Was I really on YouTube that Long?

What in the Hell did those YouTube Videos do to me????

     Have you ever had some free time or a free day and you decided that you were just going to chill out and watch only a 'few vidoes' and when you put your head down to view your screen it was daylight and when you looked up and it was dark outside? By this time your battery device is dying, people have been calling and texting interrupting you in the moment(s) in which you are very interested in how the situation in the video turns out. I am so intrigued as to how something so menial can capture and hold our attention without us even really knowing it for such an extended period of time. Of course you absolutely realize that you have been watching videos for a really long time once your battery is about to go out on your streaming device or you glance over at the blinds and the street lights are on. I wonder how a person so conscious of how they spend their time, and with whom they spend their time, get caught up in feeling like an addict after a day of binging on YT video's. It is so unfortunate that there are so many people like myself and the woman in the cartoon caption above get sucked into the recommended video's of YT. What is even more weird is how you physically and mentally feel after watching video's all day and believe you me it is totally different from traditional television. From my own experience watching YouTube videos all day makes me feel like an addict and a sloth. I also feel extremely physically and mentally drained. I can recall each time I binged watched videos I looked and felt like all the life had been drained out of me. I found myself re-energizing after a few days and I would go back for more and do it again, watch videos for hours on end. I was a full blown YT addict. So I found myself interestingly enough deciding to write another book and this time it was not about 'Love, Life and Relationships' which is centered around my new Podcast 'Rebel At Heart'  https://soundcloud.com/rebelatheartpodcast it is going to be discussing how people are losing themselves to an overload of social media, many of them before they can even have a chance to even discover who they really are. I am currently halfway done with the book but I have been one heck of a guinea pig but there is still more work to be done. I am on the hunt and the journey to discover how YT videos have the ability to send you to the sunken place and you have no idea why it's so hard to pull away from any Social Media Platform for long periods of time. Please understand me there is nothing wrong with using social media and YT for that matter but when it comes to being on here all day and you are without reason such as promoting your brand or building an online business your just frivolously strolling, that's an issue! You are robbing yourself of everything you are capable of doing or becoming. Stay tuned as the journey continue, in upcoming post we will discuss why we get so easily sucked into watching videos for hours at a time, how we get sucked in, and how information and ideology overload may really be effecting our emotional and mental state more than we think. I want you to accompany me as I discover why we have unknowingly become so enamored with other people's lives and not our own!

Why Are People Sad?

     This morning when I began my day, I attempted to record a show for my podcast, 'rebelatheart' https://soundcloud.com/rebelatheartpodcast on Soundcloud and as I sat down to record the show in my studio aka 'my closet' and I got about eight minutes into the show and stopped recording, I wasn't feeling it. I then decided to just put my make up on and create a video about it on my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/authorklsterling/ and after several failed attempts I came to the conclusion that this topic needed to be written out because while recording the video it dawned on me there are so many different reasons to why people are sad. Though most people who may be reading this blog may not visibly or physically look like the man in the photo above however, there are many people who actually resemble him on the inside but they dress up nice, neat, presentable or even beautifully but are merely frail, weak and broken on the inside. 

     When I began thinking about the various reasons of why people could possibly be sad it lead me down a rabbit trail of thoughts and of course I followed. People could be sad because the death of a loved one, they've never felt loved, lack of support, lack of confidence, their own insecurities, (including but not limited too not feeling like they are good enough), bad relationships, lack of money, life dealt them an unfair hand, underachieving, illnesses, the inability to please people, replaying the past, etc. There could be a host of various reasons of why people are sad. 

     For instance a trigger of sadness for me is my economic situation. Yes I have experienced the loss of loved ones throughout my life, terrible relationships, illnesses and self confidence issues all of which I wrote a book about title, 'I'm Enough' https://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?keyWords=im+enough&type=  (or available wherever books are sold). I will say like many Millienials I too was directed by my high school guidance counselor to figure out what you want to do for the rest of your life. I think that was some of the worst advice I received because it lead me to get several degrees all of which are in Arts and not Science, and a loan debt I don't know how I am going to repay. So like many others that is one of a few triggers of sadness for me. My present concern is not for myself but to bring to light that sadness does not have a certain side of town that it targets. Sadness doesn't have a certain demographic. It is easy to look at Social Media or someone who is rich or wealthy and assume that because they have plenty of money, and they may be beautiful or handsome according to Society's standards and assume that their life is perfect. Heartache and brokenness is an emotion that has the potential to afflict us all. I have never seen so much opportunity in one country and so much sadness and depression at the same time. It leads me to ask the question if much of what we are sad about has to do with something that is not often discussed and that age old question, Who are you and What will you contribute while you are here? Your identity and purpose! So many people are overworked, under paid and not obtaining a sense of accomplishment, fulfillment or value throughout life. I wonder how much value or purpose one must feel because we absorb the things the media or society has projected onto us through imagery. For instance, I went to look at a Condo on yesterday and when I went in I immediately didn't connect with the place right away because the kitchen was not updated, the hardwood floors did not run throughout the entire house, and it was too small for what I was looking for overall. If you refer to the statement I mentioned a few sentences ago I could have sworn that I stated I had a ton of debt that I was not sure how I was going to repay but here I am giving this place a bougie side eye on Oscar Meyer Bologna money.....really......where in the world do they have that type of mindset? Good old United States of America. I won't go down the Political, Economical or Educational manipulation people are experiencing here for the sake of staying on topic. I'm tired of being a monetary slave 😞😢😱 I digress. It is unfortunate that sadness is an epidemic and for so many various reasons. I feel that there are more broken people that get up and participate in the daily workforce than we care to share. I guess my entire purpose of this post is to encourage people, despite of sadness just continue going. I realized that I had been dealing with sadness not because of physical homelessness, or lack of other necessities (food or water) that are required to live but because of my economic situation. If you are going to be sad choose not to be sad for superficial reasons. Though my loan debt is something that has caused me great concern and heartache I realize that the mistake is made and life continues forward despite of how I feel. This is true for others who suffer in sadness, life for others and yourself continue despite whether we want to get out of bed every morning or not. Find something that makes you happy. Something that makes me feel a sense of purpose is encouraging others. I found myself talking to a lot of young people about choices, life and college debt. I just enjoy encouraging and uplifting others this is what makes me feel fulfilled, purposeful and happy! I hope you do the same, if you forget about yourself for a few minutes everyday that is a great start to becoming more happy.