We Can’t Please Everyone

Years ago, I thought the solution to my problems was to get famous. More fame would bring more money, more attention, and more opportunities to do cool shit (and take pics of that cool shit to impress you).
Everything I did to gain fame involved figuring out what was trending and trying to add myself into that convo. I would rap on a #TaylorSwift beat, make click bait videos, and try to collab with people who had numbers, instead of people who were fun to work with.
It was exhausting, uninspiring, and not very fun. I was getting more famous, but my “fans” were people I had little in common with. I was just pandering and trying to be whatever I thought they needed me to be.
Why have a community I didn’t connect with, how long would that even last?
Luckily, stuff I had done years before my fame-thirst, like my first book UNLEARN, was organically picking up steam, and connecting with the right type of people. By right type, I mean folks that I share core values with and connect with authentically. Life took me on a journey away from chasing fame, and put me in a place to build a community based on work that actually excited me.
We can’t keep everyone happy, and often when we do make them happy, our only reward is a day without their wrath. This goes for internet cancel culture, or that aunty that keeps bugging us to get married.
Our best bet is to focus on liking who we are, because the more we like who we are, the less it’ll matter what others think. To be mega-famous always runs the risk of being a professional people pleaser. Most of my really famous friends have to navigate cyber bullies who want to cancel them every other day for not keeping them happy.
The money, attention and opportunities that come with that fame aren’t free. Often that cost is to our mental health, privacy, and personal freedom.
Most of you don’t care about fame, but you may care about the approval of a few core people in your life. THEIR opinions of you can’t be more important than YOUR opinion of you.
Don’t lose yourself to win others
tag someone who needs to read this, and add a 🤓 to your comment so I know you’re a real one.