“
Our breakup broke the record for the most mutual parting of ways in history. Here’s the text-message conversation: Me: Hey . . . should we break up? Canadian: Ya probably. Me: Ok. Canadian: Did you watch Hoarders last night? Me: Ya! I can’t believe that woman ate her dead dog thinking it was jerky. Canadian: I know! Crazy! Me: Well . . . goodbye I guess. Canadian: Do we have to unfollow each other on Twitter? I’d rather still follow you. You have funny tweets. Me: No way. I never unfollow anyone. That’s so tacky. Canadian: Agreed.
”
”
Shane Dawson (I Hate Myselfie: A Collection of Essays by Shane Dawson)
“
Brendan cleared his throat hard. “What does ‘follow’ mean?”
“Don’t,” Deke rushed to say. “Don’t press it.”
His thumb was already on the way back up. “Too late.”
All three of his crew members surged to their feet. “No. Brendan, don’t tell me you just tapped the blue button,” Sanders groaned, hands on his mop of red hair. “She’s going to see you followed her. She’s going to know you internet stalked her.”
“Can’t I just unfollow now?” Brendan started to tap again.
Fox lunged forward. “No! No, that’s even worse. If she already noticed you followed her, she’s just going to think you’re playing games.”
“Jesus. I’m deleting the whole thing,” Brendan said, throwing the offending device onto the dashboard.
”
”
Tessa Bailey (It Happened One Summer (Bellinger Sisters, #1))
“
Here’s the dead end of social media: after you’ve created your own bubble that reflects only what you relate to or what you identify with, after you’ve blocked and unfollowed people whose opinions and worldview you judge and disagree with, after you’ve created your own little utopia based on your cherished values, then a kind of demented narcissism begins to warp this pretty picture. Not being able or willing to put yourself in someone else’s shoes—to view life differently from how you yourself experience it—is the first step toward being not empathic, and this is why so many progressive movements become as rigid and as authoritarian as the institutions they’re resisting.
”
”
Bret Easton Ellis (White)
“
With me living forty-five minutes away, Tumblr is supposed to be sacred ground where our friendship is cemented. Unfollowing me is the same as saying, ‘I don’t like you anymore.
”
”
Angie Thomas (The Hate U Give (The Hate U Give, #1))
“
Let's face it. We live in a command-based system, where we have been programmed since our earliest school years to become followers, not individuals. We have been conditioned to embrace teams, the herd, the masses, popular opinion -- and to reject what is different, eccentric or stands alone. We are so programmed that all it takes for any business or authority to condition our minds to follow or buy something is to simply repeat a statement more than three or four times until we repeat it ourselves and follow it as truth or the best trendiest thing. This is called "programming" -- the frequent repetition of words to condition us how to think, what to like or dislike, and who to follow.
”
”
Suzy Kassem (Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem)
“
The discovery of internal inconsistency and hypocrisy as an important first step in seeing outside of group dogma.
”
”
Megan Phelps-Roper (Unfollow: A Journey from Hatred to Hope)
“
Thou shalt not unfollow someone, merely because they stopped following you.
”
”
Mokokoma Mokhonoana
“
Back in the day, I used to call them names when someone pissed me off. Now, I just unfollow them on twitter. That’ll show those motherfuckers! -Mercy to Miller
”
”
Lani Lynn Vale (Execution Style (Code 11-KPD SWAT, #4))
“
Unfollow your heart if your heart is not following Allah.
”
”
Muslim Smiles
“
If you follow Christ, the world will unfollow you.
”
”
Tony Reinke (12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You)
“
There are many paths to a fairytale ending... Blocking, unfollowing, muting, and unfriending also lead to "Happily ever after.
”
”
Steve Maraboli
“
Some dreams are better left unfollowed. They can turn into nightmares
”
”
Layla Hagen (Withering Hope)
“
You say progress, but maybe you mean money. You say unity, but maybe you mean money. You say revolution, but maybe you mean money. Maybe you always mean money.
”
”
Jill Louise Busby (Unfollow Me: Essays on Complicity)
“
It wasn't the desire for an easy life that led me to leave. Losing them was the price of honesty. A shredded heart for a quiet conscience.
