and another thing

i’m just over here praising God for my 1003 YouTube subscribers, whoop!! i am so not a numbers person, y’all. i hate, hate, hate tracking my stats. watching my follower numbers rise and fall. keeping tabs on picture Likes, comments, and all that jazz… it can consume you. it has consumed me in the past (circa 2014, 2015). when working with brands, they request this info all the time so i have to go look. they monitor how well my sponsored posts do as far as engagement and it can be extremely frustrating, discouraging, and downright stressful. then i start the comparison thing which is ridiculous because you just don’t know what’s real out in these cyber streets anymore. fake followers, fake comments, fake/altered pictures… some days i am so DONE with social media!! but… i press on because i know His plans for me include using social media for good. so, i’m committing to doing just that. i’ll catch you guys up to speed about some recent changes happening over here, i promise. and another thing, i used to take unsubscribes and unfollows so personal! when you truly think about it, that’s a very silly thing to do. i don’t have to know a person’s reasoning for leaving and most likely never will. i now realize that i am simply not here for everybody (see above image). i’m here for the people God destined for me to serve. i can even use myself as an example concerning unsubscribing. my inbox used to be pure madness. every single day i would just login and delete, delete, delete. every single morning started with a deleting spree! finally i was just like, “Leah. you need to detox and UNSUBSCRIBE from like 98% of all these newsletters, blogs, etc.!” so, i did just that for my own sanity and clarity. no hard feelings! i followed some AMAZING bloggers, but i was fooling myself thinking i would ever have time to actually keep up with each of them cause i could barely keep up with my own life. i just had to get my life and inbox under control. people leave for different reasons; i can’t let that deter my obedience or keep me from doin’ my thang. as far as IG goes, I now choose to only follow accounts that bring me value, positivity, and inspire, uplift, and encourage me. most important, i follow accounts that make me want to be a better ME! i’ve got to protect my peace and guard my heart. also, while some people say, “keep an eye on your competition” that doesn’t work well for me. never has. when monitoring what others are doing, it stifles my originality and i have to try my absolute hardest not to duplicate. it’s like once my eyes have seen it, i have THE most difficult time creating or producing anything else! after all, when God wants you to do something in a whole new way, you’ve got to listen for and to His voice and instruction, not watch your ‘“competition’s” every move. (1) i don’t have any competition and (2) this is the whole point of FAITH. i can’t do this thing without Him. and another thing, if a brand/product is not in line with my faith and core values, or i don’t love or use the product myself, a collaboration is not happening. it won’t be genuine. i will most likely have to fabricate a story to make it “fit'“ in my feed. and i ain’t got time for that. there is so much power and freedom in the word No! no amount of money will ever be worth my peace. y’all. lol. this is a total, random word vomit. but it’s just what my blog has been missing. REALNESS. i love this lil’ space. i’m ready to fill it up…again. thank you for being here.

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