Why They Follow...
I read this post on Facebook that read: "I always laugh when I see people say things like....
"I'm getting off social media, it's just too much negativity".....🤦🏾♂️
"I'm taking a step back.... Y'all are too much"
Understand this: Our timeline is a reflection of the personalities we CHOSE to follow and engage with. Dare we admit that our timeline highlights our taste in friends/relationships?
Let's take a bit of ownership this year family. It's not always social media. Sometimes it's our weird appetite for pessimistic and bitter personalities. 💁🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️
So as I thought about this post, as I began to "dig deeper" as my sis, Drea would say...I began to see it in a completely different way. The word "INFLUENCER" came to mind and the question that came from my pondering was, "Am I a positive influencer?" I bet you never thought of yourself as an influencer but believe it or not we influence people daily. What we say, how we say it, the actions we take, and the ones that we choose not to take influences others. So back to the point of the post concerning social media. Yes, our negative posts have an impact on people. They shouldn't because social media isn't that serious right?! But the truth is, people are looking and always watching and we don't know what state of mind they may be in at the time the they read our posts. Are we using social media to help or to harm? Truth is, although some see it as pure entertainment, it's much more than that. Look at the suicide rates. Trust me. People are being influenced.
I read an article that read: "We have (3) categories of people in the world today-1.People who complain bitterly and grumble about their lives.
2. People who are indifferent about their lives (they are neither happy nor sad)
3. People that enjoy and love their lives.
This was profound to me because we all know someone that fits in each of those categories. My former supervisor was always so petty, so picky, so negative, and so nasy. Sometimes I would show up to work in a fantastic mood but because she was so negative, it negatively impacted my behavior. I'll be honest. I match energies. It's pretty simple. If you do it to me, I'm going to do it to you...but 10x worse. So God is still working on me in that department of my spiritual journey. I aim to be intentional about how I respond and how I'm influenced. I strive to match positive energies and ignore negative energy. I mean unless my kids are involved. I can't promise how I'll react when it comes to them. I'm just being transparent.
Proverbs 27:17 says: "Iron sharpens Iron and one man sharpens another". I would like to believe that my life has more than one purpose. I absolutely live for God but when it comes to the people that are connected to me; instead of looking for diligent followers, I work to build influence partners. My husband likes to say that we have examples all around us. He is heavy in the stock market and over the years he's become better and better at trading. As he learns, he teaches everyone connected to him and as a result of his positive influence, he has created influence partners. Each one, teach one. Know better, do better.
For the rest of my life, I will intentionally surround myself with people that aim to listen and understand others...people that seek ways to add value to others..to gain influence partners that in return adds value back. It's like my good sis who constantly pours into others but rarely had anyone pour into her. She doesn't complain because she understands the calling on her life but I want to be the type of person that spews positivity, influence others to do so and then receives positivity in return.
The bottom line is that everyone of us has influence but our influence is different with different people. We can influence others positively or negatively; the choice is ours. So here's the challenge...I challenge you to examine yourself. Are you a positive influencer?!? Are your friends just followers or are they influence partners? Are they influencing you to grow or to remain stagnant?!? Do you curse more when you're around them or does the fact that they don't curse influence you to not curse?!? Or maybe you're the one negatively influencing them...which is it?!?
Proverbs 13:20 says, "Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise but the companions of fools will suffer harm." In others words, we are the company we keep. It is impossible not to imitate those that we love. We pick up on fashion, phrases, and even good/bad habits. Let's be honest. We do. Why did people follow Christ? They followed him because he was a positive influencer. Everything he did was for the glory of God and the good of the people. So as hard as it may be, it's time to get rid of negative influencers. We have to get rid of foolish friends. In 2022, we are growing in wisdom and becoming positive influencers. We can't fix negative people but we can positively influence them.
Love always,
Kym❤
