Unfiltered

Who's real these days? I mean really genuinely themselves, publicly. We live in a society where many people want to portray themselves in a way that will get them the most "likes" on social media, even if that portrayal is far from the reality of who they really are and how they live. I suppose these types of people have always been around, but now thanks to social media, they go out of their way to make sure they have a steady stream of lifestyle-validating selfies posted to their news feed for all their "friends" to marvel at.

It's not only the "Instagram-able moment" seekers I speak of. There are also the "influencers" of the world. So many people want to be adored by a legion of "followers" that they create this facade around themselves. It's like you're viewing them through a filter of false perfection. It's sad because they're hiding the things that would probably make them even more influential, their honest imperfect humanity.

I personally have never been one to care much about what other people think of me. My philosophy has always been, "I'm going to do what I want to do based on my morals and motivations, regardless of whether it's popular or not, or what anyone thinks of it." So, as I live my life based on that mindset, you can imagine it doesn't make me very popular or adored, but I've always been OK with that. I feel a true sense of authenticity as I never try to be someone I'm not or follow some popular trend for the sake of "fitting in."

Let me be clear though, by no means am I claiming to be better than anyone. I'm simply making the point that I'm different. I may not agree with the "look at me/follow me" culture that dominates society, but that's just my humble opinion. There are MANY things about me that I'm not proud of and wish I could overcome or change. After all, no one in this world is perfect.

As a matter of fact, one of the reasons I created this blog was to help me overcome one of my longest-standing personal challenges, my introverted nature. As far back as I could remember I've struggled with opening up to people. I feel it has a lot to do with the years of trauma I experienced as a child. One of the ways I dealt with that was to retreat into my mind, using my imagination to try to find peace through the chaos. That helped, but it also built this wall around me. That wall led me to keep to myself for most of my life. I guarded myself as a way of maintaining peace in my world. It also caused me to bury my negative emotions, rather than seek help externally. The problem with that is the more you internalize, the more it affects you on a subconscious level; and I have a lifetime of internalization weighing me down.

So, in the spirit of being the change that I want to see in this world, I'm going to be as transparent as possible as I share on this blog and open up as I never have before. I want to represent the reality of a life unfiltered. No "look at me, look at how great my life is" posts. Just a man sharing his common imperfect humanity, as he tries to make sense of it all and live free of the chains of social media manipulation. I never did care what people thought of me, and I'm not going to start now. I just need to find the courage to open up and let myself heal with every post where I share a little more about myself. If you read this, or any post going forward, thank you for joining me on this journey.