”
”
Megan Phelps-Roper (Unfollow: A Journey from Hatred to Hope)
“
Already, every day, millions of us are needled and outraged by the hysterically stated views of those with whom we don’t agree. Our irritation pushes us into a place of fiercer opposition. The more emotional we become, the less rational we become, the less able to properly reason. In an attempt to quieten the stress, we begin muting, blocking, de-friending and unfollowing. And we’re in an echo chamber now, shielded from diverse perspectives that might otherwise have made us wiser and more empathetic and open. Safe in the digital cocoon we’ve constructed, surrounded by voices who flatter us with agreement, we become yet more convinced of our essential rightness, and so pushed even further away from our opponents, who by now seem practically evil in their bloody-minded wrongness
”
”
Will Storr (Selfie: How We Became So Self-Obsessed and What It's Doing to Us)
“
Doubt was nothing more than an epistemological humility: a deep and practical awareness that outside our sphere of knowledge there existed information and experiences that might show our position to be in error. Doubt causes us to hold a strong position a bit more loosely, such that an acknowledgment of ignorance or error doesn't crush our sense of self or leave us totally unmoored if our position proves untenable. Certainty is the opposite: it hampers inquiry and hinders growth. It teaches us to ignore evidence that contradicts our ideas, and encourages us to defend our position at all costs, even as it reveals itself as indefensible. Certainty sees compromise as weak, hypocritical, evil, suppressing empathy and allowing us to justify inflicting horrible pain on others.
”
”
Megan Phelps-Roper (Unfollow: A Journey from Hatred to Hope)
“
Jake still won’t talk to me, and I miss him so much, it’s like I’ve been hollowed out by a nuclear blast and there’s nothing left but ashes fluttering inside brittle bones. I’ve sent him dozens of texts that aren’t only unanswered; they’re unread. He unfriended me on Facebook and unfollowed me on Instagram and Snapchat. He’s pretending I don’t exist and I’m starting to think he’s right. If I’m not Jake’s girlfriend, who am I?
”
”
Karen M. McManus (One of Us Is Lying (One of Us is Lying, #1))
“
Love me like the ocean loves the shore
sometimes hard, sometimes gentle
retreating a bit to let her breathe
but never too far, never for long
”
”
Komal Kapoor (Unfollowing You)
“
Symptoms of Social Media Psycho are that; one who follows and unfollows you.
”
”
Ehsan Sehgal
“
Spiritual awakening is like unfollowing who you think you are.
”
”
Frode Gåsland
“
The imperfections of religions can only be understood by their unfollowers, not followers.
”
”
M.F. Moonzajer (LOVE, HATRED AND MADNESS)
“
If I get a DM that says, “Thanks for following! You can also like me on Facebook!” I literally want to unfollow immediately.
”
”
Aliza Licht (Leave Your Mark: Land Your Dream Job. Kill It in Your Career. Rock Social Media.)
“
Just this past week, I had been followed and unfollowed then refollowed three times by the editor of a low-level literary magazine.
”
”
Jordan Castro (The Novelist)
“
Please realize before following if you intend to unfollow after that, which leaves an ugly taste and awkward context of your character and mindset.
”
”
Ehsan Sehgal
“
First, follow and then unfollow describes the frustration of thoughts.
”
”
Ehsan Sehgal
“
To gain more control of your life stop focusing on the drama of other people which may include unfollowing some people both on and offline.
”
”
Germany Kent
“
He sets his sandwich down, grabs his phone, and opens Instagram. “I’m unfollowing you again.
”
”
Colleen Hoover (Regretting You)
“
Here’s the dead end of social media: after you’ve created your own bubble that reflects only what you relate to or what you identify with, after you’ve blocked and unfollowed people whose opinions and worldview you judge and disagree with, after you’ve created your own little utopia based on your cherished values, then a kind of demented narcissism begins to warp this pretty picture.
”
”
Bret Easton Ellis (White)
“
But I have to say, I’m disappointed. aidencrawford: And why’s that? summerluvin: No nude cereal box ad. Unfollowing. aidencrawford: I’ll do a private one just for you. Can’t afford to upset a fan.
”
”
Bal Khabra (Collide (Off the Ice, #1))
“
The human heart was created in the context of the perfection of the garden of Eden. But we don’t live there now.
This is why our instincts keep firing off the lie that perfection is possible. We have pictures of perfection etched into the very DNA of our souls.
