I’ve been taking a step back to have an honest and raw discussion with myself about the world today and social media. I don’t think I’m alone when I say frankly its exhausting. AHHH! Being a young entrepreneur I feel this immense pressure to have a face on all these different platforms, and it seems like every day there’s a new one, or you have to jump on the next big thing. And I think I’ve discovered the magic formula for getting new followers, its simple really. Big boobs, big butt, pouty lips, and the perfect bathroom lighting. I am mostly referring to the personal trainer/fitness realm of instagram. I scroll through my feed on instagram and post after post I see girl after girl, cleavage shot after push up bra, after mirror selfie, after #perfectbody and here I am just trying to set my phone up on a tree in the park to try to capture my new move. And just when I’m getting the hang of instagram, they have to go and change the system! All the latest hype towards Snapchat has got me slightly overwhelmed, is it ever going to end? Is there a line that needs to be drawn? I get exhausted with email, instagram, and Facebook, and now I need to add Snapchat to the mix in order to stay relevant? Alright, deep breaths, I might just have to embrace it with the new instagram change, but I’m still holding my ground for now. These are my thoughts: Has the world really come to the place where we have to have a phone in our hand at all times and document it for all to see? If we don’t post it, did it really even happen? Can’t we ever just enjoy something in life without feeling the need to post about it? Ok, I probably sound like an old lady, but the feelings are real! I’m all about inspiring each other and learning from those around us and their experiences, but some times the negative comparison outweighs the positive uplift from it all. Providing quality services that speak for themselves can easily get drown out with all the noise of the other not so quality stuff. Yeah Snapchat is fun and I follow a few close family members and friends and I love seeing their faces, but I’m struggling with the thought of adding it to the load for my personal brand and training business. At least for right now. Who knows, that may change in the near future. Can anyone show me how to order some more hours in my day? I did some math, a scroll through instagram can take anywhere around 10-30 minutes or more, then adding a post can take at least 10-20 minutes sometimes (depending on how thoughtful you get and how much time you take finding the perfect filter & making your butt look bigger ;) and then adding a Snapchat feed into that, 5-10 min multiple times a day, and pulling your phone out to document your day, and on and on it goes. Thats a good chunk of your day. I want to experience life for the love of it, not just to post about it. How did we spend our days before we knew how anyone else was spending their day? An interesting question in this social media world we live in today.
My other thoughts have been on the followers we have and the frustration of losing followers while Becky (not referring to a real person) and her big boobs has almost a million people following her feed of daily selfies. Its easy especially as women, to compare ourselves to the unrealistic images we see all around us. The truth is, healthy looks different on every body! Not only that, but someone may look “healthy” and fit on the outside, but on the inside they’re suffering with their own mental and emotional health. Its a balance. I receive messages all the time through instagram with people telling me I can get thousands of free followers with one tap of my finger. What?! I passed on that because I guess I believe in quality followers over quantity. The pursuit of gaining approval through a picture or a 15 second video is a funny and interesting thing. Do people want quality content, information, inspiration, or does sexy really trump all? And not just sexy but the superficial stuff. The girl that posts a stunning selfie in her brand new gym outfit and nike frees, but does she even sweat or even #justdoit , the words nike stands for? I have my doubts… And then there’s the rose colored filter on life that social media portrays. The posts that make us think someone is perfect and lives the dream life and that they never have a bad day. To say I’m not guilty of this would be a lie, because I am. For example, last week I didn’t post the giant piece of Carrot Cake that I ate all by myself (which was delicious by the way), but instead I chose to post the green smoothie I whipped up the next morning for breakfast. Why would we post the bad when we can simply portray the good right? Well I say that facetiously because I’m discovering the wrong in that, and I think we all are. But is the bad really bad or is it just normal, real life? Its easy to get down on ourselves when all we have to compare to is everyone else’s “perfect lives” portrayed online. This change has to start somewhere and I admire the people who are already doing this and showing there raw selves to the world. We should be empowering each other and motivating each other to keep going even when life gets rough. We all need a donut every once and a while.
Lastly, I’ve been asking myself why I do what I do? Is it to get approval from the world, or to get likes, followers, people talking about me? I had a frank talk with myself and discovered that while all of that is nice and definitely adds to the fun, I truly love what I do. I love fitness. I love exercise. I love eating healthy foods. I love cooking. From all of that, I really love feedback from the people I work with or who follow me, letting me know that I’ve inspired them in some way to live a healthier life. That right there is gold to me. I exercise every day and push myself because it gives me energy, a high on life. I feel confident in my body when I’m taking care of it and with that I can better help others to do the same. Its harder for us to love others when we don’t love ourselves. I think part of that is doing something we love every single day. Something that you do just for the feeling it gives you, without having to take a picture of it and post about it and anxiously await the likes.
Lets be real with ourselves. I want to attract the people that want to exercise for the natural endorphins, and for the emotional release it can be in your hectic day. Those of us who do it for the self confidence you feel when you can keep up with your kids running up the mountain on a family hike. For the accomplishment of fitting back into your pre-baby pants after all your hard work and exhaustion that comes with being a new mom. For the love of hard work and sweat and finally reaching your first pull up. For the Ladies that want muscle and strength so they can handle themselves. I’m not interested in the pursuit of likes or comments on a #flexfriday gym mirror selfie, or the thigh gap progress report. All that may be great depending on who you are, but for me its just not reality. I tend to look like a sweaty hot mess post work out….. and my thighs definitely touch.
Lets be strong women, who fill our time with the important things in life which means we have better things to do than spend hours on social media everyday. We workout and stay healthy so that we can be there for our kids, enjoy the great outdoors, and inspire those around us. We hold our health as a high priority in our lives. We go to the gym, the park, the streets, the starting line and kick some butt. I love social media for the way it has allowed me to reach people all over the world and in return see so many inspiring people that I would never know about with out it! I guess it’s that double edge sword haha but my hope is to keep delivering quality content and do what I love and all of you awesome people who follow a long I’m honored to have you! You give me joy everyday because I love what I do!