Happy New Year; Just the Fun Stuff
Apples and honey time
Let’s end the year on a high note: this week’s missive is entirely Positive.
No snark!
No sass!
No lip!
Which means my inner bitch critic will be back with a vengeance in 2023, but that’s 2023’s problem.
CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL: FELINE GOOD
On Thanksgiving, a tweet about a cat named Fishtopher went viral. Fishtopher is a big boi with FIV. According to his adoption bio on PetFinder, he was sad, and also depressed. I mean, look at the guy. LOOK AT HIM!!!!!
But now!!!! He’s adopted and thriving.
Living his best life doesn’t even begin to cover it.
An animal got rescued and the Internet liked it…
But in Fishtopher’s tale there is a lesson. When that sad photo was taken, Fishtopher had no idea that dozens of people at the adoption center were working to find him a home, or that thousands of strangers online would blast his story out to thousands more. While hundreds of potential adopters filed applications, Fishtopher was un-blissfully unaware. From his perspective, one day he was abandoned, the next he was home.
So if you had a 2022 that was not so good, think of Fishtopher. There could be forces conspiring at this very moment to change your life. You cannot understand or even see what is coming. Just be the little cat you are.
A MOMENT OF DELIGHT!
~ICONIQUE~
A LAST CONGRATZ TO THE WINNERS OF 2022:
KNOW WHAT I LOVE? SOCIAL MEDIA.
Downfall of democracy blah blah blah.
For most of college, I was only on Twitter, having deactivated my Facebook when I gained a bunch of weight realized I should focus on being in the moment. But after a summer working at Tawonga, I wanted to stay in touch with my far-flung friends, and it didn’t make sense to hop on a group chat with Israelis. So I re-activated, joined Instagram a couple years later, and haven’t looked back since, because it worked!
These days, it’s through Instagram that I stay in contact — however superficial that contact may be — with friends. During quarantine, it was a lifeline. Checking in on my friends’ physical and mental health was as easy as clicking a button, which was all I had energy for.
This past summer, I went to Mexico for a bachelorette party and met some lovely women. Two live in Wellesley, Mass. One lives in actual Alaska. When am I gonna hang with them, realistically? But online, we’re all together. I can tag them in a meme or send them a funny Reel. It’s a low pressure, organic way to socialize with women I wouldn’t be able to keep talking to otherwise.
I’d say it even helps me keep up better with the people I do see in real life. Social media is where I find out about upcoming comedy shows, and to be quite frank, it’s where I interact with the people I later have sex with.
There are of course cons to balance the pros. It’s not all good that the social network connects us to everyone, any time, anywhere. We’ve all had the experience of clicking on a second cousin’s post about the vaccine and thinking, I kinda wish I didn’t know this about you. And of course, the comparisons. (Here’s a full-of-obvious-but-worth-a-reminder advice article about the comparison thing.) When I was younger, I’d go into a tailspin every time I saw a picture from a party I wasn’t invited to.
But it was good for me to get (mostly) over that. And if I compare myself to others, that’s the trade-off for knowing what they’re doing. Social media allows me to share, just a little, in my community’s accomplishments and joys. Critics say social media is “fake” or “not the whole story” because it’s a “highlight reel.” I want the highlights! I wanna comment “yaaaaaay” when you get engaged and “gorgeousssss” on your wedding pics. I wanna Like every photo of your baby and video of your puppy learning to walk up the stairs. And when you announce the passing of one of your parents, I wanna drop a red heart emoji.
Because the fact is that I wouldn’t know otherwise. Maybe some people send out mass “we bought a house” emails or post-cards of sonograms, but I’m not sure how many mailing lists I’d make, and I wanna see it all. I don’t read much news; I don’t follow sports. I don’t check the stock market or pay attention to new music. What I like is people. I like people media. Social media. You get it.
Also, it makes sitting on the bus less boring.
CAN YOU DO ME A FLAVOR?
To make this the best Substack to ever Sub a Stack, I need reader feedback. You don’t even have to click over to a Google form! Just vote here! You can be honest, I’m pretty sure it’s anonymous, and anyway, you can’t hurt my feelings, I’m currently on a plane to Argentina :)
C U Next Year (This newsletter will return, new and improved, in 2023…probably in February?)
Lizzie
(if you’re going out tonight, please d’fwink responsibly)