Sometimes The Most Important Things We Do When We Step Out Into The Social Media World Is Haphazardly Find Ways To Help Others Become The Best Version Of Themselves. Bet You Didn’t Know It Can Also Be The First Step In This…
Let’s face it. Stepping out onto any social media platform can be TOUGH. What starts as a simple method for checking in with long distance friends and relatives can quickly turn into an avenue filled with raunchy feelings of comparedness, incompleteness, and an overall feeling of lack. It’s in those moments when we are actually faced with a choice – we can allow the screen produce stressful drama or we can practice being just fine where we are.
Let me explain.
Yes – bearing witness to the amazing vacations, renovations, incredible weight loss journeys, brilliantly perfect relationships, new vehicles, celebrations, and et al can leave one feeling less than confident in their very own ability to do life. This leaves more people than you could begin to shake a stick at feeling like the entire universe is out there making it happen while you’re lucky to get the hamburger helper simmering on the stove. Being privy to all that everyone else is celebrating is great in one aspect – and you want to feel happy for those who share their wins! But where does that leave you in your own skin?
Meh.
Oh, but fear not. And hey – while you’re at it, please do yourself a favor and shift the car into neutral. We’re about to go on a little adventure of the mind.
They were the good ol’ days!
It wasn’t that long ago, before we were bombarded with reels and a steady stream of advertisements, that we would be able to scroll through a myriad of “boards” on any social media platform. Some were hysterical while others were incredibly thought provoking. The most beautiful thing about them were that they often boasted compliments with confident captions. They were fun little ditties that I, myself, looked forward to soaking in and then would forward choice content to my besties.
Those were the good ol’ days.
It is often a major complaint during casual conversation that there is so much negativity strewn all over social media. The audacity of some would just knock your socks off! Instead of understanding that’s just someone’s bad day, so many allow these individuals challenge their inner beauty and poke a hole causing a slow leak in the confidence level. Moreover, somehow the tide turned so that anyone who was “celebrating” by sharing their best life for all to see, they were deemed “fake” by their onlookers. If you weren’t sharing two bads for every good, then you were automatically living in a fantasy world and it was NOT appreciated. And the WORST part is that somehow the sheer brawn of beer muscles made its way on over, through the ethers, and into the fingertips of those safely sitting behind the screen. Messages of hate and loathing are shared freely without a care in the world! The outcome here? Bullying has been able to take on a whole new persona. Awesome.
So what’s one to do? Is there a way to get back to simply scrolling on by if something doesn’t resonate? Are we supposed to search for innocent souls to save from the carnage of bullies who are waiting with bated breath to rip every little success to shreds? Or do we just bail and go into self preservation?
Is it possible to enjoy social media AND keep your self-confidence while doing so?
It ABSOLUTELY is! And I’m going to fill you in on the best way to do just that.
It’s ALL ABOUT YOU! No really… It is!
If you have been here on creatistblog.com for any length of time you may very well know that my most favorite quote that has totally helped me boost my own self-confidence (and yes, I have shared it with countless others) comes from Eleanor Roosevelt. She once said, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” BOOM. I have carried that little nugget with me since first hearing it decades ago! But the coolest thing happened when I began to shift my own social media narrative by staying clear of the games of comparison and the dramas of who’s doing what, as well as the on-agains and off-agains… (Exhausting.) When I began to seek out and celebrate the perfect captions to promote the person I wished to become, more of the very same people found me. Before I knew it, it seemed like the whole world had shifted because I was no longer receiving tortuous junk coming across my feed. Perfect!
Something else happened too.
Aside from forming more supportive, healthy relationships, I began to truly go my own way and live my best life NOW. What does that mean? I began to receive the inspiration and boost the things I admired in others in myself. I no longer subscribed to the belief that my presence on social media belonged to anyone else but me. This goes beyond “you can’t make everyone happy” – this truly was ME, showing up showing us as my truest version of my most authentic self, unapologetically happy, well, fit, and successful.
