Our First Season in Social Media….

I’m literally pouring out my thoughts on my little iPhone for this blog while I think about it…..

I’m not really sure what I expected from this first season. I’m not even sure what I expected from the business…

If I’m completely honest I had high expectations and most of the time I stressed myself out to achieve these high expectations, including pushing myself with social media.

I’m still not comfortable with how social media works. I contemplated hiring someone else but then we’d spent all our money and somehow something still didn’t sit well with me. I can’t seem to get my head around showing the beautiful side of our life/business and being real at the same time. After all the flip side of running a glamping business is not glamorous at all. Cleaning is something I don’t enjoy but like to get perfect, so often I would feel the stress when there was more to clean up than usual. I couldn’t hire a cleaner you see because one week it would be quiet and the next busy so it was consistent. I wash everything myself but I did decide to take it to the launderette to be ironed! Then there’s the small touches as I really wanted people to feel loved and nurtured by their environment-fresh flowers, little treats on arrival, toys for kids…you know, the personal touches that make all the difference.

Alongside the business I’ve been home educating, gardening, keeping an immaculate house (or at least trying to!) making sure all the animals are well cared for and then trying to fit my own therapy work, personal studies and social like in. Suffice to say, I exhausted myself. Yes it’s beautiful and social media depicts this but it’s also draining and stressful and challenging.

I’ve been trying to prove to myself that I’m successful because I can do it all but the fact is i’m not sure anyone can?

I try and not look on social media at others beautiful posts too often because even though they’re positive, my comparing brain pounces on it and speeds into 5th gear even though my rational brain knows it’s not real. The trouble is the subconscious doesn’t know what’s real or not and it filters all this stuff in to a reel of negative self talk about comparisons.

I love photography, art, beautiful wholesome pictures and seeing others success. It’s inspiring. However reading an article about someone’s success and business feels very different than when looking on social media. For a start you see a whole page of loveliness and with an article you get more of the story, all in one go. The mind makes sense of it.

As I step deeper in to my yoga journey as a teacher I am made more aware that our culture is all about being heard, expressing what we have or how we want to be seen. There’s not much space for sitting quietly and perceiving, reflecting, contemplating our perspective. This after all is what gifts us wisdom to enable us to help others find theirs.

So my biggest lesson this first season is to let go of any expectations regarding my social media. I don’t need lots of likes or followers to be successful, in fact my therapy business and my children’s book sales have been all word of mouth. Before social media I used to trust in the Universe to deliver and it always did so I’m leaning into this trust again. I’m still going to post now and then but with a different attitude, a different perspective and not allow myself to get pulled into a world online that has no depth or truth about it. Life can be difficult and it’s a dangerous game only showing others the beautiful side. So will I post more raw material of the other side? I will try but I would need a camera person around when I’m mucking out the animals, emptying compost toilets and scrubbing floors in my pjs!

To end on a positive note about social media, we have met some lovely guests and it’s enabled us to stay in contact and see a bit of their life too. It’s also enabled us to network and to share with friends our hard work and love of this land.

We just need to remember to stay grounded in what’s really real in life and not confuse social media for this reality.