Thank you Shirly, I am so glad this was enjoyable! 🫶🙏🌸 intention is everything, and when we find a grounded path filled with it that’s where balance can grow!
I love reading your articles Olivia, so well thought out and always with so much heart and awareness. I am only on here and thankful for this place. Being older than you, as a young adult social media was only just beginning and it miss the days before when no one ever knew it would exist .
Thank you so much Willow. Man, I long for the days before it existed. 😅 i’m so glad this landed and resonated well with you! Yeah, it’s been a total journey learning how to transition into this half cyborg life, and how to find balance within it. 😵💫 lol one step at a time!
I love all the photos in this piece. I admire the way you described your inner push and pull with Instagram. Social media has become this thing that brings all of us anxiety but it's attached to us. A digital parasite leaching your attention one byte at a time.
Yes, “digital parasite” is the perfect way to put it. It’s become somehow such an interwoven part of our lives.. separating who you are without it and touching base with that part of yourself is essential for sanity.
I am so glad this resonates and you enjoyed the pics! 🙏✨
This was such a beautiful piece to read and your honesty and self reflection resonated deeply with me. I share similar feelings about finding the balance between community and independence and how social media, being visible, and staying in integrity can be a fine line to walk. The push pull is real and you really showed it in your storytelling. Thank you for sharing and please keep writing like this and sharing your wisdom.
This line: "Maybe the answer is just being seen by those you are meant to reach. Let go of the outcome, and surrender to the flow, those connections that are meant to find you will find you, those that are meant to stay will stay." Is a reminder that I needed today. Thank you 🙏🏻🤍
Jennifer, it is such a continual dance! And I find myself falling in and out of balance with it all the time. I believe conversation around this is needed so we understand it’s very human and natural to feel this push pull dynamic with it.
It’s a very new to humanity thing —being connected to all of the world all the time; and I believe we all are finding our path to balancing our energy with it, but it’s not an easy task!
I am so pleased to hear that this resonated with you, thank you for your kindness and words of encouragement! It truly means the world to me 🙏🤍✨
"Like a cheese grater to my brain" - I felt that in my teeth. Because you're not describing distraction. You're describing a woman who was being consumed by the thing she was feeding. The algorithm didn't steal your attention. It ate your voice and replaced it with a performance of your voice, and the worst part is you could hear the difference but couldn't stop.
You drove to the Uinta Mountains alone. No audience. No metrics. Just you and silence and a notebook. And what came back wasn't content - it was poetry. That's not a coincidence. Poetry is what happens when a person stops performing and starts listening to what's actually inside. You didn't find yourself in Utah. You just finally got quiet enough to hear the version of you that was talking the whole time.
I know because you found your way to my writing, and something in it landed. That tells me everything. A woman who escaped the cheese grater and chose depth over dopamine - she doesn't read casually. She reads like she's looking for something. And the fact that you're here, on this platform, writing like this, means you found it. Not in my articles. In yourself. My words were just the mirror you happened to walk past.
The noise is going to keep calling. You already know it's not worth answering. Trust the silence. It knows your name better than any algorithm ever did.
Yes 🙌 David. The performance of voice was exactly the thing I was trying to highlight here. I’ve talked with many influencers, that I have looked up to, and that have sounded extremely grounded in their voice as I’ve spoken.
However, when in conversation with them, I ask them how they truly felt most of the time when they were putting their content out there and they have said that they have felt that sense of performance and disconnection from themselves most of the time.
It’s a hard line to draw in the sand, what is performance versus authenticity because sometimes we have to step into what we want to be through our behavior even if we don’t yet feel connected to it to manifest it. But there’s a difference when there’s pressure coming from an outside source to be what we are not and to keep up with the rhythm that is too fast for our nervous system.
“you finally got quiet enough to hear the version of you that was talking the whole time” mmm exactly!! This is where true creativity is born, it’s a sacred and beautiful space to create for yourself and allow what’s under the static to settle so you can hear a truth reflection.
learning to trust that silence every day David. Incredibly beautiful articulation. Thank you for your deeply intentional words 🙏💓
Well, this was a brilliant piece, Olivia! Thank you for your honesty—truly, thank you for every single line of your writing. I often highlight passages, and I thought I’d pick just one here too—but then came another, and another, and another. So instead, I’ll put on my hiking boots, head for the mountains, and let the wind and the sun wash over me.
Really great piece @Olivia Johnson. I learned a lot about influencers and your journey to something more grounded, authentic and healthy 🙏
Thank you Shirly, I am so glad this was enjoyable! 🫶🙏🌸 intention is everything, and when we find a grounded path filled with it that’s where balance can grow!
I love reading your articles Olivia, so well thought out and always with so much heart and awareness. I am only on here and thankful for this place. Being older than you, as a young adult social media was only just beginning and it miss the days before when no one ever knew it would exist .
