We can do better.

I know, I know. My blog posts are pretty rare these days. Post weight loss I've been struggling with what exactly I should write about. But today I felt inspired.

I hopped on social media yesterday (the day after the Super Bowl) to do my usual "catch up". I was pretty disappointed in what I saw. On nearly every site, my feed was filled with negativity. I read everything from people complaining that the half time show was "wrong" because it promoted acceptance and gay pride, and because Beyoncé took a stand against police brutality, to people calling Cam Newton an "ungrateful thug" to people saying that they were shocked Lady GAGA could "actually sing". (A backhanded compliment).

And I couldn't help but feel frustrated. I mean for crying out loud: why do we feel the need to drag everyone else down? Why do we find pointing out flaws of others so entertaining? Why did I spot more articles about Beyoncé "almost falling" than I did about the importance of the message of her song? 

I know it's easy, especially on social media, to side with negativity. But you guys, we have to be better than this. I'm not saying we all have to agree on anything. I can appreciate a different opinion. All I'm saying is, you don't have to be so mean about it. And you don't have to broadcast it for the world to 

see. 

I am certainly guilty of airing my feelings on social media, and I haven't always been nice about it. But reading the comments and articles on Monday was a pretty real reminder of how toxic that can be. Imagine if you logged into Facebook after a performance or speech you have only to see people tearing you apart. It wouldn't feel so good. So let's try to be better.

This isn't to say we shouldn't have conversations. As I said, I get that we all aren't going to agree. I just don't think we're being productive if we're spitting out hate instead of having a constructive conversations.

Maybe that's just me. But I'm going to strive to be better. A friend of mine has a "three nice things" rule. She tries to say three nice things as she is watching things like the Super Bowl or American idol or Award shows... And she carries this strategy into real life. What it does is challenges you to see past the negative, and to find three great qualities about the person/situation/performance. It can be tough, but it has abundant rewards. Perhaps it's a motto we can all adopt.