And here’s the kicker… I do so every single time BEING the version of me that serves where I’m going, NEVER where I have been. In that very instance, I allow myself to have the self-confidence that the ultimate version of me has effortlessly on the regular! And you know what…? Good things find me! Every single time! I find myself in the right place at the right time. I turn a mediocre day into a good day. The best confidence quotes appear on an instagram post from a complete stranger and I literally get giddy! Social media shifts from daunting and “unsafe” for my mental to me nurturing my best self as my inner confidence soars!
“Ok… I’m in! So how does the narrative shift for ME?”
So glad you asked. [Insert big smile here.]
First you must understand that you are a human BEing, not a human DOing. Not everything that everyone else does is for you in the sense that you may think it is. EVERYTHING in your world does happens for you, so how does this fit in? Here you go – If you come across a post that elicits an emotion THAT is a gift. And whether you realize it or not, you have a CHOICE regarding how you feel about it.
Let me explain by painting a picture for your mind… Does the emotion of seeing the post light you up? Give you warm-fuzzies? Promote a little self-love? Help you become your own best friend? Then, my dear, YOU have just come across something that already resides in you. For example, if you yearn for a vacation in the tropics and suddenly come across a whole bunch of posts and pictures of others enjoying theirs, then know that you are well on your way to enjoying a similar adventure! You are aligned with the you that you would be in those moments as you allow the imagination to do its thing and bring you there, allowing you to BE in the very moment, feeling the hot sand, smelling the salty air, seeing the turquoise water, and hearing the waves crash in celebration of your dream coming to reality.
HOWEVER.
If you yearn for a vacation in the tropics, see a bunch of posts of others’ adventures and it makes you feel jealous, sad, or even angry then you are actually pushing this dream away! It’s the polar opposite of what you would be feeling if this dream vacation was your reality, right? So here’s the good news – you are in total control of those emotions of yours. Acknowledging where you are (feeling miserable) is such valuable information. Yes, it may indicate that you are going through difficult times, however the equal and opposite emotion also exists which means that with a little shifting, better things are on the horizon!
You see, the greatest accomplishment is not obtaining the vacation (although, it’s a pretty cool manifestation). Oh no, no! A lot of people would require a physical outcome to feel true confidence, but because you are here you different! The greatest accomplishment is having the self-confidence to look at the posts, know where you stand on the subject and either keep up the alignment because you feel great or reach for the next good feeling thought because you are not totally aligned with that which you desire! ALL IS VERY, VERY GOOD.
“Where does this leave me with my own social media ventures?”
Another great question. I think I will keep you around.
DO WHAT YOU LOVE.
BE EVERY BIT OF WHAT YOU WISH TO BE NOW.
CELEBRATE!
ELOQUENTLY SHARE YOUR MISHAPS WITH HUMOR!
BE THE “YOU” YOU WISH TO BE WITHOUT APOLOGY.
Finding or creating your own best confidence captions is both easy and it’s fun. Pinterest was my best friend when I would search for self-confidence inspo. Although I was looking to boost others, I found that I was posting what resonated with ME and that is GREAT! Self confidence captions, self love quotes, self-worth captions – all of these can be found using your choice of search engine! Think of yourself at a lower point and ponder what you would have liked to scrolled upon. This is a great stepping stone to help yourself AND others through some tough times. It does NOT have to be “hard work” or the hardest thing you have ever done… Keep telling that sad, sad story and that’s what you will continuously get more of!
So share. Share away! There is no more “Fake it ’til you make it.” Self-confidence comes in the form of “Be it before you see it.” Subscribe to this and live the rest of your life in the spontaneous delight of being open to all possibilities! But it’s up to YOU to shift your own narrative. You cannot control what others’ post. And it’s not up to you to save the world! You absolutely can, however, be in full control of what you allow to seep in in the first place. Know that every bit of your low vibe emotion comes from a place of love within you. It’s great information to know where you stand on any given subject! From there you can make choices that then support how great you wish to feel in the moment and will propel you forward to the ultimate version of your badass self.
So where do you see yourself in all of this?
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