The Problem with All or Nothing
Are you familiar with Cognitive Distortions? If not, you should be. Understanding them may greatly impact your life for the better.
One of my strongest distortions is All or Nothing thinking.
I'm coming to realize that this invades every area of my life.
- Job Tasks
- Hobbies
- Spiritual Convictions
- Reading Books (I have read through an entire series of books in 2-3 days. Pages and pages of information. Done. Because I had to finish the series. It's a problem.)
- Relationships
- Food
- Facebook
While I'd love to discuss and throw around ideas about all of these areas, the one I'm most hit with right now is actually..... Facebook! I deleted my profile (Completely deleted it, like, gone gone. No re-active life for me) in July of 2012 and was FB free for 2+ years. Why? There were many reasons.
But in August (I think?) of this year I decided to open it up again because I was moving to Spokane in January and wanted to keep in touch with several friends that I had made at HEALTH, SOULS West students, Family, etc. that didn't take the time to read my blog. (Thank you, by the way, for taking time out of your busy life to read the words I'm currently taking time to write out on the screen)
What I'm realizing though, is that when I see a Newsfeed... I have to read ALL OF IT. EVERY LAST POST. EVERY LAST SMALL KITTEN VIDEO LINK SHARED. EVERY SINGLE RENDITION OF SOME ADULT MALE SINGING TO TAYLOR SWIFT.
And it's a huge waste of my time!!! Huge! I don't have that kind of time to waste!! I should be using the internet and social media to advance my knowledge and ability to share knowledge. Instead, I'm sucked into a cyber world of inauthentic relationships.
Now, my solution to the pollution (haha shoutout to Don Mac.) is to delete my profile entirely. This solved the problem last time. But instead of doing that, I want to learn to use my mind to the best of its ability and become a healthy thinker regardless of the circumstances.
This was a really long post to tell you:
A) I won't be deleting my profile
B) Please help me spend less time on Facebook by sharing fewer videos that say, "She wrote a post on Facebook and you'll never believe what happened next..!"
This is a random picture of my West Coast twins. I have been called Danielle and Hailey multiple times as they have been mistaken for being me. Clearly we look nothing alike... They have great scarves and I don't. :)
One of my strongest distortions is All or Nothing thinking.
I'm coming to realize that this invades every area of my life.
- Job Tasks
- Hobbies
- Spiritual Convictions
- Reading Books (I have read through an entire series of books in 2-3 days. Pages and pages of information. Done. Because I had to finish the series. It's a problem.)
- Relationships
- Food
While I'd love to discuss and throw around ideas about all of these areas, the one I'm most hit with right now is actually..... Facebook! I deleted my profile (Completely deleted it, like, gone gone. No re-active life for me) in July of 2012 and was FB free for 2+ years. Why? There were many reasons.
But in August (I think?) of this year I decided to open it up again because I was moving to Spokane in January and wanted to keep in touch with several friends that I had made at HEALTH, SOULS West students, Family, etc. that didn't take the time to read my blog. (Thank you, by the way, for taking time out of your busy life to read the words I'm currently taking time to write out on the screen)
What I'm realizing though, is that when I see a Newsfeed... I have to read ALL OF IT. EVERY LAST POST. EVERY LAST SMALL KITTEN VIDEO LINK SHARED. EVERY SINGLE RENDITION OF SOME ADULT MALE SINGING TO TAYLOR SWIFT.
And it's a huge waste of my time!!! Huge! I don't have that kind of time to waste!! I should be using the internet and social media to advance my knowledge and ability to share knowledge. Instead, I'm sucked into a cyber world of inauthentic relationships.
Now, my solution to the pollution (haha shoutout to Don Mac.) is to delete my profile entirely. This solved the problem last time. But instead of doing that, I want to learn to use my mind to the best of its ability and become a healthy thinker regardless of the circumstances.
This was a really long post to tell you:
A) I won't be deleting my profile
B) Please help me spend less time on Facebook by sharing fewer videos that say, "She wrote a post on Facebook and you'll never believe what happened next..!"
This is a random picture of my West Coast twins. I have been called Danielle and Hailey multiple times as they have been mistaken for being me. Clearly we look nothing alike... They have great scarves and I don't. :)
It's true you don't have to go to the complete extreme of deleting your FB account. Just don't let it consume your life...more power to ya man. ;) Random thought...if I ever re-open a FB account...you'd be my first friend. Love you Amanda!
ReplyDeleteJust reading back through these... was I ACTUALLY your first friend request!?
DeleteYes! The "you'll never believe what happened next" videos are so tempting to me too! Right now there's a post from ST Globe that says, "Passengers on planes whip out their phones the minute elderly men do this" ugghhh. I'm dying! What did they DO?
ReplyDeleteWow I never replied to this!! Facebook DID consume my life!! :O I'm still a victim but this post has fortified my mind again...
DeleteYes. Scarves. Clearly, that's the problem. :P Glad to see you conquering your cognitive distortions. All or nothing has been a big problem in my life as well, but I'm learning to work through it as well. It still bugs me, but can you believe that I actually *stopped* reading a series because I didn't like it as much as I thought I would? I mean, it is about 16 books long, and I couldn't see putting myself through all of that mundanity just to say that I finished it. First time, I think. I'm pretty sure I stopped in the middle of the book, even. HUGE.
ReplyDeleteCan't believe I never replied to this because I'm massively impressed by this comment. Wow. I don't think I've ever even clicked out of an internet article that was boring me to tears. Mercy. Great job!!
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