Not Cool Enough for Facebook: Social Media Manners

Dec 13, 13

Posted by Melanie in Dear Diary

I am a grown-up.  Well, most of the time.  But Facebook adds an element to my life sometimes that makes me feel like a gangling, unattractive 14 year old who wasn’t invited to the slumber party.  It is a weird phenomenon to read about a bunch of my friends who got together and didn’t invite me.  Now, I don’t intellectually think I need to be invited to everything.  In fact, if I was invited, I might have even declined because we have a lot going on.  And often on the weekends I am near socially phobic because I have talked to so many people that week in my professional life and I just want to chill. But when a bunch of “friends” post on Facebook about the great time they had together, and I wasn’t invited, it hurts my feelings sometimes.  But this isn’t an article about my feelings.  I’ll deal with my feeling on my own time. This is an article about this weird time we live in with social media and technology in general.  Our parents didn’t have to deal with this!  Their friends didn’t have Bridge parties and then post about it on Facebook.  Talking about it would have been impolite.  I can’t imagine one of my mom’s friends saying to her, “We had a party last night with about 20 people and we had a great time, but we just couldn’t invite you. But let me show you some pictures of us having fun.  You are friends with all of us, so I am sure you would like to see them, wouldn’t you?”  NO!  Because it would be bad manners.  But this is exactly what happens on Facebook all the time. I am not sure what our new etiquette around social media should be.  Should we all just toughen up? I have a friend who has lots of friends and she is also troubled by this.  When she invites a few people over, and they post on Facebook, her other...

After Day 42 of Yoga: I Feel Fatigued

Dec 10, 13

Posted by Melanie in Fitness

After day 42, I admit it, I am tired.  I don’t want to  be tired.  I like the daily practice.  In my head, I want to keep going and going on this extended challenge.  I want to do 50 days and then extend it to 100 days and then maybe do 365 days of yoga.  The reality is, I am tired.  It is the sort of tired that doesn’t seem to go away.  As I am better at yoga, I work harder, try harder classes, and my body pushes more and more.  And I am tired and I don’t know how to get un-tired. I am also noticing the impact of me devoting so much time and energy to something in my home.  It is messy.  The boys have been busy and between me being tired and the boys being busy our home needs some attention. All that said, I am not sure if this will all work its way out and I will be able to keep going.  There is something about the daily practice that really works for me.  I don’t know if I have ever done anything for 50 days straight before (other than school and my parents got me there every day).  I feel empowered and I love seeing the changes happening to my body.  It feels so good. As far as weight loss goes, I can report I am down 10 pounds.  I check daily to see where I have new muscles showing up.  I am most impressed by the muscles in my back, forearms, hamstrings, and belly.  I am still wondering if my triceps are getting enough workout and I think my calf muscles are smaller than when I started.  They may just be well stretched and not as “tight” as before. My state of mind is solid, even though I have been feeling the stress of our busy lives. **My initial 21 day yoga challenge turned into a 200 day yoga challenge – share the journey with...

The First Noel

Dec 04, 13

Posted by Melanie in Art