People give memes a bad rap. I admit that I sometimes rely on sharing “too many” of them in fits of depression or mania. It’s a form of self care.

Looking through my memories of the past 9 years, often I can see patterns where my moods ebbed and flowed. I know which memes were meant for who and why even when I didn’t tag anyone.

Sometimes it was a form of vaguebooking to everyone else but for me, even 9 years later it pulls up a distinct emotion that makes me smile or tear up when paired with the memory, if I have the recall of the moment. Or, sometimes even without the exact moment or reason that I shared it, it still speaks to me, or speaks to me for a different reason all of these years later. Memes gain popularity for a reason, even if they are “dumb” or “silly.”

You, do you, and I’m going to keep doing me, cause looking back at the barrage of grief memes I shared in the months after Parker died, that was some seriously needed self care right there and it’s amazing how I was “allowed” the time to be sad or manic then, but it’s frowned upon when it’s “just” depression or mania.

Fuck all that nonsense. I’m doing the business of staying alive and not leaving others to grieve. Memes are sometimes, literally, the difference between life and death. Sometimes they are the only way someone can reach out and say I love you to someone else. Sometimes they are the only way someone can find the words to express what they are feeling.

And sometimes they are just a REALLY good mom joke (or fart joke) that has to be shared.

Or shit, if I don’t share it to 20 of my closest friends I’m gonna get some bad luck that I just cannot handle. Have you even SEEN my life, I can NOT have that on me!

But seriously. Looking through my memories and seeing the things I shared, without a tag, that I know were about certain events in my life, or people in my life. Reliving those memories for just that second. It’s an amazing moment especially since there is such a shortage of pictures for so many years of my life.

Share the meme, write the overly worded post with no real content that makes you feel good. Do what you have to do to heal or cope or move through your life. I know I am. Life is too damn short to worry about what others think you should be doing.