The Re-Follow

My social media accounts are things that I check almost every day. I follow a lot of people, mostly people who I know personally, but I also follow a lot of people that I admire: writers, celebrities, fellow bloggers, and other influential people. There used to be a time that I felt that I was following too many people so I did a purge and unfollowed people who I felt had posts that I did not agree with. Recently, however, I did a re-follow and followed back some of these people. Why? I felt that it would be a healthy thing for me to do so. 

Image by ijmaki from Pixabay

Yes, I know that sounds weird but it’s not like I re-followed anyone who is toxic or negative. I decided that I should be open to listening to people who have different points of view and interests from what I have. It’s about re-following people who are also open to a discussion/conversation about topics that we do not always see eye to eye on. I feel that to grow as a person, I need to open myself up that way.

I feel that there is so much we can all learn from each other if we open ourselves up to people with different beliefs and opinions as we do. While it is more convenient to surround ourselves with people with the same ideas, it is healthier to have a couple of people in our circle who can share other things. It’s not about eventually sharing the same opinions or beliefs, but more about having a discussion and understanding why people think the way they do. We can agree to disagree, but at least we could try to understand where that person is coming from. Plus, I think that we all have to admit that just because we believe in certain things that what we believe or know is always right. We should be open to learning from other people and having room for improvement in ourselves as people.

This is something that goes well with the kind of people we surround ourselves with. We can’t always have “yes” people around us. As good as it may feel that everyone agrees with you, that may not always be as beneficial to us as we might think. We can all probably remember the story of The Emperor’s New Clothes, where people that surrounded the king were all “yes men” and they eventually let the king roam around naked because no one wanted to disagree with him.

Do not get me wrong, I still draw the line somewhere when it comes to people I follow (or re-follow, as the case may be). If what these people think or promote feel harmful in any way, I unfollow immediately. But if all we have is a difference of opinion on things, then I will keep following and see what I can learn from that person about what he or she thinks or how he or she acts. In the same way, I would like to think that if people were to find opinions of mine that they did not like, they would not immediately unfollow (or cancel) me but instead try to understand my point of view. I am not out to convert people into my way of thinking, but I would like to be given the benefit of the doubt that I am not as bad as people may decide me to be because of one opinion. 

People may find all this weird, but I feel that while we can’t always agree, it doesn’t mean we should shut people out just because of one difference of opinion. I think there would be less conflict if people don’t cancel other people out immediately or attack other people just because they have different beliefs. I think there is so much we can all learn from each other if we do not force each other’s opinions on one another.

What do you think?