The Boy Between: A Mother and Son's Journey From a World Gone Grey

by Josiah Hartley

‘If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.’ Henry David Thoreau I suspect that like most people, memories of my babyhood are sketchy.

‘The very worst kind of sadness is the kind that doesn’t have an explanation.’

Social media is, I think, one of the curses of our age. At a time of self-discovery, teens and twenty-somethings are under enormous pressure to look a certain way, live a certain lifestyle and even eat food that is Instagram-worthy! It is of course preposterous and that perfect life is nearly always unattainable. Most of us look and feel very different from these people who seem to have it all, and when you are suffering from depression or self-doubt, is it any wonder that – with the constant bombardment of a faultless yet unattainable standard, blasted into the palm of your hand every minute of every day – students suffer with low self-esteem and feelings of failure? An Independent article entitled ‘Six Ways Social Media Negatively Impacts Your Life’ stated ‘. . . our reliance on social media can have a detrimental effect on our mental health. In March 2018 it was reported that more than a third of Generation Z [mid-1990s–mid-2000s] from a survey of 1,000 individuals stated that they were quitting social media for good, as 41 per cent stated that social media platforms make them feel anxious, sad or depressed.’32 Plus

prefer the idea that it’s better to try and to fail than not to try at all.

‘failing’ or ‘changing the plan’ is exactly how we learn what doesn’t work, taking us one step closer to discovering what does.