Spread Beauty in Times of Ugliness

I started out writing today about how to avoid the ugliness in others and ways I go about not having to read a bunch of bullshit some douche on the internet has written about how masks are making people asphyxiate because he's breathing in his own carbon monoxide and then I thought, Brandy - I call myself Brandy because that's my damn name - why are you trying to write about stuff that not one freaking person cares about?

Honestly, nobody gives two shits about how I avoid reading internet crap. Y'all want to get fired up about stuff, just like I do. We, as a modern society, seek out this adrenaline rush because we no longer have to run for our lives from the mountain lions who were hunting our ancestors.

So, here's my idea for how to stay beautiful even when there's a constant barrage of negative crap and hatred on the internet to keep your minds occupied to the point of not getting your big work project done.

Step 1: Go unfollow all the news organizations you have on your social media, except your local news station. You need to at least know if an asteroid is heading straight for your house, or maybe you don't. Maybe it'd be better if you didn't know that? <shrug> Rock on, gorgeous. We're just getting started.

Step 2: When you come upon some dumbass spouting a bunch of shit you don't agree with or even want to deal with, click those three dots in the upper-righthand corner, right adjacent to the person's name. Then click unfollow or snooze for 30 days. Up to you. If you think after 30 days they will have magically seen the error of their ways, hit that snooze button. If you know for certain they don't have a lick of sense, unfollow. Keep on being you, beautiful!

Step 3: If you are constantly seeing this person's racist, hateful, shitty behavior on display or they are always sharing things that are untrue and only devised to fan the flame of ignorance, feel free to unfriend and block that sorry SOB. I have done this countless times and I will continue to do so. I feel like we can agree to disagree about pizza toppings but not racism, sexism, and homophobia. To me, this is not a difference of opinion. This is a difference in values and I don't like being friends with people with whom I have nothing in common. Send them love and move on, babe.

Step 4: Enjoy your new cleaned up newsfeed! Put your feet up and kick back with a cocktail. You deserve it after all of that, sweetie! It was hard work, but the reward will be your new sense of freedom and the lightheartedness you'll soon feel.

Now, to those of you who think that I'm just ignoring the truth of the world outside of my happy little bubble I've created I say, I'm choosing to not engage with folks who will not change my mind and I will not change theirs. I'm not wasting any more breath or time typing out long-ass replies to their ignorance and that means I have more time to focus on my mental health, my beautiful family, and the life we are living.

I am raising a young lady right now who is going to change the world based on our family values. That's what is most important to me at this moment in time. Not what Billy Bob thinks about the younguns at the high school kneeling during the national anthem. Or how Sally doesn't think Nascar will survive without her support now that they've removed the traitorous Confederate flag from their grounds. Or how anyone could think that Tom Hanks is a pedophile. Yes, I will unfollow you for your disdain for Tom.

Back to staying beautiful in a world of ugliness: Now that you have all of this free time on your hands not fighting with internet assholes, use it to pray for them. I know I know. It's hard to pray for people you don't even know. But I promise, if you pray for them, to forgive them for their ugliness, to try to understand them and if you can't even get that far, just to wish them well - your heart will feel so good. I just think to myself that even if someone was ugly to me, God made them in His image. And I pray for that person that they will remember that, too.

You'll start to see that there is so much beauty in this world, and your great big loving heart is part of that! You were put here for a reason. You have a gift that the world needs. It's love.

The world needs more love. And now that you've unfollowed all the ugliness, you can spread your beauty in your little corner of the world.