28 Jan Attention Twitter and Facebook Outrage Folks: Create Your Own Magic.
There are two types of people in this world: content creators and content consumers.
Bloggers and readers.
YouTubers and watchers.
Instagrammers and scrollers.
Innovators and stagnate-ors.
Fighters in the arena, and spectators in the crowd.
Where do you fall in today’s digital age?
Clap it up for the content creator who proudly and courageously puts their art up for criticism, for the entire internet to see, to jab at, to critique, to spit on, to hate on, to troll on.
Even though they have an immensely powerful and positive message, they still brave the digital space against the people who question their competency and intelligence.
The creators enter the arena with resilience, and though they leave with battle scars, they boldly and apologetically step out of the arena, and are proud they made it out alive against those who are too afraid to spread their own message, and share their own story in the first place.
The creators dive into the flames and come out unscathed, more radiant than ever, without getting burned.
While social media has led most of us to success, and we’re so blessed to spread our impact worldwide, it’s a double edged sword: we deal with stupid freaking people.
We also deal with people who don’t resonate with our message, even if it’s an empowering and uplifting one.
As rapper Logic says, “there’s no in between with social media. While I’ve been successful because of my platforms and being able to reach fans, I’ve also had people dedicate accounts to wanting to murder me and destroy me. I’m just a guy who loves rap and spreading peace, love and positivity and I’ll never understand this mindset because I’m not a hater myself.”
Boom.
As much as I can drop the mic right there, I won’t.
So this bears asking once more: who are you? Are you a creator? Or a consumer? A blend of both?
Who do you choose to be?
If you’re a consumer, that is fine, too – to learn more about your profession, to gain wisdom with new insights, to exchange ideas with respected colleagues. All good in my book.
Personally, I dabble in consumption.
Especially if I want to learn more, get better at my craft, and acquire more knowledge so I can better serve my athletes, I have to do some degree of content consumption.
We all do as professionals.
And I’ve made a rule for myself: as much content as I consume, I’m creating twice as much.
So this begs the question, what are we doing with the information we are consuming?
Beware of the person who disagrees with everyone and everything, yet fails to go in depth on their own platform as to why. Instead, they leave hateful comments that are so far out of context, as if they saw a post on Deadlifts and brought up unicorns.
For me, if I see something I disagree with I either keep scrolling, or go get a pizza and start writing my own content piece on why I disagree.
There have been times, however, when people have messaged me personally to discuss a disagreement further. You know, like adults. Good old-fashioned open communication, active listening, and understanding. Here is a video explaining how this works:
So let’s ask ourselves some questions:
Are we…
1. Getting pissed off when we disagree with someone?
2. Are we angrily tapping away at our keyboard?
3. Are we ferociously leaving a comment to prove it’s our way or the highway?
4. Are we ignoring our wives because we’re arguing with a stranger on Twitter?
Like really, deeply ask yourselves these questions.
Let’s take the conversation to the first question: are you getting pissed off when you disagree with someone?
Ohhhhhh, feels icky, right?
So.
What are you doing with that frustration?
Are you taking ten seconds of your day to comment on someone’s post your disagree with to prove your point? Oh wait, 10 seconds just turned into AN HOUR of useless back-and-forth, and two people too stubborn to wave their surrender flag.
Ugh!
What do you want out of this discussion? To help the other? Or to prove you’re right?
No, really, what do you want out of this interaction?
Deeply ask yourself this question.
Okay, moving on to question two: are you angrily tapping away at your keyboard?
Going even deeper, how does it make you feel to reply with a fierce comment to a stranger you don’t know, haven’t spoken to in person, haven’t participated in deep discussion with about their context and unique environment?
How do you feel?
Now, question three: are you ferociously leaving a comment to prove you’re right?
Moreover, what are you gaining from pushing your truth on others, without hearing them out empathetically?
Can you listen to their take, perhaps learn something new, or agree to disagree with a friendly, virtual handshake?
And finally, question five: are you ignoring your loved ones because you’re too busy getting heated on Twitter?
It’s a fair question to ask, and I urge you to re-evaluate how you’re spending your time.
Life is too short to prove you’re right and others are wrong, let alone, argue with strangers on the internet.
But yo, maybe you do enjoy arguing and debating on the internet. Cool. I’m glad it makes you feel warm and fuzzy on the inside.
But here are some other tips…
Go spend time with your loved ones and friends.
Go pick up a new hobby.
Go hug someone.
Go do something empowering.
Go create your own magic.
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