don't judge if people haven't noticed this about me, but I am curious if other people have. I guess I noticed it a few years ago now (maybe when I got Instagram?), but I'm sure it's been a pattern for a long time. Perhaps it's something I should mention to my therapist now that I think of it (not sure why I haven't done that before to be honest).

Anyways, I don't want people to worry all the time when I'm not posting many photos, but it may be worth checking in with me if you notice a pattern emerging. Worst case, you say hi and I'm doing just fine and we get to just chat about happy things. Or--maybe this is actually the worst case--I could really use someone checking in and I'm glad you reached out.

So, what is something you think not many people understand about you? What do you think is something not many people understand about me?

(Prompt provided by Amelia Sacco)

"Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX100" by XavierAP
 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

15 facts I learned from a random Wikipedia article

Original prompt: click on "Random Wikipedia Article" and write about whatever comes up (you can try 3 times and pick your favorite). For the record, I got Alejandro Estivill , Fencing at the 2011 Pan American Games – Women's épée , and Benjamin F. Jonas . I chose Benjamin F. Jonas because it was the longest of the three entries and it had a photo. He was born in Kentucky, moved to Illinois as a kid, and went to college and spent the rest of his life in Louisiana Jonas's father was a merchant and lawyer His father knew Lincoln (like they were real buds) Despite this, Jonas sided with the confederacy Not only did he side with the confederacy, but he joined the Confederate army and rose to the rank of major He went to University of Louisiana (now Tulane) Jonas was Jewish (I didn't know there were Jewish senators who served the Confederacy) He was the second Jewish U.S. Senator from Louisiana and the third Jewish Senator overall Jonas was the first Ashkenazi Jewish US...
Post a Comment
Read more

Origin story or first issue of a superhero whose super power is geometry

Arya sat in history class and was bored. She longed to get to geometry, where things made more sense. She liked geometry so much that she had joined the math team to be able to do it more. Okay, there was also the extra time with her friends who loved math as much as she did, but some of the appeal was just the math itself. Finally the bell rang and Arya had four minutes to get to her geometry class. She passed right by the chemistry class next door where her least favorite teacher was conducting experiments. He needed to be more careful, thought Arya. The teacher had once exploded a glass beaker and not on purpose. Arya took her seat and excitedly pulled out her notebook. It was her favorite color: hot pink. She assigned her notebook and folder colors in ways that felt right to her. And since geometry was her favorite subject, she made her notebook and folder for it her favorite color. As the teacher started to go over the most common mistakes from the last quiz, Arya could've swo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Color palette

Original prompt: "Google "color palette," pick one, and write something inspired by it." I actually Googled "color palette public domain" to be sure I could use it and found the image on this post. I used the "floral" section for my inspiraiton. The soft sunlight somehow didn't dim the shine of the fireflies. Such it was in the fae realm. Fern loved this time of day in the faewild where it wasn't quite day, but it was far from night. Fern frolicked alone in the glade as she was want to do. It didn't matter to her that her laughter carried itself alone on the breeze; she was content. She wasn't sure how long she'd been alone as she watched the suns begin to set, but it was pleasant in its own way. But then, she heard a noise. It wasn't the noise of leaves on the wind or twigs snapping from some comforting creature. It was the noise of someone approaching with grim determination. Fern wasn't sure how to ready herself to ...
Post a Comment
Read more