We are Pittsburgh Steelers fans through and through – black and yellow, baby!

Then we learned the Steelers are playing two Thursday night games this season, and you can only see them if you have an Amazon Prime membership. Wow, it hit me just how much “business” (commerce/capitalism/corporate greed) is controlling our lives. I mean, we want to see the game, right? If we don’t sign up for the streaming service, we’d have to go to a bar to watch it, and we’d prefer to watch it here. Ergo, we need to get Amazon Prime.  Now, “business” could be altruistic and want people to socialize on Thursday nights to be around other people enjoying the game, but I doubt that is the case.

Because I have more examples.

If we think about a time (if we were there) when we didn’t have a cell phone, we can’t imagine how we did it. How did we live? Hey, I love my cellphone and think it’s a great invention. Still, it has a purpose: to communicate, not dominate our time that could be spent doing healthier things (i.e., talking to another person, taking in the world around you, or reading a book.) The phone has become a part of our entities. I once left my cell phone at home accidentally and got on the highway to go to my destination and freaked out. I thought, what would I do if something happened?

Wait, what? When I was younger with no cell phone, I didn’t think about something terrible happening while driving where I would need a phone immediately. How did we call a tow truck? One time, I broke down on a country road with my VW Bug coming home from college for the weekend, and I walked to a house and asked to use their phone. They let me in; I didn’t think I would end up in the root cellar slathering on lotion because they wanted my skin. No, I just needed to use a phone and called for a tow truck. I’m still here today to write about it.

Technology is great and can help us in many ways, but it’s taking us away from being healthy thinking (not paranoid or anxious) humans.  If you have a security system on your house, and God forbid the power went out, and the system went down, I will bet a hundred dollars the homeowner would lay awake at night thinking someone could get in the house. If they didn’t have the system, would they think that? Or, how about our youth being influenced by what they see on a screen instead of what they see in the mirror or around them?  I’m just sayin’ – (I did a head tilt and tried to snap my fingers like a sassy mama, but it’s not my style. I’m better at imitating a sassy gay guy. Oh no, you didn’t!)

Again, I’m all for cell phones and security systems and asking Siri for the temperature. I suggest keeping a balance with your cell phone where you do human things, too.

Back to how they got us. Well, business has attached a leash on all of us. If we allow it, we can become stuck in a loop of needing things to occupy our time or fulfill some desire. I had a leash on me for years with the Happy Planner stuff. I’d watch YouTube videos with female and male planners who used the Happy Planner line and earned money to promote the company’s newest sticker book or planner. I became obsessed – I had to have the things they were hocking. I once went to three stores, Hobby Lobby, Michael’s, and JoAnn Fabrics, searching for this particular planner and couldn’t find it.

I was so disappointed! I found the planner online and didn’t get it until the end of January, and I was sad that I lost precious weeks I could have decorated my planner with stickers to make it look pretty.

Wow, I am so glad I got rid of that leash! That planner stuff had me on a tight leash, but I thankfully wriggled out of it. I don’t need it all anymore. I use what I have and do not watch the planning YouTube videos. Now I watch minimalism or organizational/cleaning videos, but they still get my interest in a product or item they use that made their life better – and a few times, they got a leash on me where I had to have it, too. However, I’m aware of it, which helps me limit buying what they promote.

Life is challenging enough with our personal issues, and to have “business” trying to get us to do something, buy something with savvy marketing, or feel pressure that our lives aren’t good enough because an Influencer online is what we have to be aware of and throw off the leash and stop it from happening.

We can do it. All it takes is awareness and remembering that moderation in anything is the key to a healthy, happy life. We need and want things, and that’s okay. Just don’t overdo it. 🙂

Thank you for reading this, and I hope I’ve given you some new ideas to improve your life.

To Being a Slippery Target and Taking Back Control of Your Life,

Francesca