I honestly feel like Facebook is the guest room of my life. I can decorate it however I want and I can invite my friends and family into chosen aspects of my life. We can have community, talk, share pictures and stories, and learn new things about each other. It has also become a huge blessing to me because I can influence the thoughts and feelings of those that I care about with minimal time and effort. I wish I had more time to devote to this task but, let's be honest, I am busier than Santa's coal miners at Christmas! That doesn't mean I don't want to be connected to you! <3 <3 <3
I am more open about my life than most. I share things that are embarrassing if they will make you laugh. If I can help heal the hurt in someone else's life by sharing some hurt in my own then I will. If I think that someone could benefit from a mistake or a struggle that I am dealing with, I will tell you about it! I feel like if more people were honest about their struggles maybe the world wouldn't feel so alone. I still keep a lot of details private but the general idea is there and if someone sends me a private message to talk further, I am an open book. I am told on about a weekly basis by at least one person that they love my page. My friends will tell me that if they're having a bad day, they can always count on me to post something inspiring or funny to lighten their moods. That is an incredibly powerful tool and gift that I am extremely grateful for.
The majority of people in my collection of friends are people that I've actually interacted with in real life, but there are a few that I haven't had that face to face meeting with yet. I have become friends with a few of the absolute sweetest people on earth through FB. One reason is that I am kind of fanatical about a couple of bands and if someone has something good to say about that band, I want to be their friend. They might actually understand my mania and my love for the rock-stars that I've come to know and love! This has brought me closer to a whole other variety of people that I never would have had the pleasure of meeting had it not been through social media.
I also feel like I can learn SO much from the people in my little guest room! My friends are multi-cultural, eat different things, speak different languages, have different faiths, and had very different upbringings and ideas about the world. Despite all the differences between us, there is one thing that unites us: We're all human beings. I have started many discussions on a variety of "hot button" topics in my guest room but everyone knows that the one house rule that I enforce is respect. I value our diversity and think that these discussions can be a place of great meetings of the mind, if... everyone plays nice. Honestly, I hate it when someone states an opinion and the person next to them says, "Well that's wrong because I think this way." How is it that you have the only "right" opinion in the universe? Having a calm discussion with someone that thinks differently than you doesn't have to change what you believe. It might actually strengthen your beliefs or at the very least give you a new perspective and more compassion to see the world through.
There are a few reasons that I have banned people from this very special place. One is blatant attacks and disrespect of myself or one of my friends. Once again, I only have one rule in my house and that is to respect each other as living, breathing human beings. If you can't do that, you've got to leave. The other reason is basically a lack of character. If you're constantly being negative, rude, or talking badly about people in real life, we have nothing in common. Seriously, if you post cheery crap on your page all day and scroll through and talk junk to me about all of your friends, I assume that you're doing the exact same thing to me, and that's just not cool. I think I've probably unfriended 5 people over the last decade or so, not even including my ex-husband, who unfriended me! So don't be worried if you've been having a bad week and think I just ax people, willy-nilly.
To wrap it all up, I love you guys! I want to thank you for staying in my little room! I hope that it is a warm, cozy, and inviting stay, and one that you'll want to come back to frequently! YOU enrich my life just by being who you are! Thank you for being my friend!
