140-character mindfulness

Using Twitter to find inner peace

Recently, I’ve come to a conclusion:

If I can’t explain how someone wronged me in a simple tweet, it’s probably not a big deal.

The big ones are under 140-characters:

He cheated on me.

She stole from the company.

He lied to us.

If it’s more like:

My roommate knows that I’m afraid of pugs and I think she deliberately let her boyfriend put his pug in their Christmas photo and now they want to hang that picture in our communal space even though it creeps me out!

…it might not be the biggest deal. If you have to provide a context for the situation so that other people can understand why it’s offensive, it’s just too complex to be offensive.

Plus it’s likely that the context you’d have to explain to a stranger might also need to be explained to the person who offended you. Many times the person offending you is unaware of your feelings, whether they forgot, were too busy to consider your position, or were just being clueless. Give them the benefit of the doubt.

If you’re having trouble letting something go, try to write it out in tweet form. If you’d feel silly posting it, or need to tweet storm to provide context, it’s better just to let it slide.

Don’t sweat the complex stuff.