We chase it. We angle our cameras trying to catch it. We take twenty shots hoping to find it. And then even our good photos have to be color corrected, filtered, and cropped.
We do our very best to make others think this posted picture is the real deal. But we all know the truth. We all see the charade. We all know the emperor is naked. But there we are, clapping on the sidelines, following along, playing the game. Trying to believe that maybe, just maybe, if we get close to something that looks like perfection it will help us snag a little of its shine for ourselves.
But we know even the shiniest of things is headed in the direction of becoming dull. New will always eventually become old. Followers unfollow. People who lift us up will let us down. The most tightly knit aspects of life snag, unravel, and disintegrate before our very eyes.
And we are epically disappointed.
But we aren’t talking about it.
”
”
Lysa TerKeurst (It's Not Supposed to Be This Way: Finding Unexpected Strength When Disappointments Leave You Shattered)
“
You hear stories about people who've committed bad crimes. Suddenly they decide to confess it all, turn themselves in to the authorities, get everything off their conscience-the burden, the harm, the shame, the self-hatred. They make a clean breast of things before going off to jail. As if guilt was the worst thing in the world to them. I'm willing to say now that guilt has less to do with it than you might think. Rather, the intolerable problem is of everything suddenly being so confused: the clear path back to the past being cluttered and unfollowable; how the person once felt being now completely changed from how he feels today. And time itself: how the hours of the day and night advance so oddly-first fast, then hardly passing at all. Then the future becoming as confused and impenetrable as the past itself. What a person becomes in such a situation is paralyzed-caught in one long, sustained, intolerable present. Who wouldn't want to stop that-if he could? Make the present give way to almost any future at all. Who wouldn't admit everything just to gain release from the terrible present? I would. Only a saint wouldn't.
”
”
Richard Ford (Canada)
“
That the answer to bad ideas is to publicly reason against them, to advocate for and propagate better ones. And that it is dangerous to vest any central authority with broad powers to limit the bounds of acceptable discussion—because these powers lend themselves to authoritarian abuse, the creation of echo chambers, and the marginalization of ideas that are true but unpopular. In short, the principles underlying the freedom of speech recognize that all of us are susceptible to cognitive deficiencies and groupthink, and that an open marketplace of ideas is our best defense against them.
”
”
Megan Phelps-Roper (Unfollow: A Memoir of Loving and Leaving the Westboro Baptist Church)
“
The changing trends reflected evolving user preferences, but they were also a reaction against the burnout-inducing standard of the peak influencer era. “We all know the jig is up,” said Matt Klein, a cultural strategist. “We’ve all participated in those staged photos. We all know the stress and anxiety it takes. And we can see through it. Culture is a pendulum and the pendulum is swaying. That’s not to say everyone is going to stop posting perfect photos. But the energy is shifting.” For the reigning influencers, the shift was disorienting and even catastrophic. “What worked for people before doesn’t work anymore,” said James Nord. In 2018, a creator could post a shot with manicured hands on a coffee cup and rake in the likes. By 2019, people would unfollow. According to Fohr, by the end of that year, 60 percent of influencers in his network with more than 100,000 followers were losing followers month over month. “It’s pretty staggering,” he said.
”
”
Taylor Lorenz (Extremely Online: The Untold Story of Fame, Influence, and Power on the Internet)
“
Social media is not toxic. Social media sites are not toxic. It might just be that you've allowed the toxic people you follow on social media to make it toxic for you. There is no rule, no law or no condition on any of these sites that says you must continue to follow or stay connected with someone you don't want to on social media. Unfollow, disconnect and block if need be and as often as you like.
”
”
Loren Weisman
“
essence, it’s fascist. Here’s the dead end of social media: after you’ve created your own bubble that reflects only what you relate to or what you identify with, after you’ve blocked and unfollowed people whose opinions and worldview you judge and disagree with, after you’ve created your own little utopia based on your cherished values, then a kind of demented narcissism begins to warp this pretty picture.
”
”
Bret Easton Ellis (White)
“
If you're thinking of a social media spring clean, start with those who never comment on or like anything you post - they're just spying on you. Next, lose the ones who only contact when they have something to sell or promote - they're using you.
