I am drawn to stories about those who exhibit qualities I lack.
When I feel I’m living fearfully, I enjoy tales of those who act courageously. If I’m living emotionally, with no capacity for a poker face, I seek inspiration from those who remain unflappable in the face of disaster. This is how I choose what to read… most of the time, but then I began to wonder what the headlines I am clicking on are also saying about me.
Below are 15 headlines picked from the the top ranked Medium articles of all time. As you scan through them, is there a theme to emotions that resonate most powerfully?
- The Most Important Skill Nobody Taught You
- Something is wrong on the internet
- Laziness Does Not Exist (But unseen barriers do)
- A quick beginner’s guide to drawing
- You’re Not Lazy (The last motivational blog post you’ll ever need.)
- How Technology is Hijacking Your Mind
- How I Hacked 40 Websites in 7 minutes
- You Are Not Equal. I’m Sorry.
- 7 Things You Need To Stop Doing To Be More Productive, Backed By Science
- How Quitting My Corporate Job for My Startup Dream F*cked My Life Up
- 13 Things You Should Give Up If You Want To Be Successful
- People Who Have “Too Many Interests” Are More Likely To Be Successful According To Research
- If You Don’t Eliminate This Habit, You Will Never Grow (I had to stop doing this to finally start being consistent.)
- 10 Tricks to Appear Smart During Meetings
- HTTPS explained with carrier pigeons
As I read through them I experienced amusement, apprehension, curiosity, annoyance, fear, anger, a desire for validation, schadenfreude…
The headlines that jangle my nerves vary with my mood, but that can be like rolling dice. In the same way we need to make conscious decisions about what we eat, and not base every decision on how convenient, how sweet, of how cheap I find the options, I also want to spend more time feeding my mind nourishment.
From time to time we all need the easily digestible listicle, or to allow ourselves to be snared by a headline promising a life of doom if we fail to read the life-saving solutions within, but how much of our reading material serves us, and how much is a reaction within the moment?
Sometimes I will make a decision to avoid discomfort instead of picking the option that moves me forward. Too often I use social media the way the designers intended, and not in the way that I would choose, if I felt I even had a choice. In a similar way I’m now wondering if I’m missing out on the best reading material because I’m picking from the suggestions provided, rather than deciding my own path beforehand. It’s time, methinks, to channel my inner literary forager.
