The world we live in right now we have an abundance of attention waiting for us if we ask for it, all around, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and I have even seen this happen on LinkedIn. The thing which is apparent is that it isn’t the ones who are really high performers it is the people who reach out and then say they can’t afford it, 6 months later, still nothing has changed, you still are putting how bad you feel on social media and getting people give you sympathy, it feels good, I know this because it was exactly how I used to be before I dropped around 100lbs.
The truth though, if you are one of the ones doing this then I have absolutely no problem in saying that YOU love the attention being unhealthy brings you. It is a drug and you are addicted to it, one of the main reasons you actually struggle, or think you struggle with getting healthy.
When we do things that our body likes, enjoys or gives you pleasure it is because the body is releasing a chemical called ‘dopamine’ this is true when you take drugs, finish a hard workout, drink alcohol, get a nicotine fix or have sex, cool thing this body of ours. The problem is now that studies have shown that same dopamine hit happens when you get likes on social media.
Phone vibrates, you have a like – Dopamine release
Phone vibrates, new follower – Dopamine release
Phone vibrates, you have a new comment – Dopamine release
Phone vibrates, you have a new message – Dopamine release
See where this is going?
One of the reasons this gets our body to release dopamine is purely because you aren’t guaranteed to get interactions on your posts, however, in a world which is pretty much perfect on social media with people taking 1000 pictures to get the perfect pout and positioning with how their lives actually look as opposed to the reality (we can get into this on another post actually), we break that cycle, it triggers people to be interrupted, someone wants help.
As a human race we are kind of wired in order to help others OR be jealous (maybe).
You put you need help, chances are it’s going to get a lot more likes than any post you put on how great you are doing, how great you are feeling and how much weight you have lost through the work you’ve been putting in, purely because people want to support.
Although when scrolling down a feed can you remember the last 5 things you actually liked? (Just a thought)
Deep down, and it is very VERY hard to admit, I struggled at first then the power was ridiculously strong upon realizing it was why I wasn’t changing my health, simply kept on self sabotaging my work I was going, I like having something to moan about, something to post about which was the ‘fabricated’ truth and people liked to pretend to like and give a shit about.
I realized I was essentially being a snowflake and in order to get where I wanted to be I had to break that chain, stop worrying about likes and start pushing my health forward with my own methods of getting accountable.
If this is you, you’re probably triggered right now, that’s fine, hate me, delete me, slag me off on Facebook (you’ll probably get some likes) and say how you’re a victim and it’s not your fault you can’t lose that fat you gained whilst watching Bridget Jones for the 50th time.
If this is you and you’re not triggered negatively, you want to do something about it, tired of looking back without anything changing, let’s talk, I would love to help you by showing you how I started to help myself back in the day.