The Social Media Siege of the Soul
Self-Belief Is the Relief
Welcome to the YouTopian Journey. Each week I will be sharing unique wisdom that can help you in the daily battles that we must all fight in the game of life. This week we discuss the social media siege of the soul and why self-belief is the relief.
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Now onto the good stuff.
A NOTE REGARDING THIS ISSUE
Last week’s issue was a special issue related to my guest lecture at Georgetown University. This week’s topic is brought to you by our collaboration with Blue Fever. Blue Fever is a non-toxic app for the expression & support of Gen Z’s most authentic self: a community-driven, teenage diary that helps you care for your mental health & rewards your progress via tokens toward developing a healthy identity. Blue Fever isn’t social media, they are emotional media. You can visit them here and see their founder and mascot in today’s art.
I hope you enjoy this issue and if there is something specific you want me to cover or if you want to collaborate, message me or drop me a comment.
UNDER SIEGE
“The present state of the world and the whole of life is diseased. If I were a doctor and were asked for my advice, I should reply, 'Create silence'.”-Søren Kierkegaard
The world of 2022 is a world of noise, drama, and distraction. We are in the middle of a cacophony provided by social media. We are bombarded on all sides with it. We cannot flee from these noises, dramas, and distractions that plague us.
Why is this the case?
For over a decade, the noise, drama, and distractions have been growing more powerful. At first, they were thought of as nothing more than cool additions. New features added to a social platform to keep us all connected or more content to keep us entertained. Reels and snaps and shares, oh my. But slowly, they have infiltrated our lives, infecting us. We are now bound to habits, outside thoughts, and influence that we don’t even consider negative or harmful. We are constantly comparing ourselves to others. We become swept up in mass movements that we may not even agree with. We have become addicted to the mind rot that is so harmful but that we cannot get enough of.
“We are on guard against contagious diseases of the body, but we are…careless when it comes to the even more dangerous collective diseases of the mind.”-Carl Jung
We rise from our slumber and check our phones, wondering what we missed. We post every minor detail of our lives, hoping that they resonate with strangers. We wonder why we lack hearts and likes and shares. We look to our new role models who live a life of luxury and ease while we toil away at jobs we hate and circumstances that are less than ideal. Our socials are filled with confident smiles and sunsets while our lives are filled with doubt and late nights.
Everyone is beautiful.
Everyone is perfect.
Everyone is happy.
Everyone is successful.
What are we doing wrong? Why can’t I compete, let alone, compare?
There is no other way to define this except as a siege, but not one of a medieval fortress but a siege of our minds and even our lives!
There are no catapults or battering rams. There isn’t an invading force that is attempting to breach the walls. There is only you and your ability to withstand the siege of what passes for normal behavior in our normal “society” today.
“In a society in which the dream of success has been drained of any meaning beyond itself, men have nothing against which to measure their achievements except the achievements of others. Self-approval depends on public recognition and acclaim, and the quality of this approval has undergone important changes in its own right. The good opinion of friends and neighbors, which formerly informed a man that he had lived a useful life, rested on appreciation of his accomplishments. Today men seek the kind of approval that applauds not their actions but their personal attributes. They wish to be not so much esteemed as admired. They crave not fame but the glamour and excitement of celebrity. They want to be envied rather than respected. Pride and acquisitiveness, the sins of an ascendant capitalism, have given way to vanity.”- Christopher Lasch, The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in An Age of Diminishing Expectations
And make no mistake, this is a daunting siege if there ever was one.
Because we are under siege, each and every one of us.
Under siege from the pressures of society that is counter to our own personal dreams and goals.
Under siege from influencers who offer us a false lifestyle, beckoning us to be like them.
Under siege from the endless stream of content that commands us to binge.
Under siege from the challenges that everyone seems to be partaking in.
Under siege from anxiety, a foe that plagues us more than we care to admit.
Under siege from conformity, which beckons us to abandon our uniqueness and follow the herd.
And soon, we will be under siege from the metaverse that will envelope every aspect of our daily lives.
Few people realize the danger of this siege. They fail to understand that while social media influencers and gurus remain the central attraction of the multitude, they are also the graveyard of our reality.
This siege is not easily broken. We cannot simply escape it. We must gather our strength and rise to the battlements. We must believe in our own uniqueness, giving ourselves as much power and attention as we give the celebrities, gurus, and influencers that the multitude eagerly follow.
This is no simple task.
Yet you must do it.
You must sally forth to your own walls, shore up your defenses, and let loose your battle cry.
