| Granted, seeing the grass grow greener on the other side of the fence via Facebook can sometimes seem depressing. But rather than let it get you down, turn it around and use it to your own advantage.
For example, if you are the creative type, or interesting, or have a good sense of humor (which I have been told are a few of my most valuable assets, and I do use them to my advantage), then you've got Facebook gold! I post a lot of jokes/strange observations/etc. that get a helluva lot more responses than the people who post pics of their expensive toys and vacations and brag about what obscure overpriced wine they drank with dinner. My life isn't the most interesting in the world, but I make it sound interesting.
Just like one of my favorite books, "Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas". On the surface, it's basically two druggies on a road trip to Nevada to write a magazine article about an automobile race that nobody cares about. But the way Hunter Thompson wrote it was so outrageous that it became a modern-day classic! It's not always about the plot or the outcome or the basic facts, but rather in the creative description on how to get from point A to point B. Yes, you can make even the most mundane topics sound like a Hemingway novel!
One of my most recent statuses was a silly rant about seeing a toothbrush at the Walgreens checkout that played Justin Bieber songs. Got some interesting responses out of that one. Another was a funny story about teaching my cat to talk. Same results! As the saying goes, fake it 'til you make it. And if you're creative enough, you will give yourself a lot of social proof. People who didn't know me that well in high school sure as hell know me now! Not that it matters all these years later, but it is kinda cool knowing I have the mental tools to do that stuff just by thinking outside the proverbial box and banging on a keyboard!
Yeah, I know. Facebook is bullshit. It usually means little in the grand scheme of things. Your life isn't Facebook, but the good habits you use to socialize in the safe environment of the internet can help you build up those skills to use in the real world, if you do it right. Rather than let it all drag you down, take those lemons that life dealt ya, add tequila and triple sec, and make margaritas! And if you play it right, you can indeed boost your own self-confidence and set yourself up as the coolest guy in the room to hang out with. You can proudly sport that shit-eating grin while your exes wonder "why the hell did I let this one slip through my fingers?"
Anyone can go to parties or accumulate meaningless shit they don't need and boast about it on Facebook. But it's a helluva lot tougher to become the witty, intelligent bastard those people all wish they could be, rather than the boring-ass narcissist that has to resort to bragging. That's something money and status can't buy!
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