I swear everywhere we turn there is a new ‘Influencer’ on social media. I was listening to a podcast that was talking about the fact that we just have too much information at our fingertips and it is so confusing and overwhelming. I felt that. I’m sure this has happened to you too, you talk to a friend about choosing to eat healthier and suddenly your social media feed is inundated with every possible fad diet, supplement to take, etc. I admit it, I have bit more than once. Eat this, take this pill, walk a million miles, you aren’t exercising right for your age, you should dress like this…it’s just, well…overwhelming.
Then it hit me – in our daily lives as friends, parents, co-workers, on social media, etc. – we are ALL Influencers. We give people our opinions, tell them their hair or outfit is cute, give relationship advice, pet advice, professional advice – you name it. Anything that you hear or see from anyone and anywhere can influence you. You could watch a commercial about traveling to Greece and poof…you want to plan a trip to Greece. I mean, how many times has my doctor told me to stay off Web MD?! (face in palm) I think all of this information available to us is a blessing and curse. If you don’t want to think for yourself, you really don’t have to anymore.
What kind of influencer do you want to be? I’m serious and I’d really like you to think about this. How do you talk to others? How do you treat people? Are you always thankful for what you have or do you complain about what you don’t have? Do you share bad news with others that really doesn’t need to be shared? Do you pay strangers compliments? How do you speak to your family, your children, your siblings? How do your speak to yourself? Yep, I went there – how are YOU influencing YOU?
On the other side of this, who influences you? I used to tell my kids, you are like the 4-5 people you hang around most, choose wisely. This is true in your adult life too. If you are looking to make a big decision, do you turn to a psychic (for real, some people do this), a friend that has never been through what you have, social media…the list goes on? What about looking inside and really thinking about what YOU want. I’m not saying to never bounce things off of friends, family, therapists or whoever…I’m just saying that we need to trust and rely on ourselves more.
In the end, YOU have to live with your decisions and who you allow into your circle. I’m blessed to be surrounded by uplifters, truth givers (even when you don’t want to hear it) and beautiful people that also allow me the space to think for myself. I think we’ve gotten away from this, perhaps it’s a loss of confidence. I know I lived for YEARS with a major lack of confidence and not trusting myself and my decisions. If you have lost confidence in yourself, it’s time to take your power back. I don’t care how old you are, you have the tools to make decisions for YOU. The only one that has to live with your decisions is YOU. Will they always be the right ones – nope, and that is OK. Don’t live in fear that you will make a ‘wrong’ decision. There is no such thing, perhaps it’s a lesson that you should have taken another path, but how do you know if you don’t try.
To answer my original question…yes, you – YOU are an influencer. Permission to make some bold decisions for yourself and stop asking everyone for validation. Stop caring about what other people think. And please please stop comparing yourself and your journey with ANYONE. You only get ONE life, do it YOUR way. How do YOU want to influence others?
Go buy yourself some flowers and have an amazing month ahead. I was greeted by these beautiful flowers when I got to my boyfriend’s last week. I can’t get enough of that one on the bottom right – so so pretty!
As always, thank you for being on this journey with me – together we can make a difference. Cheers!