“Every human being must have a point at which he stands against the culture, where he says, this is me and the damned world can go to hell.”-Rollo May
And you must expect to be met with difficulties and obstacles. The world won’t let you go so easily. The siege will not break simply because you want to be free from everything that is holding you back. In fact, when you focus on yourself and your goals and dreams, the siege only intensifies. Your peers and friends must have answers. The world must know!
What are you doing?
Why aren’t you responding?
Why haven’t you commented?
Why did you change?
Why are you wasting your time on something stupid?
We must know!
The crowd must be fed. The followers must be satiated. Social media must be updated. The pressures only intensify.
But you must persevere and keep going forward. The world needs you, not the group consensus and herd mentality, but you. All of your weirdness, creativity, dreams, and everything that makes you YOUNIQUE.
“When you adopt the standards and the values of someone else … you surrender your own integrity. You become, to the extent of your surrender, less of a human being.”-Eleanor Roosevelt
And in order for this happen, you must keep moving forward.
How?
Through radical self-belief. Self-belief is your relief force, not the cavalry riding to the rescue. It is through the realization that your goals and dreams are legitimate! Yet they can only be birthed and nurtured by you. This is the path of breaking free from the siege, the path of a YouTopian!
“All men are the same except for their belief in their own selves, regardless of what others may think of them.”-Miyamoto Musashi
SELF-BELIEF IS THE RELIEF
“Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.”-Marie Curie
In order to move forward, a realization must take place. This realization cannot come from outside, but from within. It is the understanding that your future is about the choices you make and the chances you take. It is the realization that you and you alone are responsible for your course. Not your friends, not your parents, not who is president, and certainly not your followers.
YOU.
And yes you may be influenced by others, and yes this influence may be negative and lack support, but you know what you must do.
So do it.
Do not waste another minute.
Do not hesitate.
Do not wait for the permission of others to begin.
Do not give into the lack of support in likes and comments. Do not engage in drama. Know that you have a goal, some ideal that must be transformed from the seed in your mind to something that you can hold in your hands and even benefit others. Above all, know that you are not alone. You come from a long line of believers, dreamers, pilgrims of passion, seekers of significance, and executors of ideals. All had one thing in common.
Self-belief!
The philosopher transferring their thoughts to parchment which influences people thousands of years later.
The painter without a patron, experimenting with new styles that will one day line the museums of the world.
The musician writing the great symphony that only they can hear.
The writer facing rejection after rejection only to find success and acclaim.
The scientist failing time after time to test a hypothesis that will save us all.
The entrepreneur tinkering away on a product or service that society never knew that they needed.
And while this seems like lonely work, you will have allies appear from unexpected places.
Silent supporters who you don’t even realize exist. Those who can come to your aid when needed. People who believe in you and what you are doing. Fans who look up to you because you are showing the courage and strength that they truly need to carve their own path.
Together, you can change the course of your life. Together, you can change the course of your community. Together, you may even change the course of your society.
All for the better.
But only if you possess the power of self-belief.
Because there will be obstacles. There will be unseen dangers. There will be hazards. There will be the inner need for validation, to hope that the masses reward your grand plan with likes, hearts, shares, and comments. And you must face all of this each and every day.
Do not deceive yourself that it will be simple or that there will be an easy way to bypass these difficulties.
There won’t.
“Happiness is a byproduct of function, purpose and conflict; those who seek happiness for itself seek victory without a war.”-William S. Burroughs
But when you are committed to your goal, when you believe in yourself, when you will risk it all to transform your goals into a reality, you become transformed. You are able to stop paying attention to what others would obsess over. You don’t care for social media and what the multitude are saying. You are on a much better path, one that you are creating with each and every step.
And most importantly, you will have no need for an influencer to mold you. You will have something far greater to aspire to, something far greater to become…your higher self that was always there, just waiting for you.
“We need not take refuge in supernatural gods to explain our saints and sages and heroes and statesmen, as if to explain our disbelief that mere unaided human beings could be that good or wise.”-Abraham Maslow
IN OTHER NEWS
It was a big week for YouTopian Journey. Not only did I guest lecture to the MBA students on ethical leadership at the prestigious Georgetown University, but Shoutout Miami was kind enough to feature me. We talked the importance of risk taking, YouTopian Journey, and more. You can check it out here.
I NEED YOUR HELP
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I’m Shaun Gold and if you are reading this, you are already on your journey. Catch you next week.
When we have healthy self-esteem, we tend to feel positive about ourselves and about life in general. It makes us better able to deal with life's ups and downs.
How do I eloquently put this… how about: Hell Yes.🤘🏼