When is it oversharing and when is it providing the story behind or into someone’s world?
Wanting fame and fortune has always been an aspiration of mankind. History shares stories of the rise and fall of individuals and civilizations based on this desire. People have lied, cheated, and even killed for notoriety. However, is it possible to have a more altruistic approach to rising in reputation?
Recently, I made my Instagram account private. Although I completely understand that the nature of social media is to publicize aspects of my life that I voluntarily put out there, I also have an inner desire to control, to some degree, who gets access to what I choose to put out there.
As an educator, I always tried to ensure that my students could not easily access my personal social media profiles. Even still, my Facebook account remains hidden unless we have a friend in common, and who my friends are remains hidden. However, I never really had a problem with Instagram until the numbers began to increase for The Universal Asian.
The positive is that the numbers are increasing enough that there is interest in who I am. Although my name and face are on the website, I try not to blur the lines between my new professional pursuits and my personal shares. However, I am keenly aware that others are not always as adept at understanding how I draw my lines and may start to associate who I am with what I do.
Still, I have been pondering as to how I can use my social presence to share what is important to me. For the most part, I keep my feeds full of images of the enviable life that I lead as I really do have an amazing life. Yet, I do have strong opinions and views on what is happening in the world. This, I keep to my face-to-face conversations or within my own musings. I sometimes envy those who can share societal and political opinions without concern of pushback from those who do not agree.
Truthfully, I cannot be bothered to expend energy in defending a stance that I take or attempting to convince others as to why I feel/believe the way that I do. It is a tiresome activity to me and unless I actually care enough about the individual to want to engage in a meaningful conversation, I feel exhausted at the idea of having to go around in circles until we come to a mutual understanding. A part of me sees my arrogance in this, as generally I feel it is not worth it because I do not believe that it is me who has to come around to others’ way of thinking, but rather the opposite. A part of me feels righteous in knowing that my life experiences trump the majority of the people with whom I’d be forced to have such a conversation in the first place-for those who have had similar experiences don’t need convincing. Ultimately, though, my old soul just feels tired and somewhat deflated at the fact that repeated conversations from the course of history must still be had despite various claims that we have made progress in our sense of humanity.
With social media being an open space to anyone and everyone, I struggle to find the right balance and way of expressing something meaningful. Therefore, I mainly keep it safe.
Lately, though, I have been feeling an urge to share more – more of what I think, more of what I lament, more of what affects, more of what distracts, more and more.
So, I return to my initial question. When does the sharing go from just providing an insight and perspective to an overshare or an invite for ridicule and trolling? Is it necessary to use social media for this purpose or is there another way that I can more safely, and comfortably, achieve the same aim?
One might say this blog is an avenue and could be enough. This is true. I actually have no idea who reads my words aside from a few who do comment in person or on here directly. Thus, in that sense, I can feel safe to hide behind the words here and hope that a reader is impacted in some way. Yet, I feel drawn for more.
But, what and why?
I do not necessarily want notoriety or fame. I wouldn’t say no to fortune, though. 😛 Still, I want to feel validated, just like any other person. I want to feel seen and heard by the many.
Therefore, this is my request/permission to the Universe to open up the doors so that my influence, my words, my essence can be shared beyond my comfort zone to have a greater impact on the world at large. May God bless and protect this pursuit-in whatever form, shape, or way that it may come.
~T 😀
