Have a seat. I want to tell you a story.
Once upon a time, there was a person who had a real serious problem. While they were struggling with it, they encountered all kinds of other people who had the same problem. As so often happens in these kinds of situations, the person in question began talking to the other people. They began checking in on each other, lamenting bad days, celebrating good days. It seemed like they were solidifying relationships that would last forever.
Then one day, one of the people in the group – they reached the light at the end of the tunnel. The key character in our story felt really happy for that person. But almost immediately, that person who got it all figured out – they started acting kind of weird. They didn’t really talk to the other folks anymore. When they did, they would say things that only a few weeks before they themselves would have found really insensitive. The star of our story wondered how someone could so easily forget all of those trials, tribulations, and moments of friendship. Had it been another lifetime?
Nothing brainwashes like Social Media
In the world of Social Media, it is frighteningly easy to forget where you came from. If a couple of blog posts do pretty well for you, it’s easy to forget what it’s like to write post after post with no reaction. If you start adding up followers on Twitter, it’s easy to forget what it’s like to tweet till your fingers are numb and get no responses. In the world of Social Media, success can be like a great eraser. You can forget what it was like to just be starting. You can forget what it was like to have no clue what #FF stands for on Twitter. You can forget what it was like to feel so darned intimidated by that “publish” button.
The funny thing is that Social Media doesn’t just erase bad memories of getting started in Social Media. If you increase your wealth while on your Social Media journey, it’s so easy to start talking to people who have nicer cars and bigger homes, forgetting the people you used to talk to who are still struggling to make ends meet. If you were going through a bad divorce when you got started but now are happily married, it’s so easy to move away from that crowd you initially attached yourself to and join the “happily married” crowd.
There’s always a community, a conversation, and a call to come on over. It’s so easy, so very easy, to take a single step and lose the footprints behind you.
Find some breadcrumbs and retrace your steps
Have you lost track of a group of people? Have you not reached out to someone in a long while who you used to talk to all the time? Maybe they are in a place that you have since vacated. Maybe they are still struggling with something you conquered. Maybe they feel like you’ve forgotten all about them.
Wouldn’t it be great to prove them wrong?
Image by Colin Brough. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/ColinBroug