This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Mizzou chapter.
The internet is a wild place filled with misinformation, memes, movies, gaming videos, baby pictures and funny cat videos. Through the internet, we can share so many things and you can learn so many things. I have learned a lot of life lessons and gained new perspectives due to this. Here are some of the things I learned on the internet for the better:
Self care and Words of Wisdom
- “Here is a secret about things you love. If you put them down you can always pick them back up again. You can always paint again, sew again, hike again, play music again, read that book again, watch the move. ‘But it’s been so long.’ The thing you love doesn’t care.” -@SwampAdvice on Twitter.
- “Western cultures believe we must be alive for a purpose: to work, to make money. Some Indigenous cultures believe we’re alive just as nature us alive: to be here, to be beautiful and strange. We don’t need to achieve anything to be validate our humanness.” -@melatoninlau on Twitter.
- “Free time is not your availability.” -@marie_brownsuga on Twitter.
- “Destroy the idea that you gotta be good at artistic things to enjoy them, that every hobby has to become something you’re good at, you can monetize it. A capitalist lie. Sing off key, draw poorly, write badly. Life is meant to be enjoyed, not monetized. You’re not a product.” -@bookavid on Twitter.
- “I’m a strong believer in that not everything needs an explanation. If you want a tattoo, get one. If you’d rather stay home that night, it’s okay to miss that party. Don’t forget that you’re living for yourself. You don’t owe an explanation for your choices or preferences.” -@flawhs on Tumblr.
- “Sometimes you need to do the hard thing. Study for your test even if it’s boring and you want to avoid it. Get up an hour early to exercise even if you feel like death. Go out of your way to help someone even if it’s inconvenient. Do something alone even though you’re afraid of being judges. Go somewhere new even if it’s scary and disorientating at first. Confess to the person who makes you blush even if it means risking rejection. Let go of your old habits even though it feels like you can’t live without them. It’s supposed to be hard. Life isn’t always going to have amazing rewards if you’re always feeling comfortable.” -@flowerais on Tumblr.
- “There’s a lot of unspoken pressure to keep liking the things you used to like and keep dressing the way you’ve always dressed and to never question what you believe in and basically ‘be yourself’ has slowly morphed into ‘be what everyone knows you as’ but trust me when I say if you just give up and simply make decisions and take actions based purely on what would make you happy, you”ll gain a very comforting sense of self peace.” -@floozys on Tumblr.
- “I think it’s silly to be ashamed of your art because it’s not in a museum and of your voice because it’s not selling out stadiums. There will always be people who enjoy and appreciate what you can do.” -@venuskissed on Tumblr.
Healing
- “Nostalgia is a liar. Nothing was ever as good as you remember it to be. There’s a reason you don’t talk to that person anymore, there’s a reason you’re not part of each other’s lives. Don’t trust nostalgia. Reflect. Move on.” -@skullcrusher-deactivated201501 on Tumblr.
- “Life is too short to be embarrassed by little things??? Wear that outfit your mom said was ugly and laugh your natural laugh and talk too intimidating people you find interesting!!! Join cringy clubs and read books everyone hates and wear too much eyeliner!!! If shit doesn’t work out who cares!!! People worth being around will stick by you anyway!!!” -@garageband-bitch on Tumblr.
- “Sometimes you feel healed when you’re finally brave enough to say ‘This person was horrible to me, and I did not deserve that treatment, and I don’t have to be okay with it.'” -@vivid-ellipses on Tumblr.
- “Pretty is not the rent you pay to exist in the world as a woman.” -@fandomsandfeminism on Tumblr.
- “Just because you don’t look like somebody who you think is attractive doesn’t mean you aren’t attractive. Flowers are pretty but so are Christmas lights and they look nothing alike.” -@sscreamss on Tumblr.
- “Honestly… its ok to just use your silks on yourself! Sewing clothes for only you to wear, making art to hang up in your own personal area, singing and recording songs for only you to listen to… like not everything has to be for other people’s consumption!” -@cacupid on Tumblr.
- “My new thing has been just… acting on my ideas. like I thought maybe my desk would look better on a different part of my room so I like moved it? just like that! … life is too short baby if you think of something just do it.” -@horrerurscopes on Tumblr.
