大象传媒

From Remona Aly, Freelance journalist and editor:

A few months ago, a notification popped up on my mobile phone saying: 鈥楪od is now following you鈥� on Twitter.

Chuffed as I was to receive this divine visitation via social media, I wondered, 鈥楽hould I follow the Almighty back?鈥� At any rate, I was grateful to have one more follower.

Maybe a bit too grateful. You see, I鈥檓 the first to admit I risk repetitive thumb strain injury when refreshing my mobile phone screen to see if ANYONE has followed, liked or commented on my post.

I suffer from that terrible social media affliction of seeking validation 鈥� I get the itch to find approval, the ache to feel I鈥檓 worth something, the hurting to feel loved. 聽

It may have started back in my school days, when I was a lanky youth in desperate need of good 鈥� well any 鈥� dress sense, but even more desperate for a mean girl to like me. She鈥檇 mildly mock me from time to time, but I still wanted to be her friend. Then something switched, maybe I grew up, but the day came when I finally let it go. Inevitably, that鈥檚 the day she began to like me. And you know what, I didn鈥檛 even need her to.

I came across a blog by a pastor about the cyber perils of being liked enough, and he cited the comedy sports film, Cool Runnings. In the film, the coach tells the captain of the bobsleigh team that a gold medal is a wonderful thing, but adds, 鈥淚f you鈥檙e not enough without it, you鈥檒l never be enough with it鈥�.

Beyond the online rat race of recognition, I guess feeling like you鈥檙e enough, to like who you are, boils down to one thing 鈥� being at peace with yourself. It鈥檚 finding the voice inside that says, 鈥榊ou don鈥檛 need this. You鈥檙e alright鈥�.

I look to the wisdom in the words of 13th century Muslim poet and scholar Rumi, who tells me, 鈥淵our task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.鈥�

For me, the task is near. I鈥檒l try not to place my value in the number of likes or retweets, but let love and contentment find its way in. When I鈥檓 in doubt, I鈥檒l look to divine support - after all, God is my biggest follower.