Thanks for addressing this, definitely something I have been thinking through and working on a piece about — (media in general). While I am not frustrated with Substack specifically, I have a different perspective. I am not in alignment with spending so much time on *any* app. Scrolling. Building. Numbers. Etc.
I think there is a deeper issue: our relationship to media and tech. I think the whole concept of influencers and virality has shifted, even.
Deep down we really just want something real, and to be real ourselves, and to feel authenticity. When it becomes about growth and being seen there’s a bit of a disconnect, even though we are all trying to grow and be seen.
After being here a couple of months, I realized growth on any platform isn’t much different, even here in Substack.
“Show up, post consistently, participate in the community.”
Is the community here better? Yes! The content? So much more meaningful. Format is perfect, (minus notes).
But I think the bigger, more spiritual issue is that we’re overloaded with content, and we’re addicted to tech (and our phones).
Because of that I am willing to gain 1 subscriber a year on Substack if it means I don’t have to be glued to an application, and can create straight from my heart 💕
Yes yes yes I so so hear you. Honestly it’s so the issue at hand. I contemplate this almost daily as I’ve spent 10+ years online.
The plus side of it (for me) is being able to work entirely online (Pre substack), and it’s meant my husband has been able to be home with me, and we raise our boys every day together. So there are aspects of our life that our phones/ tech have GIVEN us, regarding quality of life, time, space to explore, be creative etc. AND the downside being that there are many times boundaries aren’t clear, therefore work and life merge too far together. I dream of a life where social media doesnt even enter my realm of thinking… But I also don’t want my husband off working a job and being away from the home. So the pay off (For us) is worth it until we see ROI in investments etc. It’s such a hefty conversation isn’t it. I so appreciate your time to engage in the conversation xx
It’s the first time I cyber meet someone with the same reality as myself. Grateful for the online world as it allows us to raise families with both parents present, yet dreaming of being able to ditch social media and just live in nature with likeminded families as neighbors 👏👏❤️
Totally. Just had yet another convo with my husband about this.
“Babe we are building careers online but also just want to ditch the phones and online world and be fully in life and the village... but also grateful the phones have allowed us a path there”
Haha yes 🙌 sounds like the daily standard between me and my husband, who is currently streaming as we speak while the 3.5 year old knocked out after a fever party all night and baby fell asleep with boobie (you could probably tell the way I’ve been spamming comments in the past 10 minutes... got to use your time efficiently right 😂) x
Been writing boneframes for stories for 69 years, waiting for the time and place to step up, flesh out, publish. On reaching over 1,000 pieces on my adventures and those of remarkable friends ancestors, I finally come to roost on Substack. Social media, apps, numbers, IT..... Nah ! never my thing, but stacking is a whole 'nother Storey, Story, Store, Adventure... Peace, Maurice
Yes, yes, yes! I’ve been writing for 9 months now and have had to remember the invisible work behind others’ success, that collaboration is better than competition, and that I’m ultimately doing this for me so it doesn’t really matter how long any of this takes anyway. I’m writing for the audience I want, even if that’s not yet the audience I have.
Existing in online spaces feels difficult, but ultimately it’s not the tools fault, it’s the way we use them
I love that, if you're doing it for you, it doesn't actually matter how long it takes anyway.
"Writing for the audience I want, not the one I have" is actually such a powerful perspective to hold. Nourish who's here, even if it's 10 people! Write as if it's 10,000. How would you show up differently? Thank you for sharing here x
Oh Kat, this is so goods thanks for holding up the mirror. I am so grateful that I am finding my voice here and finally getting comfortable with not playing the comparison game. Keeping in mind the words of Brene Brown about belonging as myself and not trying to fit in by being something else!!
I’ve seen so much negativity going around lately. Love your call out that, if you’re going to pour out *that* much energy towards saying what you don’t like, why not redirect it towards building what you do want?
Yesss, and of course the irony of me seeing the comments and then making a post about it. lol, it's not lost on me. Thank you for taking the time to read xxx
Someone had to say it, and your post feels much less like it's adding to the spiral than some others I've seen. It's a 'check yourself' invitation and I love it.
I'm remind by this of a concept that Neil Gaiman explores in American Gods - namely that the things we give our time to, our *devotion* to, take on a life of their own. Our attention feeds them and makes them stronger, whether it's positive or negative. I think this applies to what we ruminate on as well, that the more we think and obsess and give energy to something, the more we give it power over us.
Instead of 'you are what you eat' it's 'you are what you think about'.
Absolutely LOVED this post, Kat! This post reminded me of WHY I was originally drawn to this platform & how I can continue to show up in the way that only *I* can. (And the way that YOU show up is so beautiful & uniquely you, as well!)
