I Stopped Sharing My Life and Started Living It

One of the hardest parts of suddenly going offline was losing the ability to document my life publicly. After I had a grand mal seizure, I spent a long period confined to a dark bedroom, unable to tolerate electronics. My life had changed overnight, but I could no longer share what was happening. I felt instantly invisible. People reached out, but there was only so much they could say. Eventually, they returned to their own lives. That is not a criticism. It is simply how life works. Social media can make us feel continuously connected, but much of that connection depends on continuing to appear. When I stopped posting, I disappeared from the stream. ## When I Stopped Sharing My Life Online Before my seizure, social media had become one of the primary ways I documented my days. An experience did not feel entirely complete until I had photographed it, written a caption, and shared it. Then I could no longer do any of that. At first, I missed the attention and connection. Beneath that,…