What if?
What if…..
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how the media influences us. Maybe it was the documentary The Social Dilemma or maybe it’s the focus on businesses shutting down and shift to spending more time at home during the pandemic….. but… whatever it is… here are my thoughts. Maybe it’s my continued yoga study and the influence it has on my life?
What if…. you were content with what you have and who you are?
Here me out…. it’s the media’s job…( or marketers but in this day… they blend together.)… to make you believe you need to have and be something you’re not.
The diet market is a good example. We are bombarded by advertising for new diet plans, new workouts, supplements, exercise machines, botox and firming lotions, sculpting clothing and so much more…. our society has an obsession with the outward appearance of others that we are never ever really able to appreciate who we are and what we look like. Aging is seen as a negative so we use hair dye to cover the grey and products and procedures to change our appearance “to look better”. Now are they obsessed with the appearance, or are we being manipulated for the sales of the products that lead to the obsession with the products/procedures?
The next big market that we fall prey to is the one of self improvement. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a self professed self help addict. I’ve been to Tony Robin’s Unleash the Power within and walked across coals and seen Rachel Hollis live in person for a Rise Women’s conference… my shelves are full of self help books and yet…yet the yogi in me continues to question the desire for a bigger future versus enjoying my present moment exactly the way it is. The self help market and the diet industry are similar in that they are both profiting from your lack of confidence and creating a desire for something bigger and better. Which at times, I totally agree with…. remember… I totally subscribe to this stuff…. BUT…. and hear me out here…. what if teaching people that they need to desire something bigger and better makes them feel like they are not enough as they are right now?
We live in a time where goal setting and creating big dreams is the focus and yet so many people are unable to reach those big lofty goals and end up feeling like failures…. So this is where I propose this…. What if we didn’t think about the goal setting or the personal development? What if we weren’t influenced by the media that wants to sell us all of those products, and we didn’t let them prey on our weaknesses to sell us their products?
What if…. you were content with what you have and who you are?
What if you could look at your body and love the skin you’re in?
What if you could look at your wrinkles and be grateful for the life you’ve lived?
What if you didn’t get the lashes, nails, or hair extensions?
What if you could look in your bank account and be grateful for the $5000 or $5 you have?
What if you didn’t spend your money on whatever the product is that you think will make you younger/thinner/happier?
What if you could feel proud of your thoughts and all that you’ve learned at school and on your own?
What if you could list your accomplishments and really be proud of the path you’ve taken?
What if you didn’t worry about what others think?
What if you let the guy/girl, who doesn’t treat you the way you deserve, go?
What if you could look outside and appreciate the weather as it shifts and changes seasons?
What if you didn’t care about how many post likes, comments or shares?
What if you could sit in silence and be happier with whatever is that is in your mind and in your heart?
What if you could appreciate the small things as if they were the big ones?
What if you could be happy exactly where you are in your life without worrying about what will happen next?
What if we weren’tinfluenced by advertising but instead just bought what we actually needed instead of what we were told we needed..?
What if???