(Photo by Paul Bellinger)
I recently updated my bio in a couple of places and found myself including the little tagline from my blog: “Sticking to sports, except when I’m not.” I came up with that at some point after the 2016 presidential election when I started to find more and more “STICK TO SPORTS!” responses in my Twitter mentions.
Sure, I had been tweeting about politics. That’s what prompted those responses. In many cases, people informed me that sports were their escape and that me choosing not to stick to sports was problematic for them. It was interesting to watch unfold for a number of reasons.
However, in time, I started to find those “Stick to sports!” responses attached to things completely unrelated to politics. For example:
- Chipotle: I’ve been told my love of the fast casual chain is annoying more times than I can count. I don’t consider people telling me Qdoba is better to be the same kind of response, only because those always turn into funny banter. But I’ve legitimately had people tell me to stop tweeting about Chipotle. [instert laughing emoji here]
- Award shows: Oh, YES. I love award shows. Always have. Always will. And I watch them as much for the fashion than anything else. I don’t tweet about them as much anymore thanks to some key Facebook groups I’ve found, BUT it’s always odd when I find an annoyed person in my mentions over an award show tweet.
- Fashion: I like clothes and shoes. I’ve always been pretty honest about that. Somewhere along the way, I started to get questions about what I was wearing and where people could get certain items. So I’ve occasionally shared what I’m wearing and where from (and honestly, I’m going to probably try to do this more in 2019). For whatever reason, this prompted a very heated discussion with some folks about why I shouldn’t tweet about my clothes. They’re either too expensive, or unrelated to the individual, or whatever.
The list could go on.
But here’s the thing: Everything on social media is not going to be for everyone. Some of the things I share on Instagram or Twitter may relate to one person and not another. That’s OK. I don’t expect everyone to have the same interests as me.
I think what social media (and hopefully this blog by extension) is for me is a place to share a little more about my life and connect with people. If the topic is something you care about, great! If it’s not, then hopefully the next one is. It’s all about balance.
And I have varied interests. I love sports (which is probably why I’m a sports reporter, ha!) and telling stories. But I also love fashion (and getting a hell of a deal on clothes, so maybe I need to also include how and when I get items because I rarely buy items full price), my dogs (funny enough, no one has an issue dog tweets), dumb TV shows (I watched Siesta Key last night and woooooof, you guys), Chipotle (you’ll never stop me!!!), books (give me recommendations!) and plenty more. It’s probably a good thing that I have more than one interest. Wouldn’t you get bored if you didn’t have a lot of different things to care about?
I would be lying if I said I don’t sometimes overthink what I share. I don’t want to be hated, so I often find myself weighing things in my mind. What do other people like? What do other people want to see? But you know what, at some point in life, you have to let go of those thoughts. Or as much as you can, I suppose.
The reality is that not everything I post is going to be liked by everyone. Heck, I’m not even personally liked by everyone. That’s life. So maybe this ultimately is a reminder to myself to talk about and share what I want. It’s my Twitter account, or Instagram or blog. I need to remember that. And hopefully it’s a good reminder for you too.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to stick to sports for a bit.
Or not 😉
Erin
P.S. If you’re curious about my outfit details in the photo above (YOU MIGHT NOT BE CURIOUS, BUT SOMEONE ELSE MIGHT BE): Ray-Ban Aviator Flash Lenses (I’ve had these for almost six years now and they are honestly the best, most durable sunglasses ever), Target scarf (which isn’t online anymore, but on clearance if you can find in store!), H&M fine knit sweater (not exact color but close and on sale!) and last but not least a GAP trench coat (not exact, but similar… I got mine on clearance one year at the end of the season).