My brother sent me a video recently and in it was a guy announcing that nobody is above blocking. It was a funny video, made even funnier by the actor’s decision to film beside a refuse dump. When I was done laughing, I gave some thought to how much easier my life has become since I started blocking people.
Some people think blocking is immature and that’s okay. Show me the queue for collecting the immaturity award and I’ll join it with pride. My peace of mind is non-negotiable and if I need to eject people out of my life to protect it, I shall do so without remorse.
Anyway, this post isn’t about me. It’s for those of you who desire to understand the art of blocking and how to use it to set yourselves free. Who should you block? When should you block them? How shall the blocking be effected? Read on to find out.
Who to block
The first person I blocked on social media was someone who criticized my work and basically asked me “who do you think you are to tell people what to do?” Constructive feedback is great, but after she made that comment, I couldn’t get her voice out of my head.
Whenever I wanted to write or create a video, I’d hear her mocking me and get anxious about how she’d react when she saw my post. Then I’d adjust whatever I was doing so there’d be less for her to criticize. The problem with this was that she tampered with my creative freedom.
Also, the joker could run her mouth but she never created anything. Plus she wasn’t God so what gave her the right to block my creativity? I knew it was time to block her. It didn’t feel good at first but eventually I stopped hearing her voice in my head and I knew I’d done the right thing.
So who should you block? Anyone who wants to play God over your life. Anyone who makes you feel bad about yourself. Anyone who poisons your atmosphere and makes you afraid to step out boldly. Oh and also worthy of blocking are people who ghost you and still have the audacity to check your stories and status. Block them abeg. Such nonsense on these streets.
When to block
I believe in giving people the benefit of the doubt, but you can’t exactly call someone and say “I want to block you o, what do you think?” So this should obviously be a personal decision. If you decide that a person’s words or actions are detrimental to your well-being, it’s time for them to be blocked. If the person can’t be trusted with access to your personal space, block away.
You can mute people or hide your posts from them. You can also unfollow them and remove them as your followers. I block people when I want to keep them from having access to me. I don’t want to see them, hear them or smell them. It’s not that I hate them or can’t forgive them. I’ve just decided that the burden of relating with them is too heavy for me to bear. So I hand them over to Jesus and he gives me rest. It takes a while for me to get to this point but the blockee usually deserves it.
How to block
Some people deserve to be blocked gracefully while some need to be blocked anyhow. Graceful blocking is when you only block someone on your main platform. Anyhow blocking is when you block the person on every possible means of communication, email included.
I’ve only blocked two people anyhow in my entire life. One was a guy who was engaged but kept sending me “I miss you” messages in the middle of the night. When I told him to stop, he insinuated that I was the one who had a problem. So mo sha ni blocking, obviously. If you want to know about the second person, leave me a comment and I’ll give you the full gist.
Don’t be afraid to use the block button. The unfortunate thing about social media is that it makes people believe they have the right to control your life. People make comments about you like they gave birth to you or died for you on the cross of Calvary. The block button is how you remind them that they are not God. Use it sparingly, but make sure you enjoy the peace of mind it brings.
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