How Do You Feel

Sunday breakfast makes me think. That's not true, of course. Sunday breakfast fuels me for the day, satisfies physical needs for nourishment, and allows me time to think. This morning, I was thinking about how I feel; how I truly feel.

Scrolling through my "feed", my electronic society pages, I saw a man wearing a silly wig. He also wore a smile that told me he was happy to be wearing a silly wig. I can't remember wearing a silly wig but maybe I have. I'm sure it didn't make me feel tangibly happy like the man in the photo. The man appears so joyful that you can reach into the picture and touch his glee. Which is fine and dandy. Until it's not.

This media of our society has been devised to make us look happy. Look happy. It was not designed to make us feel happy. The problem comes when we start thinking everyone is ecstatic. This singer and her boyfriend are. Your buddy from college, the family you met at church, they're all happy. But, you think, you're not. This is the problem.

Certain losses are conveyed in videos and pictures. Losses of loved ones and pets make the "feed". However, the preponderance of "posts" is about overwhelming joy. Take a look sometime. I don't mean to be Downer Dude, but I do believe we must celebrate our losses, our failures, our bouts with depression. Social interaction is meant to allow for our feelings, our real feelings, to be shared. That's where social media doesn't live up to its name.

If wearing a silly wig makes you happy, then do it. Take a photo and share it on the "feed." If that makes you happy, by all means, let it rip. Buyer beware, however, sometimes a silly wig is just a silly wig covering up the sadness of a clown. Maybe even covering for how we sincerely feel.

How do you feel? Really. It's worth a glance away from the phone.

Just thinking out loud.