Protecting Peace: A Game?

“Protecting peace” has become somewhat of a meme these days. I see it prevalent in my age bracket.

“I am protecting my peace” is an act of self-preservation, in simple terms.

In an ideal world, protecting peace would mean people recognizing genuine harm and putting their emotional well-being out of its way. However, social media has turned it into a meme, a mantra, a button to press at the first sight of inconvenience. The misuse of the concept is common. I see it happening all the time in my age bracket.

I’d argue that people in my age group (16-22) are especially vulnerable to this misuse.

Platforms like Instagram promote shallow solutions to complex emotional struggles, making “letting go” seem like the easiest path. It promotes weak emotional resilience.

This problem seems to be a consequence of inexperience in life. It’s ultimately the failure to discern what’s truly harmful. When someone’s life lacks substantial struggle, they feel the need to manufacture problems out of thin air to feel important or validated.

A great example of this can be found in self-care content on social media. People record themselves doing skincare, cleaning up their rooms, cooking a meal, and feeling a little too proud.

The most important thing you do during the day cannot be laundry.

“Protecting peace” becomes a convenient excuse for avoiding any real engagement with life’s deeper issues. It’s easier to “let go” than tackle the complex junctures of life. The idea has been unnecessarily romanticized.

One must realize that peace isn’t the absence of discomfort—it’s what you earn after facing and overcoming it.

You earn your peace.

To practically solve for this in your personal lives, you could just ask yourselves, “Will letting this go make me feel lighter or emptier in a year?”