That Moment When You Need to Take Back Your Power

I want to start today by re-sharing this Instagram post…

As silly as this may sound, one of the lessons life has to teach me over and over again is that not everyone is going to like you (or me). Not everyone is going to resonate with your message, vibe with your energy, understand your humor, see your heart, believe in your mission, or want to stand by your side. It can be a TOUGH lesson to learn as it spans all aspects of our lives from friendships, romantic relationships, family members, coworkers and bosses, etc.. ✨ The other day, someone I follow on social media made a post about something they hate people doing on social media and instead of being like “I get annoyed by X posts, we all have our thing,” I was triggered into shame. “I’ve definitely made those posts before…she’s probably talking about me.” 🤦🏻‍♀️ Here’s the thing…1⃣ I’m not even sure if she follows me back and even if she does, I won’t know if she was talking about me. 2⃣ Even if she WAS talking about me, it doesn’t matter. You do you; I’ll do me. 3⃣ My message isn’t going to resonate with everyone (yours won’t either) and that’s OK. If my message doesn’t resonate with you, then you’re not who I’m speaking to that day. AND THAT’S FINE. 🙅🏻‍♀️ It’s time to stop trying to please EVERYONE because it’s just never going to happen. YOU BE YOU. I’ll be over here BEING ME. 💜

It seemed to resonate with a lot of people and I think it’s because we can all relate in some capacity. This day in age with social media, it can be really hard to stop ourselves from getting caught up in the “game.” There are so many people building brands and names for themselves on social media, so many hoping to, so much content (!!), so many new ways to interact with one another, so much STUFF!

I follow this girl on Instagram and Facebook and while I don’t really know her, I do feel like we share similar messages and in some ways, are in similar situations. When she posted how she hates when people share certain types of posts, I immediately found myself triggered. I do that. Was she talking to me? Did she hate my stuff? Has she unfollowed me? Does she think I’m a phony and a fake? Is this why my community is growing slower? Is this why I don’t have X number of followers? Is this..is this…is this…? 

Katie, STOP!

Eventually, I had to put an end to it. Eventually, I had to take a step back and realize what was happening. Her post wasn’t about ME. And even if it was and even if I was a part of the population she was referring to, it doesn’t matter. That means she’s not my audience. It means she’s not who I’m speaking to. It means that it doesn’t matter what she thinks. It means that she can’t make me feel a certain way unless I’m giving her stupid post that power. I let her post take power over my thoughts, so I took my freaking power back. I realized what was happening and I took my power back. Because it’s mine. I have a message. I have a mission. And even if it takes me 10x longer to build the dreams that I’m working on, then so be it. 

You’re not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. You’re not going to be everyone’s favorite teacher. You’re not going to connect and resonate with everyone. You’re not going to please everyone. And that’s fine. But don’t give the haters YOUR power. Take it back and keep being YOU. Because that is where your power lies.