Anyone you talk to seems to have an opinion about the importance of social media in our world today. I would say, depending upon the day, I do see the pros and cons of having this in our lives. One thing I can tell you is this: it is not going away any time soon. It is important to let social media be what you need it to be in your own life.

One of the great things that social media has brought to me lately is inspiration. I have discovered this in two separate ways. TobyMac is a Christian hip hop artist. Each day — or several times a day — he will post inspirational quotes to his Facebook page. I have found such wonderful strength and inspiration from so many of these. The one that sticks in my mind appeared to speak directly to my heart, when I needed it most: Your future needs you. Your past doesn’t.

I am a person that tends to dwell on a lot of things. I use to think I was “reflective,” that I was a person who would reflect on things to see what nuggets I could pull out to make my next decision better. After a while I realized that was not what I was doing. I was dwelling. I was dwelling on a past decision, conversation, email, letter and so on. I was stuck right where I was. This dwelling on the past caused me to lose sleep, lose weight and caused damage to relationships and friendships. I needed to realize that the decision that I make at that time is the one I feel is best for our school, our students, our teachers and finally for me. 

It is not easy being a decision maker. A recent article said that teachers make about 1,500 decisions per six-hour day, which breaks down to about four decisions per minute. Life is definitely not about making a perfect decision each and every time, but making a decision that you can stand by and support with your heart and mind. It is a decision that you can move on from and not dwell on.

Your future needs you. Life is about the here, the now and the future. It is about what I am going to do today to make my life and the world better. If we continue to dwell on what has happened, we can never focus on all the amazing things that will happen in the future.

The second place where I receive inspiration from social media is a site called Busted Halo. This site is run by the Paulist Fathers, group of Catholic priests whose goal is to bring the Gospel message to all in a creative way using a variety of media. Every day they publish a “daily jolt” and a “micro challenge.” Daily jolts are quotes from famous, and some not-so-famous, people, and micro challenges are small tasks to tackle.

Last week’s daily jolt was a quote from Hall of Fame basketball coach John Wooden: Don’t let making a living prevent you from making a life.

What great advice, and I find that it ties into the earlier quote from TobyMac. Your job and career should not be the defining point of who you are. You should be proud of your career, vocation and calling in life. But more important, the work you do shouldn’t take you away from the life that you should be living with your family, friends and the ones you love. Now mind you, I am not saying you shouldn’t give 100% effort at your job and career. There are expectations from work that you as an employee need to meet or even exceed. But at what cost? 

When you are working, be at work. Be fully present for those who need you while you are there. Answer the phone, greet the customer and reply to the email with grace, politeness, dignity and respect for each and every person you come in contact with. When you go home, you should do the exact same thing with those closest to your heart. Treat them with love, respect, kindness and dignity. Don’t dwell on the past, and surely don’t let what happens while you are making a living impact those with whom you are making a life.

In this day and age with all the technology that we have been gifted, our careers seem to be the one thing that we just can’t walk away from. When you leave your job, put the phone, tablet and email away if you are able to. It can wait. The concern at work can and will be addressed when you arrive the next morning. What can’t be addressed is the time you spend with your child or grandchild reading them a book, studying their spelling, sharing a snack or saying a prayer. 

You only get certain opportunities to catch the ones you love at this specific time in their lives. You need to make this life together, and whatever the situation at work is, it will be there tomorrow. You will take it on then; you will make a decision. You will not dwell on the past; you will look forward to the future — the future that you will share with those you love.

— Joe Peters is the principal at St. Victor School in Monroe. He can be reached at joepeters@stvictormonroe.org.