During my 'early' internet usage years, also known as year seven to year ten, I had always been active with social networking. When I say active, I mean that I spent more time scrolling through a feed than I did creating posts. It was later into my senior years that I begun posting up more. However I still found myself scrolling through the feeds just as much as I posted. Certain images and ideas begun to flood my thoughts and did take a toll on me. Images of particular styles, ways a teenage girls' body should look like, quotes that were 'on point' to what I was going through, all soon became poison to me. I knew deep within me that it wasn't me to desire to have this type of body, to think these thoughts. It was when I started university that I decided to create an internet filter. I got rid of tumblr and ask.fm as they were the places that didn't do anything more for me than feel terrible of myself. I deleted the pages I had favourited of 'how to get skinny' and 'how to loose weight.' After doing so, a whole lot of baggage on my shoulders was taken off.
The above image are my current issues of my favourite magazines: Yen, Frankie and Dumbo Feather. Each of these magazines present substantial ideas, unique individuals, quirky articles- these I found better than reading Dolly or Girlfriend. What makes these reads different is that you don't see on the cover 'models' or huge slogans that say 'tips for getting that summer body.' Reading what was amongst these lovely pages helped redirect my view of beauty. They turned to creative, inner and intellectual beauty. Therefore filtering out all the unrealistic standards that had previously poisoned me.
There may be something/s in your life that are like poison to you. You know it for yourself that they are no good for your thinking and being. It is never easy to just remove something that you have held onto for so long however it is not impossible. So, what can you do to filter out what is poisoning you? Take it step by step (this was my way of doing it):
> Identify the poison
> Identify why it is poison
> Ask yourself: What is it doing to me?
> Think of ways you can filter it out: perhaps find another outlet to vent, unfollow.
> Filter: take action to get rid of the poison
> Identify why it is poison
> Ask yourself: What is it doing to me?
> Think of ways you can filter it out: perhaps find another outlet to vent, unfollow.
> Filter: take action to get rid of the poison
Trust me, filtering is hard but it is worth it!