The word “ephemera” is one that very few of us could define on demand, though it describes something that is all around us.
It means things that exist, are popular or are only used for a short time. In other words, things that are trivialities.
For instance, you may know all about Bob Newhart’s passing, or Greta Thunberg’s tweet where she owned Andrew Tate, or a host of other trends currently dominating social media.
The bigger question is: will any of these things matter in the long run?
More importantly, if we ask ourselves whether any of these ephemera were things we’d have sought out ourselves, the truthful answer is likely “no.”
It’s not that these things aren’t interesting or that we shouldn’t know them.
The problem with ephemera is that they keep us focused on ideas that others are putting into our heads.
This distracts us from keeping our attention on the kinds of things that allow us to develop and to grow in a direction of our own choosing.
And that’s where our authentic growth takes place.
Think for a moment about how quickly we tend to fill every spare moment of our lives with TV, music, social media or entertainment.
The fact that most of us carry a screen everywhere we go doesn’t help.
Once we understand what ephemera are, we start to recognize them everywhere around us.
Add this word to your vocabulary and it becomes easier to redirect your focus toward things that matter.
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