“Who are you?” said the Caterpillar.
This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice replied, rather shyly, “I—I hardly know, Sir, just at present—at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.”
“What do you mean by that?” said the Caterpillar, sternly. “Explain yourself!”
“I can’t explain myself, I’m afraid, Sir,” said Alice, “because I am not myself, you see.”
This fantasy novel of 1865 by Lewis Carroll is still one of my absolute favorite stories of all time. And ironically it is as relevant (maybe more so) today as ever before.
In the age of social media where we are bombarded nonstop with cultivated lives, influencers, filters, and advertisements it is easy to forget who you are at the core. Who you are and were before being exposed to who everyone else tells you to be or even thinks that you are?
Lives are whittled down to bitesize clips and snippets of reality, creating a narrative not just for ourselves, but for others to form their own stories and opinions about each of us.
It’s easy then to forget or know who you or anyone else really is. “Social media” is more ironic than it is true – it isolates, it depresses, it promotes insecurity, jealousy, comparisons and erects walls based on false assumptions.
So I implore you to not lose sight of who you are, to not judge or assume who others are, and to keep true to who you were before the world told you who to be or who you are.
Down the Rabbit Hole 