Jessie Beale
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Disconnecting to reconnect
🕑 Added 2022-12-19 05:00:02 +0000 UTCSocial media has become somewhat of a safe haven for me over the past few years. A sea of anonymous ears, hearing my cries for help. Strangers were there for me when I felt no one else was.
But when does gratification shift into validation? Is the truth remain pure or is it simply what your audience wants to hear? Speaking to receive the response you know will make you feel good.
These thoughts have been playing in my mind for the past 3 weeks. They've been as loud as the thumping of my heartbeat as I'm forced to socialize without the escape of my phone.
Our current stop on our 4 month backpacking trip across Asia, is at Green Climbers Home in Laos. It's essentially a Mecca for climbers and we're in heaven! But there's one small downside... THERE'S NO RECEPTION!
For the first time in a long time, I was forced to put down my phone and connect with real-life people and have real-life conversations (my social anxiety was silently screaming)
I began to set myself little challenges:
- > Make a new friend a day
- > Be the first to say hello to people as I passed them
- > Join a group of people for dinner instead of sitting alone
Slowly but surely, I began to feel a sense of reconnection. Not only to the new friends I had made but also to myself.
Image: This is me sitting in our current accommodation... a tent! But do you want to know the funniest part? It's been our most expensive accommodation yet haha! And who said going off the grid was cheap?!
