The Crucial Link Between Social Media, Your Mental Health, and Life Experience

Nurturing Mindset for Optimal Well-being

The longer I’m on social media, the more I realize how much people neglect the most critical aspect of their being – their mental health.

Photo by Gaspar Uhas on Unsplash

From balancing the many distractions and responsibilities that come with living in our technologically advanced world to making important life-altering decisions, every action we take and every thought we have are intimately connected to the health of our minds. The significance of nurturing your mental health psychologically and providing for it physiologically cannot be overstated.

The Mind and Body Connection

The mind and body are often inseparable, and the profound interplay between them cannot be underestimated. Oftentimes, you need to get the mind right for the body to have a chance at catching up, but there are stories where targeting the body leads to the mind following suite; regardless of where you start, the end goal is to get both optimized.

The most simplistic breakdown is that our mental well-being not only influences our state of mind, it also impacts our physical health. This is easily understood by those who’ve been stressed out, and had that lead to ulcers, heart palpitations, sweating, and more; the fact that psychological stress can manifest as physical ailments is enough to highlight the crucial need for comprehensive care.

Neglecting one’s mental health inadvertently creates a vicious cycle that diminishes our overall quality of life.

My Journey with Social Media

Anyone who has followed me on social media knows my voice has changed over the years, with both my subject matter covered as well as my personal goals evolving. Something I’ve noticed in this development of self has been the observation that many around me have remained focused on the single area they were years ago when I first came across them.

While my journey is not to be projected onto you, or anyone else as we’re all living our own lives, I have to wonder if those who are struggling with the status quo or today’s society are allowing themselves to have the opportunity to develop further in their life and understanding. How can you become the best version of yourself, when you limit who your “self” is, to the subject you’ve chosen to discuss online?

I used to speak to Red Pill Marriages, and how men could improve their sex lives; that evolved to marriage, and fatherhood, which evolved to the need for masculine communities, and even further was my foray into making money and learning how to best live with authenticity. You can see how this would lead to more self-awareness and understanding of life at large, then you throw in my passion for photography, getting sober, etc. and it’s clear that if I were to only allow myself to focus on Married Red Pill and Sex, I’d not have developed in all these other areas of my life.

I love photography, I’m glad I did not keep myself from exploring this passion because it did not “align with my brand”.

Are you doing the same?

Ask yourself, how have you changed over the past few years, and what, if anything about you is improving?

As human beings, we grow in wisdom through experience, and to garner experience we need to go out and do things; talking and remaining in areas you are comfortable in will not lead to growth, no matter how many different ways you say the same thing.

I know that I am sacrificing online growth by diversifying my message, but this journey is not about my online life, it’s about my life. I want to live the fuck out of my days and to do that I need to align my voice with what’s going on in my mind. I need to be true to the voice within, and not repress it to fit the algorithm. This is what I want for you; be who you are, not who you think you’re supposed to be, or who you think people will like.

When you live your life as you, the authentic you, only then will you find peace, and genuine connection with others.

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Feed Your Mind the Way You Feed Your Body

Self-care practices for nurturing mental health have gained immense recognition in recent years. If you aren’t distracted by conspiracy theories and twerking chicks, TikTok offers an infinite resource of accounts that are focused on helping you improve your mindset.

Social Media is not “bad”, but most misuse the tool.

Mindfulness meditation, journaling, and even formal therapy sessions can help us understand our emotions, develop resilience, and cultivate a positive mindset. But, the use of social media should not be demonized or discredited in the positive role it can play on our mental well-being. By tending to our psychological well-being, we strengthen the foundation of our thoughts and actions, enabling us to respond to life's challenges with clarity and grace; every social media platform holds information that may enable us to have such an experience, we just have to shape our timelines, and engagement with a specific objective, and use the platform with clear intentions.

The Impact On Your “Self”

When we prioritize our mental health over electronic achievement, we put ourselves in a position to use social media, and not be used by it. The algorithm is designed to keep you on the platform for as long as possible, your eyes are the fuel for every “electronic town square”.

Your job is to make the electrons work for you…

As we focus on nurturing our well-being over likes and shares, we become role models for others, encouraging them to embark upon their journeys of self-discovery and personal growth. In this process of showing others how they can use social media their own way, we’ll find ourselves coming across accounts that are also doing the same already. Through this intentional use of social media, we foster a community on our timelines that values authentic living, and thus mental health, and we collectively build a healthier, happier input into our minds where empathy, compassion, and understanding flourish.

Are You Ready?

Taking care of your mental health is not a luxury for those with the time and resources, but rather, it’s a fundamental human necessity. With the role social media has taken in our society, it warrants dedicated time and energy to plan for its role in your day-to-day life, along with observing the impact it is having on your mind.

Recognizing the profound connection between our mind and actions unlocks the gateway to a balanced, sustainable, and fulfilling life.

Don’t give social media a pass, or write it off as if it were a video game you were playing; these lectrons leave a mark on who you are as a person, protect your mind from being aimlessly wasted it away, or worse yet, trapped from allowing yourself to grow because the algorithm doesn’t approve...

- Zac Small