We're a few weeks into fall, which is obvious (at least in Ohio) by the cooling of the temperature and the changing of the leaves. It's a beautiful time of year. Perfect for long drives in the country, windows cracked, and music turned up loud.
It's also noticeable due to the excitement of all the fall TV premieres and new fall shows.
Thursday's on ABC is my favorite night of TV. God bless Shonda Rimes! She is absolutely brilliant. If you're not a fan of Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, and the oh-so-amazing new show starring Viola Davis, How to Get Away with Murder, I'm not sure we can be friends. Well, we can. But you really need to watch these shows. At least try. I promise you won't regret it. :)
As I type this post, another one of my favorites is on - Castle. It combines the best of the best - writers, cop-show drama, romance, and mystery. And Nathan Fillion absolutely makes this show what it is.
One of the new shows I'm keeping my eye on is Selfie. It's supposedly a modern re-telling of My Fair Lady, but let's be honest - I have no idea if it is or isn't because I've never seen MFL. (Don't shoot me.)
What I do know is that the pilot had some funny moments. Probably my favorite part of the whole pilot, though, was the opening plane scene. I don't know about you, but I found myself reliving one of my embarrassing moments. No, not finding out the guy I was in love with is married thing. The throwing up on the plane in front of everyone scene. Granted, it was only one bag instead of two, and I (thank God!) didn't have the bag of puke bust and spill all over me. Nonetheless, upon landing on one international flight a million years ago I got sick and threw up in a barf bag. And wound up with a personalized barf bag, courtesy of my team leader. (I still have that bag!)
Whether you love or hate the show (it's still to early, for me, to tell), there is one thing I learned from Selfie:
We were created for relationships.
One of Eliza's standout lines from the pilot is: "When Siri is the only one who's there for you, it makes you realize: being friended is not the same thing as making friends." Despite the amount of friends she has on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, Eliza doesn't have one real friend she can call in her time of need. That's heartbreaking! (Yes, I know it's just a TV show....)
But I'm sure she's not alone in this world. Social media can give us a false sense of community sometimes. We get excited about how many "likes" our status receives on Facebook or how many times our tweet was re-tweeted. But those numbers aren't truly indicative of our real-life relationships.
We spend so much time investing in social media. In creating our platforms. Stressing out over how many people are reading our blog posts, liking our Facebook statuses, or re-tweeting us. I've been so guilty of this, especially during this 31 day challenge. That's part of the reason I went from a consistent blogger with a small audience to a sporadic blogger with no audience in the past couple of years. I became obsessed with the numbers instead of focusing on the joy of writing.
What's interesting about this challenge is that I'm able to experience both the joy of writing and seeing my audience grow. It's still small, but I'm hoping a community will be formed at the end of the challenge. I'd love to create a safe place in my little corner of the web where folks can come just as they are and discuss a variety of topics without worrying about being judged, condemned, or whatever.
At the same time, my focus isn't solely on getting more people to be my friend on Facebook. I'm not worried about getting more followers on Twitter or Instagram.
While I want to build an online community, I realize that I still need to nurture my real-life relationships. The family and friends who are going to be here when my blog has fallen to the wayside. When my online community has dispersed, and social media no longer consumes all my time.
Because right now I have family and friends who I can call upon in good times and bad. And I want to keep it that way.
Have you seen 'Selfie'? What do you think about social media, community, and real-life relationships?
If you're joining me for the first time, welcome! This is day 14 of a 31 day series called 31 Days of Simply Writing. I've joined thousands of other writers who are writing every day for the 31 days of October.
