Beware Making Facebook Assumptions

Wow.

That Ryan Biddulph lives a magical life. I scan each of his updates on Facebook. He's either publishing content like a machine or sharing eye-popping travel pictures of far off locals, or more local paradises.

Now I am traveling through the gargantuan-sized Adirondacks of New York State. This is a 6 million acre forest boasting remote wilderness, a vast array of wildlife and stunning natural beauty.

Perhaps you see my latest Adirondacks photos and snap assume:

• my life IS easy
• my life WAS ALWAYS easy
• I am lucky
• I am always happy
• Nothing rough happened in my life

Every assumption you make is untrue because you assume something about my 45 years on planet earth based on scanning travel photos for 5-10 seconds. How could you ever know what happened during most of my 45 years on planet earth? Alas, you have no idea.

The Truth

15,000 blogging hours of work went in to the 5-10 second photo scan on Facebook. Does 15,000 hours of blogging work sound easy to you? Does 15,000 hours of blogging work sound like my life was always easy, or, like I was lucky to work 15K over a decade, or, I was always happy when my mom began suffering from dementia for 8 years – and ongoing – or do you think experiencing bankruptcy, losing my dough and facing down depression and family resistance, was not rough at all?

The people who live their dreams faced their deepest fears, encountered the strongest resistance and navigated the most intimidating obstacles. Otherwise, they would not be living their dreams!

I am human. Every fear that terrifies you, that feeds the projection that forces you to make blanket assumptions about me, I felt terrified to face, too. But the only difference between me and assumption-makers is I faced, felt and released the terror while assuming folks cowered, refused to face the terrors, and figured it more comfortable, safe and secure to make assumptions about my 45 years of life, based on a 5 second Facebook scan.

5 Seconds Does Not Equal 45 years

Never assume anything about my 45 years on planet earth based on scanning my travel photos for 5 seconds on Facebook.

The 5 second scan was a fun hike, but let alone the blogging-work commitment that went in to designing this life, the hike was work! Seriously; even snapping eye-popping photos forces me to hike through thick brush, cutting up my legs, creating rashes as I brush against vegetation, all to reach remote spots for the most mesmerizing shots.

Never assume anything about people based on their Facebook updates. I go out of my way to discuss my failures, struggles and nightmares via social and my blog from time to time; most people so deeply fear criticism, rejection and the general concept of being genuine that they only post the highest of highs, rarely or never sharing the lowest of lows.

How in the heck can you assume anything about a person who does not share the REST of the story? How can you trust someone not being genuine?

Few human beings have the level of clarity, fearlessness and vulnerability to share their fears, pain, suffering and struggles in life. I do here and there and people still assume I am lucky, a natural and how my life has always been easy.

Beware making decades-long assumptions about someone based on a 5 second scan of a Facebook photo.

Anybody who appears to have it all almost gave it all up, too.

I literally let go almost everything from my life prior to being a blogger.

Releasing was painful, scary and quite frightening.

Remember that the next time you assume someone living their dreams had it easy.