Do kids even know what mind your own business mean? My oldest daughter has a tendency to be…involved…in everything that surrounds her. Not sure if it’s her age, or her firstborn status, or what – but it can be annoying to those whose personal business is on display. Most often, it’s her younger sister.
Little sister is getting in trouble for Lord knows what this time – big sister is intently listening and providing opinions.
Little sister is doing something that may or may not get her in trouble – big sister is instructing her on what to do and not to do.
You get the idea.
This had happened so frequently over a short time that instead of using the long drawn out explanation that she should pay attention to what she is doing, not everyone else’s and mind her own business. We just started using a shortcut.
MYB. Mind. Your. Business.
She knows exactly what it means. Sometimes we just have to say her name…and she answers for herself, “I know…MYB.” Caught in the act. Clearly, we’re hoping that she begins to self-correct at some point, and begins to mind her business on her own. Wish us luck.
Jordan isn’t the only one that suffers from this unending longing to be a part of other’s business though, is she? As grown adults we struggle with this too, don’t we? Did we just not get enough MYB instruction when we were younger? Is it just in our human nature to be more interested in others’ business rather than our own? What draws us to be so interested in someone else’s goings on?
Your business is more exciting than our business? Maybe we’re a little jealous of your fun?
Or maybe your drama makes us feel better about ours? Our competitive selves are looking for an edge?
Social media
Social Media prevalence puts our lives out there in a bigger way than ever before – but we’re seeing and sharing only what we want to have out there on the world wide web. Right? We don’t post about the argument we got into with our spouse, or the way you lost your *&^% with your kid when they changed their clothes 42 times before leaving the house. We don’t post about the things that portray our lives less than a preferred state. Hell, we take 7 selfies in order to get the right angle of our chins.
I’ve heard it said before that social media is only showing our highlight reel. Let’s remember what we’re seeing is not the full-length feature film. We all have the 6 deleted selfies, the Mom moments that we’re less than proud of, and a real relationship including ups and downs with our spouse.
I’m guilty of not minding my own business at times too, watching others’ highlight reels and beginning to compare. Curious about if they ever have an off hair day, if anyone’s kids can really be that saintly, and if they perhaps have one of those money trees in their back yard.
I’m sure that we all can get caught up in it. But what if we all just stayed in our lane a bit more often? How about if we stop comparing ourselves to our friends and acquaintances on social media?
The comparison game can cause us to feel less than. You know what else it can do? It can make us try to catch up, or keep up, or get ahead of the game.
It goes something like this…
- Madison went on an incredible vacation this year – why is that we only ever go to Vegas?!
- Jen just got a new purse, that’s the same one I’ve been eyeing for months!
- How is it that Molly’s kids can go to that private school? I wish we could afford that kind of education for our kids…
- Did you see the size of Davis and Lana’s new house?! I don’t know how they can afford that.
- Chris just posted a photo of her new Range Rover…I so want a new car!
I think this is part of what forces people to do social media fasting, or just disconnect altogether. It can be unhealthy to have so much one-way information about people at our fingertips sometimes.
Like, love, comment, repeat.
I love that social media can keep us connected, but there has to be a point that we take our own advice and MYB.
Be glad for your friend’s share, but don’t feel the need to duplicate and compare.
@journeytoinfluence
Thank you for joining me on my journey to influence.
