I’ve been thinking a lot lately. Let’s be real… I always think a lot, maybe a little too much. Many of my thoughts flutter away, after my brain recognizes how irrelevant and useless they are, however, this thought stuck. I just can’t seem to get it out of my head.
This thought posed a question. One that I can’t seem to find a right answer to.
A couple days back I was sitting with a girlfriend of mine having one of our late-night-parking-lot-chats in her car. She was filling me in on all of her Spring Break adventures, and she mentioned a blonde hair, blue-eyed cutie who sparked her interest. She didn’t know much about him, so she based all possible conclusions off of his social media, like most people do when trying to get a feel of someone’s situation that they don’t know very well, or even at all.
As we took a look into his Instagram life, it was evident he updated his followers frequently. But of course, in order to know if he was a potential dating prospect for her, we searched and scoured his pictures to see if he had posted any snuggled up against a girl. The evidence we found was unclear, and there were not enough recent indicators to decipher whether he was single or not. Here’s where my mind kicked into overdrive:
Does social media make a relationship real? Does it make it legit, serious? Or can two people be in a committed relationship and never make it evident on Instagram, Facebook, or any other platform eaten up by their peers?
I feel conflicted.
A part of me would be the kind of person to shout about the love I feel from the rooftops for all to hear. I would show my man off, make sure to capture every cute moment we experience together, and the sweet things he does for me, and the accomplishments he achieves.
The other part of me would be so in love that I would want to keep that love as close to my heart as possible. I would never want to threaten the preciousness of that lovely, growing relationship. I would be so afraid that what we have could be effected by judgement, assumptions, and outside perspectives. I would know our love is real… so why should I have to share about it on social media to make it more real?
Why would we share with the world what is beautifully ours?
But at the same time:
Why wouldn’t we share it?
Are we afraid of the messy, imperfect, outside world if we keep it to ourselves?
Are we afraid of people thinking we’re single if we keep it to ourselves?
Are we afraid of the validity of our relationship if we keep it to ourselves?
Or
Are we afraid of being too showy if we show each other off and don’t keep us to ourselves?
Are we afraid of people thinking we only are together because we both have certain “types” if we don’t keep us to ourselves?
Are we afraid of people knowing too much about our private, precious love if we don’t keep us to ourselves?
Are we afraid of our relationship?
Or
Are we afraid of society… that the outside world might break what we have?
…..
I’m torn. Both arguments have validity. Every person is entitled to their own opinion. Every love should be allowed its own publicity and/or privacy. All I know is, love is love.