Months ago I began a fitness page for all of my fitness content. I started this page because I was getting dozens of questions about dieting, workout routines, and what makes a healthy lifestyle. At the time, I felt like a burden to my followers to post so much fitness content on my personal account because I felt like my personal social media had to be the most polished version of myself. So, my fitness page was born.
I posted fitness content twice a day for about six months on this account, covering everything from the most hardcore deadlifting videos, to posts about mental health and positivity. Anything that came to my mind about mental and physical health, I posted about. And I was happy about this and truly enjoyed posting content. There was a problem, however. I felt like I was trying to separate my personality on social media.
With my fitness account, I was reaching many new people I had never met before. Eventually, the engagement with my account picked up and I was getting respectable numbers on my posts. As I said before, though, all of my fitness content was going to my fitness page and none of it was hitting my personal page. Separating the two eventually became exhausting because I was being entirely too selective with my personal account, and putting all the things that made me happy on my fitness account.
A few weeks back, I reluctantly made the transition to begin orienting my personal account towards fitness, and it could not have been a better move for my happiness. I was so reluctant because I had a complete misunderstanding of how I should approach social media. Before, I was doing it so my followers would be happy. Now, I do it because I want to be happy and be true to myself.
So often, people get so entirely caught up in their social media to a point where they become a caricature of themselves. Nothing seems authentic, and you can obviously see that they are adapting a false identity to push some kind of narrative. Whether this narrative is to satisfy some self-esteem issues, to entertain themselves, or even to make money, it concerns me to a point where I question everything I see on everyone's social media.
Is everything just an illusion on social media? People don't like to be entirely transparent about their lives, which is why they post the highlights on Instagram or Facebook. So rare is it to see the struggle of a person, who humbly presents it as authentically themselves. I was like this on my personal account – I only wanted people to see the best parts of everything because I felt like the burden of transparency was something they did not want to see.
"But won't future employers be turned away from your profile if everything is unfiltered?" is a real question I have been asked. First, employers should want to see what makes you an interesting and vulnerable human, especially if it's on social media. Second, if they don't like what they see from you being self-expressive (of course in good taste), you would probably be miserable working for them. Three, why would you want to look like everyone else?
Making the transition to posting what I want, regardless of my followers cares, has allowed me greater freedom to express myself, which is what I believe social media was created for. Additionally, authentic and totally transparent expression is becoming rarer as people put more filters on their faces, bodies, and lives. I have challenged myself to be true to myself – unfiltered.
I have never been happier.