Brilliant piece 💗
Thank you so much Willow. Man, I long for the days before it existed. 😅 i’m so glad this landed and resonated well with you! Yeah, it’s been a total journey learning how to transition into this half cyborg life, and how to find balance within it. 😵💫 lol one step at a time!
Haha half cyborg, so true..oh I hate it though I use it , though I wouldn't if it didn't exist🤯💜
Same here 😂🙏💜
🤣🥰
So recognizable! 💚
I’m so glad it resonated, Iona! 💕
I love all the photos in this piece. I admire the way you described your inner push and pull with Instagram. Social media has become this thing that brings all of us anxiety but it's attached to us. A digital parasite leaching your attention one byte at a time.
Yes, “digital parasite” is the perfect way to put it. It’s become somehow such an interwoven part of our lives.. separating who you are without it and touching base with that part of yourself is essential for sanity.
I am so glad this resonates and you enjoyed the pics! 🙏✨
This was such a beautiful piece to read and your honesty and self reflection resonated deeply with me. I share similar feelings about finding the balance between community and independence and how social media, being visible, and staying in integrity can be a fine line to walk. The push pull is real and you really showed it in your storytelling. Thank you for sharing and please keep writing like this and sharing your wisdom.
This line: "Maybe the answer is just being seen by those you are meant to reach. Let go of the outcome, and surrender to the flow, those connections that are meant to find you will find you, those that are meant to stay will stay." Is a reminder that I needed today. Thank you 🙏🏻🤍
Jennifer, it is such a continual dance! And I find myself falling in and out of balance with it all the time. I believe conversation around this is needed so we understand it’s very human and natural to feel this push pull dynamic with it.
It’s a very new to humanity thing —being connected to all of the world all the time; and I believe we all are finding our path to balancing our energy with it, but it’s not an easy task!
I am so pleased to hear that this resonated with you, thank you for your kindness and words of encouragement! It truly means the world to me 🙏🤍✨
I have a solid idea………..
R.G. I bet you do! 😉
Haha! I do… let’s a do a live convo on here about this.
Haha…. We should do a live convo on here about this. What do ya think?
I’d love to eventually R.G. It’s crunch time for me these next few weeks but when my schedule opens a bit more I am definitely open to that!
There’s no rush my friend! Excited to connect, Wednesday yes? Shoot me a text
Thank you 🙏 ☺️Wednesday yes 🙌 I shoot you a text then!
"Like a cheese grater to my brain" - I felt that in my teeth. Because you're not describing distraction. You're describing a woman who was being consumed by the thing she was feeding. The algorithm didn't steal your attention. It ate your voice and replaced it with a performance of your voice, and the worst part is you could hear the difference but couldn't stop.
You drove to the Uinta Mountains alone. No audience. No metrics. Just you and silence and a notebook. And what came back wasn't content - it was poetry. That's not a coincidence. Poetry is what happens when a person stops performing and starts listening to what's actually inside. You didn't find yourself in Utah. You just finally got quiet enough to hear the version of you that was talking the whole time.
I know because you found your way to my writing, and something in it landed. That tells me everything. A woman who escaped the cheese grater and chose depth over dopamine - she doesn't read casually. She reads like she's looking for something. And the fact that you're here, on this platform, writing like this, means you found it. Not in my articles. In yourself. My words were just the mirror you happened to walk past.
The noise is going to keep calling. You already know it's not worth answering. Trust the silence. It knows your name better than any algorithm ever did.
Yes 🙌 David. The performance of voice was exactly the thing I was trying to highlight here. I’ve talked with many influencers, that I have looked up to, and that have sounded extremely grounded in their voice as I’ve spoken.
However, when in conversation with them, I ask them how they truly felt most of the time when they were putting their content out there and they have said that they have felt that sense of performance and disconnection from themselves most of the time.
It’s a hard line to draw in the sand, what is performance versus authenticity because sometimes we have to step into what we want to be through our behavior even if we don’t yet feel connected to it to manifest it. But there’s a difference when there’s pressure coming from an outside source to be what we are not and to keep up with the rhythm that is too fast for our nervous system.
“you finally got quiet enough to hear the version of you that was talking the whole time” mmm exactly!! This is where true creativity is born, it’s a sacred and beautiful space to create for yourself and allow what’s under the static to settle so you can hear a truth reflection.
learning to trust that silence every day David. Incredibly beautiful articulation. Thank you for your deeply intentional words 🙏💓
Well, this was a brilliant piece, Olivia! Thank you for your honesty—truly, thank you for every single line of your writing. I often highlight passages, and I thought I’d pick just one here too—but then came another, and another, and another. So instead, I’ll put on my hiking boots, head for the mountains, and let the wind and the sun wash over me.
With gratitude,
Tamás
Tamás! I am so grateful you took the journey into the mountains with me. Your kindness is so deeply appreciated
🥹🙏
Thank you for taking the time to be still and read this! The sun heals us in ways we never knew. 🌞