Lots of great food for thought here. I try to keep coming back to trusting the process of life - that we are right where we need to be and we do not need to push the river, it flows by itself, as the saying goes. We just need to keep showing up, engaging and seeing what sparks of creativity want to move through us 😊
I really enjoyed this post. I found a few ideas I'll wrestle.
I read this tonight and it made me think of your post.
"True success means no longer being ruled by the concept of success and failure. This the 32nd Shadow ensures that human beings will always remain selfish, restricting themselves to small elitist groups, families, businesses and fiefdoms. Until we can raise the consciousness of humanity as a whole, we humans will always remain essentially stingy in spirit, confining ourselves to our own gene pools and our own little tribal circles and cliques." - Gene Keys, 32 Gene Key Ancestral Reverence (The 32nd Shadow - Failure)
Our social endeavors bring this out in us because success triggers our fear response to failure. Which manifest in a lot of the ways you call out in your post.
Haha, we all have shadow work to do.
I can feel the good vibes in your post, keep raising the consciousness.
YES! This right here. It’s not the platform itself that is the issue, but our relationship with it - much like everything in life, really. Thank you for sharing so boldly, I deeply appreciate it.
So many beautifully open questions to ponder with ourselves here Kat. You really have a knack of finding the vulnerable mind of our human race in everything you speak on xxx
Best I read in a long time! Not only the depth of reflection included. But I have to highlight your provocative and absolutely brilliant style. How you carry the reader seamlessly from one sentence to the next. Just brilliant
Thanks for addressing this, definitely something I have been thinking through and working on a piece about — (media in general). While I am not frustrated with Substack specifically, I have a different perspective. I am not in alignment with spending so much time on *any* app. Scrolling. Building. Numbers. Etc.
I think there is a deeper issue: our relationship to media and tech. I think the whole concept of influencers and virality has shifted, even.
Deep down we really just want something real, and to be real ourselves, and to feel authenticity. When it becomes about growth and being seen there’s a bit of a disconnect, even though we are all trying to grow and be seen.
After being here a couple of months, I realized growth on any platform isn’t much different, even here in Substack.
“Show up, post consistently, participate in the community.”
Is the community here better? Yes! The content? So much more meaningful. Format is perfect, (minus notes).
But I think the bigger, more spiritual issue is that we’re overloaded with content, and we’re addicted to tech (and our phones).
Because of that I am willing to gain 1 subscriber a year on Substack if it means I don’t have to be glued to an application, and can create straight from my heart 💕
Yes yes yes I so so hear you. Honestly it’s so the issue at hand. I contemplate this almost daily as I’ve spent 10+ years online.
The plus side of it (for me) is being able to work entirely online (Pre substack), and it’s meant my husband has been able to be home with me, and we raise our boys every day together. So there are aspects of our life that our phones/ tech have GIVEN us, regarding quality of life, time, space to explore, be creative etc. AND the downside being that there are many times boundaries aren’t clear, therefore work and life merge too far together. I dream of a life where social media doesnt even enter my realm of thinking… But I also don’t want my husband off working a job and being away from the home. So the pay off (For us) is worth it until we see ROI in investments etc. It’s such a hefty conversation isn’t it. I so appreciate your time to engage in the conversation xx
It’s the first time I cyber meet someone with the same reality as myself. Grateful for the online world as it allows us to raise families with both parents present, yet dreaming of being able to ditch social media and just live in nature with likeminded families as neighbors 👏👏❤️
Totally. Just had yet another convo with my husband about this.
“Babe we are building careers online but also just want to ditch the phones and online world and be fully in life and the village... but also grateful the phones have allowed us a path there”
Haha yes 🙌 sounds like the daily standard between me and my husband, who is currently streaming as we speak while the 3.5 year old knocked out after a fever party all night and baby fell asleep with boobie (you could probably tell the way I’ve been spamming comments in the past 10 minutes... got to use your time efficiently right 😂) x
😅😅 hope the fever passes soon! What’s your hubby do?
Been writing boneframes for stories for 69 years, waiting for the time and place to step up, flesh out, publish. On reaching over 1,000 pieces on my adventures and those of remarkable friends ancestors, I finally come to roost on Substack. Social media, apps, numbers, IT..... Nah ! never my thing, but stacking is a whole 'nother Storey, Story, Store, Adventure... Peace, Maurice
Yes, yes, yes! I’ve been writing for 9 months now and have had to remember the invisible work behind others’ success, that collaboration is better than competition, and that I’m ultimately doing this for me so it doesn’t really matter how long any of this takes anyway. I’m writing for the audience I want, even if that’s not yet the audience I have.
Existing in online spaces feels difficult, but ultimately it’s not the tools fault, it’s the way we use them
I love that, if you're doing it for you, it doesn't actually matter how long it takes anyway.
