There is a saying that we all create our own reality every day. I can't help wondering then why we are so obsessed with the reality "shows" we seem to love.
I confess that I have not seen more than a few snips of "people shouting at each other, people falling over, people ruining other people's houses" -- well, I do admit I have watched more than a few snips of people ruining other people's houses. And the quote is from an episode of AS TIME GOES BY, when the characters are trying to find an evening's entertainment.
I think the problem with creating our own reality every day is that there is no audience except ourselves. And we don't really know how to validate for ourselves the reality we are creating. We have been so indoctrinated with media lighting, public comment, and "star" qualities, that we lose track of ourselves. What we really think about ourselves and who or what we are and what we are doing, doesn't seem to matter without constant feedback of one kind or another. I suppose that's why people blog (!) and why we love facebook and feel disassociated when we get no "comments" or no "likes" on what we've posted.
This gives a lot of power to those who do assess us in our daily lives. The others who have the supervisory roles or authority to say whether or not we are meeting the standards set by medical evaluation, job performance, or personal effectiveness wield a great deal of force on our well being.
I have a personal push/pull with such experiences at this point in my life. I do try to live a fairly healthy life, watching what I eat and how much exercise I get -- but I am not obsessive about it. And I do sometimes push the envelopes quite a bit.
My current challenge in this area is that I am now retired, and feedback from the outside has disappeared -- except when I visit my doctor or my family says "So what did you do today?" and I assume that it won't be enough, whatever it is. And I've become a little bit lost...like a person with no mirror who has to go out in the world and isn't sure if she is dressed appropriately or whether or not her hair is actually combed properly.
I hope to address the no-mirror issue in better form soon. But right now, I think I'll watch another episiode of AS TIME GOES BY for my reality check.