”
”
Stewart Stafford
“
Unfollow relentlessly. Unfollow anyone who shares updates that are toxic, that bring negativity, or are even just annoying. Your feed is a place to exercise being selfish. If an account does not positively contribute to your life, then unfollow. This goes for unfollowing discussions in addition to people. It can be tempting to go down various rabbit holes while following trending discussions, or even the news. Exercise that same level of restraint. If a discussion is not of direct benefit for you, remove yourself from it.
”
”
Omar Usman (Fiqh of Social Media: Timeless Islamic Principles for Navigating the Digital Age)
“
So, fast-forward to the Smollett post. After I reposted it, and called them out for taking it down, I received an outpouring of thousands of comments and DMs, some even showing videos, of how Instagram was interfering with my following. Some weren’t allowed to like my posts or my father’s. The little heart would light up, and then it would flash back off. Some commented, “Hey Don, I had to follow you three times this week and I never unfollowed you.” With others, it was, “Don, I was blocked out of my account for twenty-four hours for liking one of your feeds.
”
”
Donald Trump Jr. (Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us)
“
We live in an age where we feel guilt whenever we have to cut someone off but the reality is that some relationships do need to die, some people do need to be unfollowed and defriended. We aren’t meant to be this tethered to the people in our past. The Internet mandates that we don’t burn bridges and keep everyone around like relics but those expectations are unrealistic and unhealthy. Simply put, we don’t need to know what everyone else is up to. We’re allowed to be choosy about who we surround ourselves with online and in real life, even if it might hurt people’s feelings.
”
”
Ryan O'Connell
“
We live in an age where we feel guilt whenever we have to cut someone off but the reality is that some relationships do need to die, some people do need to be unfollowed and defriended. We aren’t meant to be this tethered to the people in our past. The Internet mandates that we don’t burn bridges and keep everyone around like relics but those expectations are unrealistic and unhealthy. Simply put, we don’t need to know what everyone else is up to. We’re allowed to be choosy about who we surround ourselves with online and in real life, even if it might hurt people’s feelings.
”
”
Ryan O’Connell
“
am recalling with especial clarity an enraptured disquisition he delivered to us one fine May morning on the sin of looking. Yes, looking. We had been instructed in the various categories of sin, those of commission and omission, the mortal and the venial, the seven deadly, and the terrible ones that it was said only a bishop could absolve, but here it seemed was a new category: the passive sin. Did we imagine, Fr. Foamfleck scoffingly enquired, pacing impetuously from door to window, from window to door, his cassock swishing and a star of light gleaming on his narrow, balding brow like a reflection of the divine effluvium itself, did we imagine that sin must always involve the performance of an action? Looking with lust or envy or hate is lusting, envying, hating; the wish unfollowed by the deed leaves an equal stain upon the soul.
”
”
John Banville (The Sea)
“
Doubt causes us to hold a strong position a bit more loosely, such that an acknowledgment of ignorance or error doesn’t crush our sense of self or leave us totally unmoored if our position proves untenable. Certainty is the opposite: it hampers inquiry and hinders growth. It teaches us to ignore evidence that contradicts our ideas, and encourages us to defend our position at all costs, even as it reveals itself as indefensible.
”
”
Megan Phelps-Roper (Unfollow: A Journey from Hatred to Hope)
“
In a world so determined
to sort us in boxes-
are you happy or sad
a morning person or night
woke warrior or shy
brown or white?
In a world that forgets
how ridiculous it is for a being
to be just one thing
when we are stardust and earth,
ashes and flowers,
all mangled together.
In a world that demands
I piece myself apart
to claim one identity or another,
I only find myself whole, here
with you, I can be everything,
I can be me.
”
”
Komal Kapoor (Unfollowing You)
“
On Social Media people always seem to appear and then disappear. Befriend you as a writer perhaps because they think that you can just help them reach their goals or just maybe because they've heard of you. On some? Like on Instagram? Follow you and then unfollow you in their own shallow pathetic pursuit of looking popular. Not giving two shits about you or have any real interest in your actual work. Once upon a time that used to really bother me because they obviously lack authenticity & any manners. But after thirty some years of writing & publishing and creating and actually earning all of the merits and being myself, being true to the words and all the poetry that is the only real thing that truly matters? I simply say to all of them.