"Writing for the audience I want, not the one I have" is actually such a powerful perspective to hold. Nourish who's here, even if it's 10 people! Write as if it's 10,000. How would you show up differently? Thank you for sharing here x
Yo Aleesha, that's a well stated demographic of my own audience. Hear Ye, Hear Me, my tales. Peace, Maurice
Oh Kat, this is so goods thanks for holding up the mirror. I am so grateful that I am finding my voice here and finally getting comfortable with not playing the comparison game. Keeping in mind the words of Brene Brown about belonging as myself and not trying to fit in by being something else!!
Great piece as always Kat!
Thank you for taking the time to also look in the mirror! Celebrating you for facing off with comparison. It's a big one! xx
That it is, but it is the minimum we
Can do in this human experience xo-l
Mirror, mirror, on the squall, shine that glass, an' life's a ball. Peace Maurice
Aren’t we all just disco balls reflecting beauty from our broken glass
Refracting from the shards of life's beveled edges
A whole new Substack theme
Substack as a frame for mirrors of our souls
That was a fun and instructive brain dump Kat. I could almost see you pacing around back and forth dictating this into a 🎤. “You! Are worthy!”
Good, fun read. Thanks for the Tuesday bump. 💪🏻
Haha thanks Dee, for reading! Appreciate you!
Preach 👏 it 👏 Kat 👏
I’ve seen so much negativity going around lately. Love your call out that, if you’re going to pour out *that* much energy towards saying what you don’t like, why not redirect it towards building what you do want?
Yesss, and of course the irony of me seeing the comments and then making a post about it. lol, it's not lost on me. Thank you for taking the time to read xxx
Someone had to say it, and your post feels much less like it's adding to the spiral than some others I've seen. It's a 'check yourself' invitation and I love it.
I'm remind by this of a concept that Neil Gaiman explores in American Gods - namely that the things we give our time to, our *devotion* to, take on a life of their own. Our attention feeds them and makes them stronger, whether it's positive or negative. I think this applies to what we ruminate on as well, that the more we think and obsess and give energy to something, the more we give it power over us.
Instead of 'you are what you eat' it's 'you are what you think about'.
Yup, dats right, well put
Absolutely LOVED this post, Kat! This post reminded me of WHY I was originally drawn to this platform & how I can continue to show up in the way that only *I* can. (And the way that YOU show up is so beautiful & uniquely you, as well!)
Thank you beautiful woman! Appreciate you popping up here and sharing! I love the energy you bring to the space xx
Lots of great food for thought here. I try to keep coming back to trusting the process of life - that we are right where we need to be and we do not need to push the river, it flows by itself, as the saying goes. We just need to keep showing up, engaging and seeing what sparks of creativity want to move through us 😊
Yes yes I’m so here for this perspective
I really enjoyed this post. I found a few ideas I'll wrestle.
I read this tonight and it made me think of your post.
"True success means no longer being ruled by the concept of success and failure. This the 32nd Shadow ensures that human beings will always remain selfish, restricting themselves to small elitist groups, families, businesses and fiefdoms. Until we can raise the consciousness of humanity as a whole, we humans will always remain essentially stingy in spirit, confining ourselves to our own gene pools and our own little tribal circles and cliques." - Gene Keys, 32 Gene Key Ancestral Reverence (The 32nd Shadow - Failure)
Our social endeavors bring this out in us because success triggers our fear response to failure. Which manifest in a lot of the ways you call out in your post.
Haha, we all have shadow work to do.
I can feel the good vibes in your post, keep raising the consciousness.
Thanks for being here Reginald! Is this one of your Gene Keys???
Yeah! 32 Gene Key of ancestral reverance
Oooooof yes! Taking responsibility for our creativity and staying true to it!
Thank you for reading Lauren xxx
YES! This right here. It’s not the platform itself that is the issue, but our relationship with it - much like everything in life, really. Thank you for sharing so boldly, I deeply appreciate it.
So many beautifully open questions to ponder with ourselves here Kat. You really have a knack of finding the vulnerable mind of our human race in everything you speak on xxx
Thank you for reading Lori!🥰🥰
Best I read in a long time! Not only the depth of reflection included. But I have to highlight your provocative and absolutely brilliant style. How you carry the reader seamlessly from one sentence to the next. Just brilliant
Oh Elin you are so generous with your love thank you!
Love this piece Kat, and so many profound comments engendered. Thanks and Peace, Maurice
Thanks for taking the time to read!
Even my stubborn heart feels reinvigorated with excitement, curiosity and even optimism. Beautiful read, thanks Kat.
Hahahha this brings me JOY to read! Thank you and thank you for staying open x
This is beautiful!!! Thank you for this reminder Kat ❤️
Thank you Kathi!
OBSESSED. As you already know
As I do haha Thanks for the love mamasita x