I recently was invited to join a new social media platform. A few day’s later, I found myself flicking through stunning photographic image after image, mesmerised by their colours, exotic locations and beautiful, smiling people. So much so, I had to draw myself away.
I think we can all get drawn into the ‘drug’ of the undiscovered and this isn’t lost on marketers; the allure of far-off lands, beautiful people and pre-packaged happiness is intoxicating but can our addiction to these images and social media in general draw us away from the simple beauty of life itself?
Every moment we’re dreaming of somewhere else, is a moment lost in the simple beauties surrounding our own lives. It’s true that our own lives can seem mundane and unexciting to ourselves, but if we look hard enough, there is magic everywhere… it’s what these clever images are tapping into, after all.
Quiet, peace, simplicity, space and, most of all, love are those things we are being ‘sold’ through beautifully crafted images and social media and yet these are free things that are abundant if we just take a moment to appreciate them.
The irony isn’t lost on me, a gallery owner extolling the virtues of visual abstinence, but at the risk of putting myself out of a job, next time we find ourselves drawn in my something alluring, maybe it’s worth stepping back and remembering that our lives, to many, would be just that.
We’re living at a time where riches beyond out forefather’s dreams are at our fingertips. Stopping and taking a moment to appreciate that is not only worthwhile, but also somewhat respectful to those who helped paved that path for us. And I feel we can do that best by stopping and listening to a tree rustle, taking a moment to consciously breathe or feeling the love of another next to us… maybe even right now?