I’m linking to this not because I think we should all give up on finding a better balance between screen time and in-person time but because I want to remind all of us that simply taking away screens from someone struggling or kids is possibly taking away a lifeline, too. There are dangerous things out here on the internet, but there are also a lot of good, positive experiences.
Seeking to improve ourselves to catch up on some deficiencies that we believe we have will be a neverending proposition. It will lead to misery because it starts with feeling inferior.
You’re not. Now, go better yourself because you want to be better. Not because you have to catch up.
I have often said the best defense against childhood sexual abuse is raising kids who have open, supportive adults in their lives because they aren’t as vulnerable and easily manipulated. It turns out that those same relationships are also improving their mental well-being. Let’s do more of that.
Haven’t we been talking over and over again about the lack of human connection and the impacts on our mental health? Maybe if we spent a little more time complimenting each other when a job is well done, or on a new look, or a trait that we admire, we’d have more human connection in our days.
The article below provides many more details, but similar to what I wrote earlier this week about taking a mental health day, boundaries are personal. How I decide to interact with my family may look very different from how other survivors do it. My boundaries have changed over the years. What they look like now is different from what they were when I was struggling more with my mental health as a younger man. I still have boundaries. I define them for myself every day.
You should, too. You can decide where your boundaries are and when they can be adjusted. You decide what is safe for you. You decide who is harmful to you.
What we need as individuals and what we need on a given day can vary. If we know ourselves, though, we can use the mental health tools we have, including a day off, to our best advantage.
