Happy Monday! I’m a few weeks into my blog journey and writing these posts for you all has become one of my favorite things to do. That said, I hope you are enjoying them as much as I am.
I thought I’d focus this week on social media, specifically my journey overcoming what is called, “the fear of being seen”.
Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat all really took off when I was growing up and today they are such a powerful force for communication, innovation and creativity. However, I found it incredibly difficult to navigate this new virtual world during a time where I was already experiencing so much change in my high school life. Initially, my parents didn’t allow us to have social media, I remembered feeling confused on why I was the only friend without social media. In high school, my friends banned together to make me an Instagram account. I didn’t understand the point, why did I need an app to update my friends on my life when they were experiencing it with me? Over time though, I realized it wasn’t just a way to keep in touch with people, it was a platform to create, express and ultimately build a career. I began to follow accounts like Emily Gemma, Madison Nelson and Jay Shetty. I appreciated their drive, how they were able to provide for their families while also pursuing their passion and expressing their creativity in a new way.
With time, however, I started to see the dark side of social media. Yes, I struggled with appearance insecurities like the majority of the population. But what really started to drive me crazy me was how people seemed to live almost double lives. On social media, they came across like caring, kind and optimistic humans, but in reality that wasn’t the case. I’ve always tried to be authentic in all aspects of my life, what you see is what you get with me, the good bad and ugly. I couldn’t understand how people could say one thing on their platform, but then do another in their private life. It made me sad. It made me scared, was social media authentic? Or would I too be seen as someone who lived a double life? I didn’t want to be grouped with people like that so I started to have a negative point of view on the industry as a whole. The second thing I really started to struggle with was overcoming childhood programming. Growing up, I felt as though I was taught that voicing your thoughts, sharing your life so openly was egotistical. I had grown up hearing things like “no one really cares”, “talk when you are spoken too”, “having a lot of attention just means you are full of yourself”. That mindset was crippling and made it even more difficult to want to enter into this new world.
Fast forward to 2022, when my spiritual awakening started. I met a breathwork coach through my podcast who I absolutely adored, shoutout Shelsea. I went in for my very first session and she read me like a book. After a deep meditation and a real energetic release, she brought up my block related to the fear of being seen. I needed to acknowledge that I couldn’t let people who weren’t being authentic, stop me from engaging with social media. I needed to realize that I have been through quite a journey in my life and I want to be able to share that with people! I had to learn that authenticity is a gift we too often forget to fully embrace and accept. Now that I had identified my block, I had to navigate how to overcome it. What steps did I need to take to overcome the fear and continue my desire to share my journey? I will share that with you on Wednesday.
This is something I still deal with today, especially given everything that has happened in my life over the last twelve months. Whenever life gets going something else gets thrown my way, but getting started is the first step. Acknowledge where you want to go and become deeply aware of how you can get there. Nobody really cares what you are doing, and if they do it’s time to create space with love.
The "How" on overcoming this fear will be live on Wednesday. Have a great week!