Gold Rush River – Get it from my shop onto your wall!
It’s a warm, sunny day and the foamy, rippling surface of the river morphs the blue sky and pale green leaves into a sparkling, moving mosaic. You’re mesmerized by beauty of it all.
You might not notice the wide-eyed creatures looking up at you from their hiding spots, swaying alongside slimy seaweed stalks below… not until you look past the bright reflection to see beneath the surface. Unless you step into the river, you’ll never lose your feet in the soft, murky silt, or feel a fish nibble on your toe.
So much of what we consume is merely surface-level material. I don’t read the news because it depresses me… I frequently fall off of social media for the same reason. What’s interesting about that?
The paths I travel on either road head in opposite directions, but they both lead me to the same dark place.
“If it bleeds, it leads,” still sums up the drama-fueled stories of the news world. Yet, most personal news feeds on social media seem to take the opposite approach. Like a clip straight out of the beginning scenes of the movie, Pleasantville, my Facebook feed is full of happy people highlighting what’s great about their lives.
When I read the news I lose faith in humanity, when I read social media I lose faith in myself. Why aren’t we digging deeper? Why isn’t there any balance?
I’m no different than all my ‘friends.’ I avoid sharing the drama and failure in my life, showing only happy moments, wins, and accomplishments. What am I giving anyone with these posts? Nothing valuable. Just a surface-level “look at me,” post. What am I giving myself? A temporary ego-boost… unless no one ‘likes’ it, of course.
I’m really struggling to find balance in what I consume and balance in what I create.
When you don’t have anything nice to say… is it true that you shouldn’t say anything at all?
It’s certainly the safest thing to do.
I think I’m tired of playing it safe. It’s time to break through the surface of the pretty reflection and take a look at what’s lurking beneath.
P.S. No, this photo isn’t of a a real river… but you can see the resemblence, can’t you?
Did you know?
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Artsy Reflections started out as the Photo and 100 Words project back in 2014 – find out why I started it and how it evolved.
