We tell ourselves compelling stories, where the drivers of the conflicts that move the narrative along, are not us, but others.
We do this for two reasons:
- We want more credit for successes and less blame for failures.
- We get uncomfortable with tension and discomfort.
In an era of curated reality, the biggest tension is between the realities we choose to show our audiences, versus the realities we know exist inside of us.
Social media provides somewhat of an outlet for us to resolve this tension. However, too many people keep telling the same faulty story, where we are the stars and everyone else is a goat.
In reality though, we are just perpetuating the tension and creating more unreality.
But, what is “real?” Is the “real” person the one that lives inside of us, or is the “real” person the one we display to the world via our endlessly streaming social feeds?
Acquiring authenticity requires us to be vulnerable in ways that we cannot, because we have never learned to be vulnerable within ourselves, too ourselves, and by ourselves.
The leading of double lives are destroying and reshaping the social contract, and the results of that destruction are ongoing and endless intrapersonal conflict, as well as depression, anger, resentment, impatience, and narcissism and so on, and so on, and so on.
Originally published on December 15, 2014.
Download the FREE E-Book, The Savvy Peace Builder by heading to http://www.hsconsultingandtraining.com/e-book-the-savvy-peace-builder/ today!