- “Don’t take criticism from people you would never take advice from.” -@abbyhonold on Twitter.
- “You deserve to celebrate not only who you’ve become but who you could’ve become and fought not to.” -@hoodqueer on twitter
- “Cringing at your past just means you have improved as a person.” -@_sinsafos on Twitter.
- “You can be a bad add, boundary setting, strong, confident, independent woman… who is soft, nurturing, kind and graceful. You can have self discipline AND tough. You can be everything and anything you want. That is your power.” -@meganroselane on Twitter.
- “Your body is the piece of the universe you’ve been given, the place where love and joy and grief happen, where kindness unfolds. Do you really want to keep believing that it’s a horrible, ugly, lumpy thing? Do you really want to keep punishing yourself like that?” Geneen Roth, “Changing Your Jack Story” via @yourbraids on Tumblr.
- “20% is better than 0%. Brushing your teeth at least once a day is better than none at all. A few hours of sleep is better than none. A few minutes of fresh air is better than none. Writing a few paragraphs of the essay today is better than procrastinating till later. Doing something is better than nothing.” -@t-b-y-c-b on Tumblr.
- “The first step towards confidence is not being afraid to be ugly. Once you get over the fear of being unattractive and stop equating beauty with other good things in life (friends, love, happiness) it’s a lot easier to love yourself unconditionally. Your job is not to sit around and be pretty and easy on everyone else’s eyes.” -@pinkspotlight on Tumblr.
Relationships and Communication
- “When talking to your spouse about chores and errands say things like ‘Have we done x yet?’ or ‘Did we do x?’, it acknowledges that both are equally responsible for the past without blaming either if it is not done.” -@mayormac on Twitter.
- “Recently, I’ve learned to not interrupt when people tell me what they’re going through. If we’re in person I wait until they are finished talking. If we are texting, I don’t start typing until they stop. I don’t rush to compare my experience to theirs, even if they’re similar. I don’t offer unsolicited advice. I’m practicing listening to understand, not to respond. Sometimes people just need someone to listen. Even if your intentions are good, give them that time and space.” -@normalq1rl on Tumblr.
- “In order to make a relationship last, you really have to flow with the person as they change. Give them space. My friend always told me about his grandfather who was with his wife for 60 years before she passed. His grandfather said that through all that time, his wife changed so much it felt like he had been with eight different people by the end. But he said the secret to making it last was that through all of these changes, he never suffocated his wife with his own idea of who he expected her to be. Rather he loved, fully, every new woman she became.” -@funneeb on Tumblr.
History, The world and political opinions
- “if every person on earth just recycled, stopped using plastic straws and drove an electric car, 100 corporations would still produce 70% of total global emissions.” -@GoodPoliticGuy on Twitter.
- “A 5-hour work day got put to the test [and] due to increased productivity, [the workers] produced the same amount of work in 25 hours as the normal 40 hours week, but capitalists still complain because they weren’t ‘passionate’ enough anymore. ‘Passion for the work’ = enslavement of mind, body, and soul. Anything less than total enslavement will never be enough for them” -@dykey-femme on Tumblr.
- “When people say, ‘Ellis Island took in LEGAL immigrants’ please remind students that immigrants did not need visas and green cards during the Ellis Island era. They just showed up.” -@joseiswriting on Twitter.
- “Susan G. Komen only gives less than 20% of donations to cancer research. Their CEO makes $684,000 a year.” -@stunningpicture on Tumblr.
- “Europeans erased centuries of knowledge from the East because if fear. When we ‘rediscovered’ it, we were still too egotistical to admit that non-whites could have been smarter, so we vented our own mythology. Bring credit back to where it’s due. Honor the true pioneers.” -@mdmshakespeare on Tumblr.
- “I don’t think our generation is sensitive at all. I think we understand that a lot of what what has been normalized while growing up is toxic, humiliating, and traumatizing, and we are choosing not to repeat it.” -@brokeblackgirl_ on Twitter.
This is just a glimpse of all of the amazing concepts and ideas the internet has exposed me to recently. I have learned and grown so much in this global place where we can all share our ideas. I hope you will learn something for the better like I have!