I admit that have been TOTALLY ABSENT from social media (and newsletters like this) lately.
This is considered a serious crime (at least by my agents and managers and publicists) for anyone who creates original work, anyone whose success requires a platform.
And a part of me does, indeed, feel quite guilty.
It was with a great sense of relief that I posted this photo after a 3-month absence on Instagram this morning.
It’s not that I’ve been overcome by laziness.
God knows it’s not because I haven’t been writing.
Proof: My DailyOM course has over 20,000 people in it and my new one launched on Monday HERE.
(And I have, in fact, diligently responded to all 5,000+ comments in the chatroom discussions).
More importantly, in a few months I’ll share something COMPLETELY NEW that I’m creating with some transformation legends that I’m extremely proud of…
And it’s also not because my chocolate lab Belle required some recent cosmetic surgery (she is fully recovered and is a more gorgeous and flirty Libra than ever before.)
It’s because … well …
I’ve been grappling with … ALL of it.
In some ways, my recipe for a preferred existence would be Emily Dickinson-like.
- Live like a fabulous creative recluse.
- Write things like “Hope is the Thing with Feathers.”
- Wait for future generations to discover me.
- #ProblemSolved.
Or live, like Enya, in a castle in Ireland, never tour, and record albums (even doing your own backup vocals), in order to become the richest female Irish singer with a fortune of £91+ million.
And did I mention she actually did buy a castle outside of Dublin?
In fact, it really is this one ⬇️
Or more specifically for me: I’d rather create something I believe in, have someone else release it, and then, having said what I felt I had to say, just quietly go about the rest of my life.
Instead, all the marketing experts insist that I need to be posting AT LEAST ONCE A DAY and frankly adding anything to my To Do List feels exhausting.
Deeper than this, though, is the harsh reality that Social Media is, quite frankly, so increasingly difficult to navigate if you care about some things…
- Things like being truthful and not-superficial …
- And not spending energy trying to make strangers jealous (or being tortured by your own competitiveness) …
- Or feeling that your capacity for honesty, privacy, and meaning is constantly being undermined.
More and more, I find myself asking questions like “Do endless inspirational quotes really help anybody?” even as I post them.
(Maybe sometimes they do though … and I’m always pleased when I find myself quoted on twitter, but there’s that social media narcissism trigger again.)
Anyway, I honestly have no answers here, no wise synthesis to share about how to navigate these waters.
Like Jack Kerouac…
In the end, I wonder if offering our own confusion, might be the most inspiring thing we can do, particularly if it’s the first step towards insight.
(And it’s also the only authentic thing we can do.)
I am tremendously excited by what I’m working on now (to be revealed sometime in September / October).
It’s new and original territory for me.
My partner(s) on it are extraordinary.
The intentions behind it are awesome, and the possibilities for transformation and breakthroughs are enormous.
In the meantime, I’ve vowed to “Redeem My Social Media Crimes” and write another newsletter in two weeks.
Plus I commit to posting more photos with friends (other ones who can also levitate) on Instagram.
And, if nothing else I can take comfort, even if I haven’t been posting or writing newsletters, at least I haven’t committed what Kurt Cobain declared the worst crime of all: Faking It.
So please stay tuned for what’s happening this fall, and you can decide if I’ve managed to transform confusion into insight.
Namaste for Now,
P.S. If you have any social media marketing wisdom, I’d love to hear from you …
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