I quit social media.

Did any of you read about this or watch this YouTube video? Essena O’Niell is an 18-year old girl that has become “social media famous,” having over 500k followers on Instagram, over 100k hits on her YouTube videos, and is a signed cover model for an impressive modeling agency. She literally “had it all” but was extremely depressed and had no sense of who she was outside of the social media realm. Hearing her story and also hearing feedback from people like @katiesfitscript made me realize that there are a lot of successful people out there who feel similar to Essena. Essena has chosen to go off the grid, and making her YouTube video called “I quit social media” was her way of saying goodbye to her large following, her career, and her image. Before I watched her video, I was nervous that it was going to make me question why I do what I do. Why I have an Instagram that I use as a platform to inspire many others. But honestly, it didn’t make me question myself or my actions. And I sincerely believe that is because, from day one, I didn’t do ANY of this to gain fame or attention or likes. I honestly started my account “@passion2befit” to show others how to lead a healthy lifestyle. And to better represent Cellucor by having a platform that I could post my supplement recommendations on. Never did I think that in 3 years, the girl from a small town of 3000 people would have 120k followers that support her! I’ve always stayed true to me and what made me happy… and that has ALWAYS been to help others, especially through fitness. Unfortunately, for people like Essena, she sought out fame from the beginning. She CRAVED attention and desired to be like the models in magazines or the fitspo’s on Instagram that had a large following, and she based her success purely on numbers. The more likes and followers she had, the more attention and love she felt. She thought she would have it all if she could just get “famous” from the internet. She was VERY depressed when she was younger and started dreaming of this all, but the saddest thing is that fast-forward to now, where she DOES have this huge following and a successful career based off social media, and she is just as sad if not more. Nothing is good enough to her. She has 500k followers but craves to have a million.. social media has unfortunately taken over her life and she has chosen to be defined by her numbers, and THAT is why she is stepping away. Because social media is not REAL life. Social media is a virtual life, and far too many of us are stuck inside of that. I am thankful to say that for the most part, I am good at disconnecting from social media and living “in the now” versus behind a screen. I think that is why I’ve been apprehensive about using YouTube and vlogging my life.. and getting on Periscope or Snapchat and opening up more. I LOVE inspiring you guys, but I also don’t want to become trapped in social media. I started my Instagram with no intention of ever having a huge following. I did it for me. I did it to reach out to others and help more people than just my immediate friends in Illinois, which is where I lived at the time. I am very thankful for social media, because I LOVE all of you and am so blessed to have you in my life, even if it is in my virtual one. But social media can certainly become overwhelming at times, and I do have to step back and remember that real life is much more important at the end of the day. I encourage you to watch Essena’s video… it really is a great wake up call/reminder for many of us. It does push me to step away from my screen more than I’ve already attempted to do. We only get one life so we might as well live it to the fullest, and NOT be stuck behind a screen.