Believe & Receive! Attract & Allow!
It took me decades to realize not everybody is going to want to be my friend. It took me the same amount of time to realize that this is actually a great thing in life. Garrett likes to be liked. Garrett likes to have friends. Yet, Garrett really prefers to be liked from afar. Conceptually, Garrett should love social media with friendships with thousands of people who really don't know me who think they like me. Maybe I'm a little bit naive. Maybe I'm a little bit rock-n-roll. Either way, I'm glad I have friends in my life I actually like. I'm also glad the realization most people who "like" me aren't really my friends. Sure, that sounds odd. Think about it - out of everyone you meet every day, everyone you work with, and everyone who's already in your COT (Circle of Trust). How much time do you have for them and how much time do they have for you. Strangely, I'm finding, the Universe does not revolve exclusively around me. If it did, clearly, the world would be a better place - with a whole different set of responsibilities.
Over the holidays I did a major overhaul on social media and started deleting "friends" who fell into several categories:
You annoy the shit out of me
Your posts go completely against anything I believe in
I have no idea who you are
I used to know who you are and we have no regular interaction
I just don't like you
There. I said it.
On Facebook, I'm now 4,430 "friends" lighter. I'm nearly down to the friends I actually KNOW and have some concept of what's going on in their lives and vise versa. Then there are people I don't have any clue who they are, but I enjoy their posts on food, pets, life and their humor. There are 570 people on my Facebook friends list right now. There are probably another 100 or so I could get rid of, but I don't have any compelling notion to remove more right now.
Typically if someone, gasp, unfriends me and it unbalances my desire for a friend count in multiples of 5, I will find 4 people who fit into my banish category. I'm not going to unfollow these people. That seems more passive aggressive than even I'm willing to entertain. As one of my friends says, "Off to the cornfield for those (use your favorite swear word here)." And magically I'm down another 5.
When my thirst for a mega huge social media following on all the platforms was met with an unrealistic expectation all of these people would also buy my Kool-Aid (grape flavor, btw), I was met with a rude awakening. Shock of shocks, most people want to look at the Kool-Aid, perhaps even sample it with the same annoying lingering you'd find in the free food sample lines at Costco, but most are not buyers.
So I made the decision to turn social media, with the little control I have, into something I'd rather enjoy with more interactions I'd rather see than not. I had to seriously ask myself, "Do I "risk" offending .0001% of people I'm kicking to the cornfield and keep them in my imaginary world of friendship on Facebook in hopes they will suddenly decide to buy one of my widgets?"
When I realized these "friends" weren't ever going to buy one of my widgets, weren't going to be cheerleaders for my brands, and were just window shopping at best, it made the decision much easier.
Do we need to be legit BFF's in real life? It helps, but no. Do you need to not annoy the shit out of me with things I find completely stupid? It helps, and yes.
At the end of the day, I know who my real friends are and I know they know that we know. And I also know it's ok to not be liked, or engaging with everyone else because it's unrealistic, irrelevant and exhausting.
#KnowMyTribe #SBR #GurlYouKnowItsTrue
