How social media impacts creativity + my approach to creating content without social media energy drain

I remember waking up every morning checking how many followers I gained/lost when I first started working on my online business.

It was like my emotions were at the mercy of what I saw on the phone screen– seeing red notifications from people engaging with my content would give a microsecond dose of a high while seeing people unfollowing me would give me a tightening lump in my heart.

It was only after I deepened into my spiritual practices that I began to realize how the energy of social media is a stark contrast from my natural state of being. It’s like everytime I get into bouts of consuming social media, the stillness and serenity of the inner pond of my heart gets disturbed. And I know I am not alone in this. 

Yet, most of us feel inseparable from the world of constant scrolling, checking, and responding on social media. For a lot of us, it can feel unavoidable because our social connections+businesses are tied to it.

We become addicted to our screens as if they are our lungs that we cannot exist without. And even though social media may make us think that we are more connected to others, what I’ve found is a state of disconnection to others and to ourselves– and ultimately our connection to God/Source.

And here some realizations I’ve had on how it does so:

1). Enmeshes your energy with everybody else. 

Especially for sensitive feminine souls, social media can feel heavy and overwhelming.

This is because social media disentangles our energy with the web of other people– i.e. their consciousness which contain their thoughts, beliefs, and emotions.

In other words, you aren’t “learning from” the information that people present on social media, you are also subconsciously absorbing their mental and physical energetic state.

You may notice this yourself, such as after reading emotionally-charged, anger-arousing facebook status updates where you also become likely to become more irritated and bothered.

This happens because emotions are not just cause-and-effect repercussions of a stimulus. Emotions in essence, are like waves of consciousness that easily passes from one person to another, just as how ink spreads through water. This is true especially for us sensitive feminine souls.

And I see that with social media, it can become easier for unwanted “energies” from others to stain this pure, pristine state of consciousness inside of us. And this is also as the reason why whenever we are consuming other people’s content, we lose clarity of our own truth, our own wisdom, and our own creativity: as our inner well of wealth becomes “clouded”. 

2). Measures our success with illusory metrics. 

With the game of social media being mostly centered around numbers and metrics, it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that higher numbers = more ‘success.’ 

While this can be true to a degree, what I’ve learned is that only chasing for these metrics of fame and success as our primary motivators can lead us to the route of discontentment and essentially, confusion of who we are really meant to become.

One reason is because the type of content that usually is more popular with the masses tends to be more of what appeals the reptilian parts of our brain that only seek for things that lead to instant gratification (e.g. click-baity content).

And as business owners, when we give in to this need to be instantly gratified (through the social media metrics), we can get caught up in creating content that is liked by the masses that we lose sight of things that actually matter for our business— such as, creating content that attracts the right, quality customers/clients.

And this is how one can become a puppet of social media where we are only ‘full on the outside but empty on the inside.’ 

Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

I’ve seen this cycle of chasing illusory measures of success within myself when I used to be a fitness coach. Back then, I found, virality came more easily because all I had to do was show off the best angle for my booty (my niche was in helping women grow their bums).

However, my heart did not “sing” with bliss no matter how many people have seen my post because deep in my heart, I knew I wanted to help women transform beyond their physical bodies. Had I only settled with the metrics I witnessed on social media, I would have not found the type of content that is more true and authentic to me, and also is meaningful for my business.

3). Puts you in a state of ‘lack.’ 

Whether you are viewing someone else’s content or posting your own content, social media can make us feel like we are “not enough” if we are not grounded in the the true divine nature of our souls.

This is a prevalent among us women especially, when we consume content from others to “inspire us” but instead, what we see ends up making us compare ourselves with others.

And in your business you may get feelings like you have not “posted enough”content or that your posts are not  “performing enough,” after watching other people and their content.

Regardless, when we only view ourselves only through the narrow lens of what we see and post on social media, we become distanced from living, experiencing, and embodying the true vastness of ours souls whose nature extends even beyond the bounds of the Universe… 

4). Distorts your wholesome truth

Do you ever feel like you have a life-changing story to share but then get caught up by what to say in the headline?

Or having a deep inner knowing that you have so much in-depth wisdom to share but then most people there do not have attention span longer than 5 secs so they scroll past your posts?

Posting on social media comes with the energy of constantly striving, grasping, and ‘reaching out’ for attention against a sea of other creators— all chasing for vitality and reach. And for that sake of getting attention, most of the time, we succumb to shortening and snipping out our truths.

And whenever we do this, what happens is that, our real philosophies, values, and personalities become overlooked. People buy from us just because we “promise” a certain outcome, instead of a deeper soul alignment, such as being in resonance with your teachings and your truth.

This is in contrast to longer form of content such as podcasts or blogs. On those platforms, people consume our content with an intention instead of seeking for mere entertainment. And also, the people who read+ listen to those long-form content are more likely to become quality clients for they know more about you even before buying. Which means less of ‘buyers remorse’…

~

After coming to all these realizations, I’ve begun living a life with no social media scrolling and usage. I would also have notifications turned off from my phone and not check for notifications (even likes/followers) except when I do need to respond to people’s comments.

And even when I do post, I would just publish a 1-2 posts on my Facebook feed each day (using the content ideas already written on my blog) then immediately leave until I post again later the next day. Unlike popular social media advice to stay on app after posting to “boost engagement,” I find the practice of leaving the app immediately after posting to be so helpful for my mental health.

And in terms of content creation, the biggest change I did within my business is to prioritize sustainability. Instead of churning out snippets of content on social media, only to have them disappear from the newsfeed 24 hours later, I began creating in-depth, long-form, discoverable content— such as blogging and podcasting. I find the latter to be way more gentler, nourishing, and sustainable on our sensitive feminine systems.

Through creating content off social media, I have noticed that my creativity is enhanced— with better, bigger, bolder ideas in ways that carry more truth to them. I feel that because I am not trying to reach out for quick likes and attention anymore, I become more free to express more of my teachings, in ways that nurture my potential clients more deeply.

And lastly, no so social media “detox” can be successful, without the realization of how the energy of “seeking” on social media impacts the soul. So I leave you with this quote:

The more you know your soul, the less you will be interested in others (i.e. social media).

And the less you are interested in others, the more interesting your creative expressions will become.