Sandi L Boucher (Red Thunderbolt, woman of the Loon clan, Seine River First Nation) gives a personal vlog about protecting mental health on social media by intentionally curating one’s online environment. She argues that persistent public negativity on social feeds is a choice (not helplessness), distinguishes ordinary "funk" from grief, and recommends pruning one’s friend list, asking for support when needed, and deliberately seeking positives to "protect my happy." The video balances empathy for those who are healing with a firm boundary against sustained online dumping of negativity.
Chapters
Social media, those are two words that definitely tend to invoke a reaction. And I have long said, like Facebook is the one people love to dump on just how absolutely negative it is. And I mean since Facebook first came out. And yes, I'm old enough to remember when we didn't have Facebook, I have always said to the people complaining, like, you realize you're fake feed is made up of your friends, right? So if all you're seeing is negativity, those are the people you're choosing to be in relationship with. It's not helplessness, it's choice. So I am so lucky. I lived a. I live a blessed life. I am so happy, surrounded by amazing people. But there is one thing done for years and that's protect my happy. So today I thought, let's talk about it. Bonjour. Hi everybody. My name is Sandy Boucher. I'm Red Thunderbolt, woman of the Loon clan, a proud member of Seine River First Nation in Treaty 3 Territory in Northern Ontario. And today, random question. I'm just wondering if you've ever been in a funk. And you know what I mean? Just everything looks negative, There is no hope. It's just why bother trying that kind of funk? I guess the second question is, what did you do about it? And even more importantly, and the focus of today's video. And yes, I have a handy dandy index card until you got out of that funk, how many people did you hurt while you were in it? And that may be something you've never considered before. So for me, I run into it all the time on social media and like I have a public page, so my inner circle is very small and, and I eliminate people of my friend list on a regular basis. Like, it's my friend list, it's my influence. I am choosing the kind of messages I'm gonna consume and I don't want to get hit with a bunch of crap when I turn on social media. So I make sure that I don't. That's taking care of your happy. And don't get me wrong, we all go through hard times and there is nothing wrong. You get to post whatever you want on your, your thread, on your post. So I mean, I'm definitely not telling you that. And if I have a friend that's struggling, I want to know that I would love them to post and, you know, say they need to go for coffee with someone or they wish they had someone to talk to. Please post that so I can see that I can respond to that. I care about you. I want to be there for you. But if all you're doing about your negativity is posting and sharing that negativity, and you're not doing anything else to get yourself out of this funk, you're just reveling in it and bathing in it. Now you're hurting people because you're not looking for solutions. You're not trying to get past this. And by the way, I'm talking about a funk, not grieving. Grieving takes time. Time. And you need to take that time. I'm talking about those. Life sucks. The world sucks. The government sucks. The city sucks. My family sucks. People that seem to multiply on Facebook when you least expect it, when it becomes your identity, for one, that's your lens. Your. Your glasses become coated in this negativity, so you can't even see the positives. You know what that reminds me of? My mom. My mom used to always say, when you're struggling, count your blessings. And if that's hard to do, you better count them twice. And what that means is look for the positives. Understand that your glasses are covered in negativity, and you've got to force yourself to look for the positives. It helps clean off your glasses because it's way too easy just to share that, and you don't feel better. And after a while, the people that have been reading this over and over and over don't feel better. And I have all the patience in the world for someone who is trying to heal, trying to achieve, trying to get past their grief or whatever it is. But if you're not doing anything and you're just dumping on people, then I have to protect my happy. And you will not stay on my friends list because I can't expose myself to that, then that poisons my life, and my life is my responsibility. So like I said, I am there to help people out. They need guidance. They need support. They need someone to talk to. Been there, done that. You're my friend. That's part of the deep heal. But the people that I see doing this are actually not my friend group. It's not the people I see through my personal page, because those people are amazing. That's on purpose. That's my small inner circle. Sadly, it's other business people, other entrepreneurs, usually small business. And they've realized entrepreneurship is hard, that it's a journey, and it's often scary. Afghanistan. And then all of a sudden, or they receive a negative comment from someone, it's social media. It's going to happen, and they just put out this poison. So all I'm asking is. You know what? If you care about the people on your friend list, think twice about your posts. If you're looking for help, ask for help. Everyone who loves you will respond. But if you're just sharing because misery loves company, how can you say you care about me? If you want me miserable or anyone else on your friend list, it's food for thought. I know me. I love my social media because I'm in charge of it. Like my home environment and my relationships. I just don't let icky in. I protect my happy and I hope you're wise enough to do same. Until tomorrow. I love you. Take care. Bye Bye.
