Despite my best efforts, my various social media accounts have stopped growing. In fact, they haven’t just stopping growing, they’re actively declining. I’ve lost thousands of followers on Twitter and over 100 thousand followers on Instagram. The Emotional Support Lady Instagram account refuses to hit 40k and has hovered between 39.8k and 39.9k for
I definitely understand the instinct to negatively frame things and compare yourself, and I'm so happy for you that you're in a place where you can work on it :)
As a fan since your YouTube days, I want you to know how much I appreciate the content you continue to make. When I Hate Everyone But You came out, my best friend and I were also in different cities at different schools for the first time (albeit, for professional degrees after our four years of undergrad – do Americans call it undergrad? I digress...). While the exact flavour was a bit different given the younger characters, it still was so meaningful to us to read that story of best friends separated by space, communicating mostly through text, while we were... best friends on different sides of the country, communicating mostly by text. Though I happened to be the one carrying both the Gaby sexuality and Allison anxiety baggage, while my bff was mostly being... well adjusted.
Anyway, reading your book, watching videos, and then listening to your podcast were all things we could share while we were living separate lives. I visited my friend on the West Coast at one point and we went on a roadtrip from Vancouver down to San Diego, and along the way we listened to the Please Send Help audiobook in the car. Now we're living in the same city again, and listen to a few of the same podcasts, but JBU was our starting point and we still regularly will message each other like, "Did you listen to JBU yet?" and, "The thing Allison/Gaby said during topixxx reminded me of when you said [x]." I'd honestly say that the discussions you've had on the show have led to us talking about a lot of really important personal things.
I wanted to share this story just as a reminder that the *number* of followers is not the only way to measure success. The depth of engagement and the degree to which you've affected people's lives – and I assure you, you have positively affected MANY people's lives – is more important than that. So please, when you post something that "only" gets x number of likes, think about each one of those likes on their own, and how even if the number is less than it was the day before, you are still touching people's lives in a profound way – and doing that even once is remarkable and something to be proud of.
This is so kind and lovely and I appreciate it so much! I am so honored to be a part of your journey and friendship and I will do my best to remember everything you've said here because it's so helpful! xoxo A
I definitely understand the instinct to negatively frame things and compare yourself, and I'm so happy for you that you're in a place where you can work on it :)
As a fan since your YouTube days, I want you to know how much I appreciate the content you continue to make. When I Hate Everyone But You came out, my best friend and I were also in different cities at different schools for the first time (albeit, for professional degrees after our four years of undergrad – do Americans call it undergrad? I digress...). While the exact flavour was a bit different given the younger characters, it still was so meaningful to us to read that story of best friends separated by space, communicating mostly through text, while we were... best friends on different sides of the country, communicating mostly by text. Though I happened to be the one carrying both the Gaby sexuality and Allison anxiety baggage, while my bff was mostly being... well adjusted.
Anyway, reading your book, watching videos, and then listening to your podcast were all things we could share while we were living separate lives. I visited my friend on the West Coast at one point and we went on a roadtrip from Vancouver down to San Diego, and along the way we listened to the Please Send Help audiobook in the car. Now we're living in the same city again, and listen to a few of the same podcasts, but JBU was our starting point and we still regularly will message each other like, "Did you listen to JBU yet?" and, "The thing Allison/Gaby said during topixxx reminded me of when you said [x]." I'd honestly say that the discussions you've had on the show have led to us talking about a lot of really important personal things.
I wanted to share this story just as a reminder that the *number* of followers is not the only way to measure success. The depth of engagement and the degree to which you've affected people's lives – and I assure you, you have positively affected MANY people's lives – is more important than that. So please, when you post something that "only" gets x number of likes, think about each one of those likes on their own, and how even if the number is less than it was the day before, you are still touching people's lives in a profound way – and doing that even once is remarkable and something to be proud of.
P.S. I promise to never unsubscribe xoxo
This is so kind and lovely and I appreciate it so much! I am so honored to be a part of your journey and friendship and I will do my best to remember everything you've said here because it's so helpful! xoxo A