Is social media your friend or foe
I woke up today to be congratulated by Facebook on our 9 years together. OMG 1. 9 years? I've wasted 9 years on this fake sense of reality. OMG 2. Was it not always there? Yes and No are are the answers to those questions and in that order. Before I go any further I want to make it clear that I'm a huge advocate of the use of social media for many reasons, but for the context of this blog I'm referring to it in relation to your fitness journey. Is social media your friend of your foe?
It's Saturday morning, you wake up, deal with dogs, kids, cats, micropigs, budgies etc, grab a coffee, tea, smoothy, fancy cocktail of life extending wonder ingredients, then have a scroll through Instagram or Facebook. Here's two examples of how the very same content can have very different consequences on a persons feelings, actions and thought process for the remainder of the day.
Sarah (a go getter, confident, positive and motivated by other peoples success) sees a selfie of her fitness icon. There's some positive words attached which inspire Sarah all the more. This is her roll model and she's hopeful that if she follows in her footsteps she'll be like her one day. If she can do it then so can Sarah as everyone has to start somewhere right? Sarah now feels awesome, motivated and inspired and is ready to kick the days ass. She knows it won't happen overnight but she's prepared to play the long game just like her idol obviously did/does.
Sally (lacks self belief, finds it easy to be hard on herself, believes there's a secret to success that she's not privy too) sees a selfie of her fitness icon. There's some positive words attached which instantly make Sally feel like she's not like her icon as her icon is more positive than her. That's why her icon is successful and she is not. Sally will never be like this person so what's the point? Sally is so frustrated and demotivated and wants to give up now. Sally decides to just accept where she is in life and that her destiny is different from her icons. Sally feels sad. Sally will most likely continue to follow her idol as despite the negative conatations of doing so, it still gives her a bit of hope and something to aspire to. The flip side is that this will also provide her with ammunition to use against herself, thus sabotaging her process.
Sarah and Sally have the same opportunities in life and are capable of reaching their shared goals. The difference is that they are not each other! Their paths will be different as will their influences, motivators, journey time, obstacles, mindset and so on. Social media will effect them very differently due to how they perceive situations, people and words. Comparing themselves to each other would be fruitless and quite likely to hinder their progress.
What neither Sarah or Sally know is what goes on behind closed doors. It's human nature to shout about success. Most people do it to some degree, whether it be our own success or families or friends. Social media is a perfect platform for this hence why is has taken over the world. The success of others can either influence or deter us depending on our mindset at the time. Behind close doors our icons reality could be very different. They let us know what they want to. They share the best bits. Some share the full picture but we often only pick up the bits that we choose to.
Everyones journey has obstacles. Everyones progress should be measured differently. Learn to understand how your mind works, what drives you, what hinders you, and what you can do to give yourself the best chance of success. Just remember that social media is not real life. Elements of it are perhaps real but how you view it is dependant on how you feel at the time. Remember that once upon a time there was no such thing and people still managed to smash their goals. Keep moving forward one baby step at a time as it's the only thing our journeys all have in common.
