One Day from Life without using Social Media

“What am I doing? Who am I ?” At the crack of the dawn. Pillows were flipped over the floor, windows were closed which made the room kind of stuffy. Joy could not sleep. There was a list of questions in her mind whenever she went to bed. She kept asking herself and whimpering miserably. Alike other young teens, Joy was a year 1 student who studying at community college. As a freshman, she had so much stress about her problem with the existential crisis that made her tossing and turning in bed. “How about shutting off my phone, deleting all the social media platforms for a day? I’ve been so addicted to social media which effects my life. It’s time to make up my mind, my future, the face of the setbacks, and try not to compare my life to others.”

She was mumbling softly, till her mind exhausted herself into silence and eventually fell asleep. Sunlight kissed her eyelids in the morning, Joy was lying on her bed, pulling her brows in a frown. She had no motivation to wake up as long as she checked Instagram, twitter, Facebook as a daily routine, but from now on she was not allowed to do so. After lying on the bed for almost an hour, she woke up and ate breakfast.

“Studying, cleaning my closet, workout, meet friends….” She sat down and started writing her bullet journal. Cleaning up her closet was one of her procrastinating lists. She took out lots of clothes from the wardrobe and decided to donate the old items to The Salvation Army. She packed her clothes into a bag and tidied up her clothes according to the tone and colours such as black, white, beige, grey… Her face looked much better than before, she felt relieved and lighter, throwing old clothes allowed her to keep on moving her life and never look back.

When Joy was cleaning up her closet, she accidentally found a memory box. This memory box is filled with her childhood memories, for instance, photos from kindergarten to secondary school, dairies, artworks, awards and certificates. She has not been opened for almost two years. The first thing that came up to her eyes was a graduated photo taken by 2011. She gazed at the photo, smiled for a while, and dropped into tears in a sudden. Later on, she found a diary written by her classmates, and it awakens the memory of when she was studying primary school, she laughed slightly and amazed time flies.

Then, she took out a piece of artwork, it was an oil painting. A little girl was wearing a beret hat holding a brush, drawing a picture. On the bottom of the painting, it is written “Don’t give up on something you love” Joy dreamed to be an artist when she was small, yet when she was growing up, she constantly surrounded by people, she lost herself and not being passionate about art than before.

During the late midnight, Joy changed clothes and hanged out with her confidant, Joan. They knew each other since kindergarten and they haven’t met for a long time as long as Joan just back home from Australia.

“Joy! How are you? Long time no see I missed you so much! ” Joan gave her a big hug and greeted with a sweet smile. A floral pinky dress made her looked glamorous.

“How long have we been not meeting each other? Two years right? You’ve changed a lot!”

“I missed you too! You are still as confident and pretty as always Joan!” Joy replied.

Although Joy and Joan have the same birthday, their personality was completely different. Joan was an optimistic and outgoing person, she always put passion in everything, she was a born leader. Different from Joan, Joy was a very shy person with a creative world, still, they became friends.

“It’s hard to tell, but I need to talk with someone…” Joy sat timidly and her face was covered with hair.

“I think I was constantly affected by surrounded people. Whenever I saw my friends shared their success on social media, like Instagram and Twitter. I felt really stressed out and trying to compare my life with other people, I always question myself who am I, what is my style. I didn’t know what I want for my future…I felt anxious and helpless so I deleted my social media for a day to calm myself down.” She sighed and sobbed herself with tears.

“Thank you for telling me about your thoughts. It must be a hard time for you, but I think you’ve made a good decision. Leave your phone temporally. Try not to be so harsh on yourself, everything will be ok. College is just a short part of your life. Everyone has his or her own path, you should find what makes you know yourself more and try not being to able ‘define’ who you are, remember taking care of yourself and learning to be okay when things don’t go your way. As long as aren’t hurting anyone, existing is great on its own. Just don’t spend so much time being stressed. I’m with you.”

“But don’t you love drawing? You have a sense of artistic, it would be good if you going through with your strength!” Joan tried to cheer her up and offer her a shoulder to lean.

“Thank you for listening to my struggles and give advice, I felt much better.” They hugged and talked till late at night. Joy went home, she put on her pyjamas, and picked up a pen, started to write a diary. She has not been writing a diary for a long time. She wrote a title for today’s diary

“A day without using social media” and drew a smiley face. Joy continued writing “Before I start my day, I felt bored and tempted to re-download the apps, but I didn’t expect that I enjoyed my productive day. Sometimes if you feel insecure and confused, you may spend time reflecting your life and make refreshment. Everyone has different opportunities, experiences, circumstances which made them the person they are, moreover you may compare with yourself with others. If you are facing the same problem with me, it would a great idea to stay away from your phone and social media, you may find your day significantly longer and productive and I would no longer compare my path with others anymore!” Joy wrote this down with a warm smile. The sun fell to the ground and rolled away.