Fuck you. I'm R.M. Engelhardt
And if you haven't heard of me or read any of my work then obviously you don't really know much about poetry
”
”
R.M. Engelhardt (WHERE THERE IS NO VISION POEMS 2020 R.M. ENGELHARDT)
“
1
The holes in this story are not lamps, they are not wheels. I walked and walked, grew a beard so I could drag it in the dirt, into a forest that wasn't there. I want to give you more but not everything. You don't need everything.
2
This is what they found on the dead man's desk when the landlord let them in: twenty-eight pages, esoteric and unfollowable, written with perfect penmanship and a total disregard for any reader, as it the intended audience was a population not quite human. Angelic script, says the detective, lifting the pages, feeling their heft and he wonders what he means because it isn't. His partner nods but ignores him.
A park bench, white roses, dark coats and white roses, snow and repetitions of snow--it's hard to read but pretty much how they found him: dead on a bench in a black coat, the snow falling down.
Twigs and blackbirds, snow and red horses, the ghosts floating up, the snow falling down--the detective is weeping--and the black coat.
3
Someone has to leave first. This is a very old story. There is no other version of this story.
4
It's getting late, Little Moon. Finish the song. It's not that late. You are my moon, Little Moon, and it's late enough. So climb down out of the tree. Is it safe? Safe enough. Are you dead as well?
The night is cold, it is silver, it is a coin.
Not everyone is dead, Little Moon. But the big moon needs the tree. There is a ghost at the end of the song. Yes, there is. And you see his hand and then you see the moon. Am I the ghost at the end of the song? We are very close now, Little Moon. Thank you for shining on me.
5
He was pointing at the moon but I was looking at his hand. He was dead anyway, a ghost. I'm surprised I saw his hand at all. All this was prepared for me. All this was set in motion a long time ago. I live in someone else's future. I stayed as long as I could, he said. Now look at the moon.
The Worm King’s Lullaby
”
”
Richard Siken
“
I am often asked by editors, fans, friends about what I read or which authors influence my writing.
My answer seems surprising to them, for people expect names and quotes from me, while I give them the source of "feelings".
I believe that becoming a writer is not about finding similarities, nor following the same trends, with different accessories. I often un-follow subscriptions and newsfeeds when I want to write about something.
When I write I follow, read and am inspired by Life, People and Passion. I guess my "current" is personal and universal.
(Soar)
”
”
Soar (Yours, poetically: Special Deluxe Edition of Selected Poems and Quotes)
“
Doubt was nothing more than epistemological humility: a deep and practical awareness that outside our sphere of knowledge there existed information and experiences that might show our position to be in error. Doubt causes us to hold a strong position a bit more loosely, such that an acknowledgment of ignorance or error doesn’t crush our sense of self or leave us totally unmoored if our position proves untenable. Certainty is the opposite: it hampers inquiry and hinders growth. It teaches us to ignore evidence that contradicts our ideas, and encourages us to defend our position at all costs, even as it reveals itself as indefensible.
”
”
Megan Phelps-Roper (Unfollow: A Journey from Hatred to Hope)
“
Doubt was nothing more than epistemological humility: a deep and practical awareness that outside our sphere of knowledge there existed information and experiences that might show our position to be in error. Doubt causes us to hold a strong position a bit more loosely, such that an acknowledgment of ignorance or error doesn’t crush our sense of self or leave us totally unmoored if our position proves untenable. Certainty is the opposite: it hampers inquiry and hinders growth. It teaches us to ignore evidence that contradicts our ideas, and encourages us to defend our position at all costs, even as it reveals itself as indefensible. Certainty sees compromise as weak, hypocritical, evil, suppressing empathy and allowing us to justify inflicting horrible pain on
”
”
Megan Phelps-Roper (Unfollow: A Journey from Hatred to Hope)
“
We dismissed Nathan as being driven by the same pecuniary motive people falsely assigned to us, and for partly the same reason: to avoid facing an uncomfortable truth, a blurring of the line between the good guys and the bad. So we called the truth a lie and rewrote history as though it were in our power to dictate reality so long as it was in the church’s judgment and interest. So long as we all held the line, no one could prevail against us.
”
”
Megan Phelps-Roper (Unfollow: A Journey from Hatred to Hope)
“
I don't think they're bad people. I think they're good people who have been trapped by bad ideas . . . There just has to be a way out.
