I opened my first Instagram account ten years ago. I've long been a keen photographer. I loved playing with their fun filters and documenting the seasons with my (then) young children. My first ever post was of my daughter. She was eight years old. Those were the days the app felt simple, inspiring, mostly posting for the pure joy of a moment.
This past year I joined an Instagram community to help develop my business brand. The reels feature was brand new, and Instagram was promoting it, BIG. Instagram recently made an announcement; no longer were they a photo-sharing app but a video-sharing one. As I learned all the methods to utilize Instagram, I noticed tension in my body, - I was starting to resent my time in the app.
↓↓Here is how I describe it ↓↓
My early years on the app felt like a pleasant stroll through a quaint, part of the world. My kinda stroll; easy, pleasant, enjoyable.
This past year, and most noticeably - the past few months, Instagram has felt more like a drive through downtown Manhatten. So many routes, streets, off-ramps, billboards like with people dancing and cool tricks.
It's ALOT for someone who likes a quiet stroll through the woods.
And so I ask myself,
"What do you want to do about it?"
Recently a client and I have been unpacking the difference between empowered and disempowered.
Here is the dictionary definition:
em·pow·er
give (someone) the authority or power to do something
make (someone) stronger and more confident, especially in controlling their life and claiming their rights.
Empowered is choosing and deciding for yourself the right action, remaining fully in control over one's emotions, thinking and body. Not allowing another person to decide for you your thoughts and convictions.
You may have heard of people using the phrase "don't give away your power." Here's how Google describes it: "If you allow someone else to cause you to get so angry you say or do things you later regret, or you succumb to pressure to do something against your values, you give away your power."
When I began to feel resentment on Instagram, My body felt it first. ( which is always where it starts before your brian computes it) Then the pattern would repeat itself. So, I became curious -- "what's going on?” I thoughtfully self-inquired and was able to NAME the sensation as resentment. I would then choose: to accept this sensation or dismiss it and ignore it. --- The latter is disempowerment.
The moment I consciously decide to dismiss the emotion - that sensation signaling my body telling me something up, this is me disempowering myself, brushing it off as no big deal.
To make sense of the sensation that is causing distress, I could create a story, it could go a bit like this: "Everyone else in social media is getting on just fine. Therefore, I will be fine too."
But what I haven’t taken into consideration are my own unique set of values that are working behind the scenes even when I'm not consciously aware they are there. These innate core beliefs are always in play and define who I am. They are knit into my very being.
Values make up the essence of who I AM and what makes me--me, an individual set apart from others and wired entirely and uniquely different. The question is, am I AWARE of WHO this person is... or do I brush her off and say, "suck it up buttercup, gotta keep up with the rest of them." (maybe not exactly what I would say to myself- but you get the idea.)
This is a very BIG deal. Owning who I am (emotions, values and beliefs) is to take responsibility for every part of me, honouring every nook and cranny of myself. If we are to fully know we are "fearfully and wonderfully made," as the Psalmist David so famously wrote, then we ought to honour who we are as a sacred whole. Yes, I said "sacred."
Here's how the dictionary describes sacred,
Sacred:
b: entitled to reverence and respect
b: highly valued and important // sacred responsibility
There is so much more to us if we choose to see ourselves as important and of high value. Read all about the importance of self-value Here.
In the busy, we can lose our way, our focus, our sense of purpose, forget who we are, and what's truly important and high priority in our lives. We can be out of sync with our inner beings.
This message is important and key to the empowered, self-authored life, well-balanced life.
So what am I doing?
I'm working on stepping up more boundaries around social media and finding the pace that works for me in the weeks to come; I'll revisit my efforts paying attention to what my body is saying, honouring what I need.
This IS a learned skill. Like letting a fine wine sit and develop its flavour. You are the beginnings of something great if you can see its potential. Do you need someone to help develop that flavour bringing out its true essence? Lets chat. Let's explore what that could look like, what your values are and give them a name. Let's help you slip on you like a comfortable pair of shoes, empowering the fullest potential that's in you. Let's help you feel right at home in the truest sense of you. Lets Chat
Comentarii