Sunday, April 20

Want to succeed? Get off 9GAG


Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge 9GAG fan. Their memes are the funniest, it's user generated content at it's best. But, it can easily negatively influence you. I've been meaning to write this since January, when the time to make resolutions was around and people were trying to be better versions of themselves in 2014, when I these started appearing on my News Feed...

Oh resolution

New Year Resolution


New Years resolution

New Year resolution???

I took them as jokes but then the frequency of these increased and it started to worry me. To those who take it as a gag, brilliant. But what if someone starts taking this seriously? 

Being lazy, giving up, going to the gym on 1st and skipping on 2nd Jan is glorified. It came to point even I began to think, 'Wow, I'm going to give up anyway, why even bother trying?'

And this is just one example. There's others where 9GAG sort of preaches that it's good to be at home all the time, it's good to not have a social life and just gorge on food, it's okay to ignore your health, everyone is doing it anyway. So many such examples, think about it - you've liked these because they were relatable and you said, 'haha! I thought I was the only one!' There's a comfort in knowing that you're not alone, especially when it's about being awkward/ different than 'normal' people.

I'm not saying that 9GAG should become a motivational site and post only 'you can do it!' inspired content but then I'm only trying to bring to your attention, that be careful because subconsciously you might be getting affected. 

All I'm trying to say here is -

1. Look at it, laugh and move on. Don't think over it or even let it register in your head

2. Do not stop making resolutions, especially health ones. Like motivating FB pages and Instagram accounts so that you get a regular dose of how good fitness looks and feels.

3. If 9GAG has convinced you that it's okay to be socially awkward, don't settle with that. Try getting out of your shell, we weren't born with a set of rigid rules. We make our own lives and we can be however we want - personality and otherwise. If you're okay with not wanting to mingle with people, that's cool. But if you want more out of life, don't settle.

Most of this was beginning to happen to me. I was being sucked into that hole of having accepted my awkward and not working on it. Then I made a resolution to change this year and 4 months in, I feel like a much more successful person in all areas of my life. I've started working out, office is better, personal relationships are better because I've started expressing myself to loved ones and listening to them. 

We're young, we have access to ample information on the internet. We can practically mould ourselves into what we want. There's a youtube video for everything - so that we could be the best version of ourself. So let's not let lethargy take over and do something about it.

But first...

Get off 9GAG.