”
”
Megan Phelps-Roper (Unfollow: A Journey from Hatred to Hope)
“
Symptoms of Social Media Psycho are that one who follows and unfollows you.
”
”
Ehsan Sehgal
“
If I want everyone to follow me, I have to unfollow them first and build my own path. Only unique is being followed.
”
”
Toddly Publications
“
And only by taking a good hard look at what we have swallowed can we begin to find our way out of the sometimes brutal, often well-intentioned, ways of thinking and seeing, and begin to tell the difference between what
”
”
Terri Trespicio (Unfollow Your Passion: How to Create a Life that Matters to You)
“
people want for us and what we want for ourselves.
”
”
Terri Trespicio (Unfollow Your Passion: How to Create a Life that Matters to You)
“
The problem is that we’re so often swallowing things that other people hand us: Their pointy opinions, hardened ideas, homemade beliefs they think would be good for you. But also: Ideas about you and what your life should be that simply aren’t and don’t have to be true.
”
”
Terri Trespicio (Unfollow Your Passion: How to Create a Life that Matters to You)
“
Being safe and being sovereign were two different things.
”
”
Terri Trespicio (Unfollow Your Passion: How to Create a Life that Matters to You)
“
No one can make you do things; you can only choose to go along.
”
”
Terri Trespicio (Unfollow Your Passion: How to Create a Life that Matters to You)
“
Perhaps the most important thing, the most valuable thing, is to know what you’re swallowing (what you keep swallowing) and why. To recognize that this awareness is the only way to be radically alive, rather than pretend that you can subsist on buttons, because you cannot.
”
”
Terri Trespicio (Unfollow Your Passion: How to Create a Life that Matters to You)
“
Swallowing is a commitment
”
”
Terri Trespicio (Unfollow Your Passion: How to Create a Life that Matters to You)
“
that only you can make. No one can do it for you.
”
”
Terri Trespicio (Unfollow Your Passion: How to Create a Life that Matters to You)
“
It’s worth taking a good hard look at that boundary between what the world wants and you want and, well, making sure it’s intact for one, but also that, regardless of what you decide to do, you know that it was a request you either granted or you didn’t.
”
”
Terri Trespicio (Unfollow Your Passion: How to Create a Life that Matters to You)
“
The momentum began the way it always does: By moving. The direction almost didn’t matter.
”
”
Terri Trespicio (Unfollow Your Passion: How to Create a Life that Matters to You)
“
And that’s why the shift you’re dying to make doesn’t start with what passion to chase or what position to apply for; it starts with the recalibration of what freedom really feels like, and a rewiring of the “fears” that the world has told us to have.
”
”
Terri Trespicio (Unfollow Your Passion: How to Create a Life that Matters to You)
“
What this means is not worrying about the “right” move, but discovering what it means to be a sovereign person, to exercise power over your options, decisions, and desires—without being ruled by any of them. To realize that you don’t need to know exactly where
”
”
Terri Trespicio (Unfollow Your Passion: How to Create a Life that Matters to You)
“
Above all, you’ll discover why you don’t need to be “fixed” to lead a fulfilling life, and how true freedom comes not when things go your way, but when you let things go.
”
”
Terri Trespicio (Unfollow Your Passion: How to Create a Life that Matters to You)
“
If you feel you’ve lost the thread on your life or anything resembling motivation, what can help is to actually get lost—and by that I mean immerse yourself in the nonlinear, explore the full dimension of who you are, what you’ve experienced, and all the things you have right in front of you that you might have overlooked.
”
”
Terri Trespicio (Unfollow Your Passion: How to Create a Life that Matters to You)
“
And it’s time to reinvent how we go about creating lives of meaning and value. That means it may not look like the picture you drew as a kid. But chances are, it’s better than you imagined.
”
”
Terri Trespicio (Unfollow Your Passion: How to Create a Life that Matters to You)
“
The goal isn’t to get out of your comfort zone; the goal is to expand it.
”
”
Terri Trespicio (Unfollow Your Passion: How to Create a Life that Matters to You)
“
Discomfort isn’t an indicator of bravery; it’s an indicator of… discomfort. In the act of being brave or courageous or ambitious, you will very likely encounter discomfort, but to aim “for” it, in my mind, is to miss the point and the goal. I feel the same way about “doing something every day that scares you.” Being scared every day is a recipe for anxiety, not necessarily personal growth.
”
”
Terri Trespicio (Unfollow Your Passion: How to Create a Life that Matters to You)
“
Because seeking out discomfort is a pastime of the privileged.
”
”
Terri Trespicio (Unfollow Your Passion: How to Create a Life that Matters to You)
“
The reason we “like” an uncomfortable experience in retrospect is because it serves as a clear and salient reminder of just how strong we can be.
”
”
Terri Trespicio (Unfollow Your Passion: How to Create a Life that Matters to You)
“
Social media has made it simple to draw circles around what we do and don’t want to hear. Or, more accurately, who we do and don’t want to hear from. “Unfollow if you disagree.” The phrase is everywhere on social media, directing people to unsubscribe from the author’s posts if they don’t endorse what those posts are saying.
”
”
Monica Guzmán (I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times)
“
Unfollow if you disagree” is another way of saying, “Follow me enthusiastically if you do agree!
”
”
Monica Guzmán (I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times)
“
Take us very far out of our comfort zones, and our brains stop paying attention to anything other than surviving the experience. It’s clear that we learn most in our comfort zones, because that’s where our neural pathways are most concentrated. It’s where we’re most open to possibility, most creative, insightful, and productive. That’s where feedback must meet us—in our moments of flow.”2
”
”
Terri Trespicio (Unfollow Your Passion: How to Create a Life that Matters to You)
“
In short, we’re not only not at our best outside our comfort zones, but we’re unable to access our best there either. You only have so much energy and attention to spend in your waking hours. Are you spending it on the things that you feel you should do or that you’ve been told are good to do—or the things that really, actually matter to you? At what point does seeking out new “challenges” become a convenient way to hide from the actual hard things?
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Terri Trespicio (Unfollow Your Passion: How to Create a Life that Matters to You)
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The comfort zone is a greenhouse: Warm, sunny, protected from the elements—where living things thrive.
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Terri Trespicio (Unfollow Your Passion: How to Create a Life that Matters to You)
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Taking a risk, trying something scary or new or something with very high stakes, is not about prioritizing discomfort, however; it’s about commitment—committing to expanding your comfort zone so that you remain inside it.
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Terri Trespicio (Unfollow Your Passion: How to Create a Life that Matters to You)
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The key, she says, is to double down on things that feel comfortable and easy, because that is where your genius lives.
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Terri Trespicio (Unfollow Your Passion: How to Create a Life that Matters to You)
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Another mother approached me and said, “Can we talk?” Her tone made my stomach drop. “Sure,” I said. We stepped outside. She began, “I’ve been following you for a long while, but I unfollowed you today.” I said, “Okay. Sounds like you made the right choice for you.” I began to step away.
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Glennon Doyle (Untamed)
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Time goes away and leaves us with only one of these two things: regret or results. A year from now you will wish you had unfollowed emotionally draining people. A year from now you will wish you had said ‘no’ more often. A year from now you will wish you had said ‘yes’ to yourself more often. A year from now, you will never be sure of the results.
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Ankur Warikoo (Do Epic Shit)
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We have to fight these thoughts of comparison. Those thoughts that seem to taunt us regarding who we aren’t and who we should be. Or who we wish we were. Instead, we need to ask God who we are in him, to see the good gifts that he has given each one of us, to see the story that he is writing for us, and to step into it. We need to face our realities head-on, link arms with other women to help fight the good fight, and become our best selves. That may mean unfollowing someone, or deleting an app, or turning off our phones for an hour, a day, a season. We have to be vigilant in guarding our thoughts and eyes so that we can have victory in the battle.
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Alyssa Bethke (Satisfied: Finding Hope, Joy, and Contentment Right Where You Are)
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We're stuck inside with ourselves, trying to believe the things we're supposed to say. We're performing interpersonal politics in public, more conscientious than conscious, systematic in our approach, same or shame, safe or sorry. What's the difference?
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Jill Louise Busby (Unfollow Me: Essays on Complicity)
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It’s not so funny anymore, the chaos that adults make. It looks different from inside.
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Jill Louise Busby (Unfollow Me: Essays on Complicity)
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In the house, there is still a grandmother and a grandfather. The grandmother still has her mind, and the grandfather still has his body. The grandmother still has her long-term memory, and the grandfather still has his part-time job. The grandmother still holds grudges, and the grandfather still holds his tongue. With age, their survival has become a joint effort, a group project with a major deadline. But maybe that’s all it ever was.
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Jill Louise Busby (Unfollow Me: Essays on Complicity)
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But you don’t shed blackness by shedding black culture. You simply end up like a black Russian doll, undressing out of yourself into infinity, always further within yourself to go. Either lost or found in self.
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Jill Louise Busby (Unfollow Me: Essays on Complicity)
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decide it’s less important than everything else because it isn’t as easy as everything else.
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Jill Louise Busby (Unfollow Me: Essays on Complicity)
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A giving in to motion above everything else. As if things that are still or quiet can’t change.
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Jill Louise Busby (Unfollow Me: Essays on Complicity)
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If you follow me and then unfollow me, I will block you since I don't need mentally insufficient individuals who keep practicing such practices everywhere.
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Ehsan Sehgal
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Lou had been tearful because a special moment – when the family all discovered the presents together – had been ruined. She had been planning to film the whole thing. Lou was, in Neve’s opinion, an obsessive chronicler of her family life. She would have unfollowed her sister on Facebook because of this, had she been able to get away with it.
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Cass Green (In a Cottage in a Wood)
Charlotte Duckworth (Unfollow Me)
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Restructure your digital life. It’s not realistic (or desirable to a lot of people) to be forever disconnected, but it’s also not realistic to keep things that don’t serve you positively in your social feeds and expect it not to affect you. Instead of just unfollowing what you don’t want to see, follow positive accounts/groups/organizations/publications that you do.
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Brianna Wiest (101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think)
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I can mute someone’s social media account that triggers unhealthy reactions when I see them. This may be a better first step than unfollowing them . . . but if unfollowing is more appropriate, then I can make that choice.
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Lysa TerKeurst (Forgiving What You Can't Forget: Discover How to Move On, Make Peace with Painful Memories, and Create a Life That’s Beautiful Again)
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Jesus said, No prophet is accepted in his own country, and that rang true to me; it’s easier to accept a human as divinely ordained when you’re not intimately familiar with the mundanity of their daily life and the eccentricities of their personality.
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Megan Phelps-Roper (Unfollow: A Memoir of Loving and Leaving the Westboro Baptist Church)
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I offer you a fable for our times...
A magic box sits in your pocket with all the knowledge and music and entertainment of the world contained within it.
If you opened this box and looked down into it...
...How could you ever possibly look up again?
- Larry Ferrell (Unfollow)
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Rob Williams
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Realise the consequences, since I neither worry and nor care the idiot ones if they leave; however, I teach them that when to follow and when not to un-follow. The penalty clicks the term blocked forever.
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Ehsan Sehgal
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The reality of social networking sites is that they provide platforms for online personae to interact with other online personae. Importantly, such relationships can be ended with a click of an 'unfriend,' 'unfollow,' or 'block' button. Breaking up like this constitutes a morally lightweight action. Certainly it flies in the face of Cicero's advice that a friendship 'should seem to fade away rather than to be stamped out.' The respect that Cicero demanded that we pay to a friendship, even one that has turned sour, did not anticipate the tenuous connection inherent in being a facebook friend.
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Marilyn Yalom (The Social Sex: A History of Female Friendship)
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First, follow and then unfollow, describes the frustration of thoughts.
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Ehsan Sehgal
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Why?
Why?
Do you follow me and then unfollow me?
Do you add me as a friend and then delete me?
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Deyth Banger
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Talk about yourself and your business. Really. If people don’t like what you do or say, they can unfollow you, but chances are that you’ll gain far more followers than you lose.
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Chris Guillebeau (The $100 Startup: Fire Your Boss, Do What You Love and Work Better To Live More)
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Tis not the times, 'Tis not the Sophists vex him:
There is some root of suffering in himself,
Some secret and unfollow'd vein of woe,
Which makes the times look black and sad to him.
Empedocles on Etna: Act I, Scene I
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Matthew Arnold (Selected Poems of Matthew Arnold: Volume II of II)