Wheel

2-min read

I recently began what I was considering to be a brief hiatus from social media. Today is August 3, 2021, and the announcement for this was officially underway as of July 14, 2021. My goal was to reemerge on December 21, 2021. But since July 14, 2021, I’ve “cheated” every single day. And I feel fucking awful about it. I would make excuses that I was checking up for work-related items, or to simply check-in on a long-lost friend that I’d since become reacquainted with – but that’s all a bunch of B.S. By most accounts, I was addicted to social media. I would spend so much time worrying about what my next social media post would be only to receive 2 “likes”. And one of those “likes” often being from my girlfriend at that moment, so that barely counts.

When you share something that you put an immeasurable amount of time and energy into something, and it only receives a few “likes”, it can take a toll on your psyche. You begin questioning if what you’re doing is pure shit. You don’t even consider that maybe hardly anyone saw it due to the time of day you posted, your previous engagement to the app, and a number of other variables that all amount to how much recognition your post receives.

I finally accepted that if one of the Kardashians had posted my “I Love You Monster” (for example), that it would’ve surely received hundreds of thousands of likes, perhaps even millions. But does that make what was posted any better? I should think not. If anything it just goes to show you how social media works, and that it’s just another popularity contest. I didn’t compete in high school, and I’m not really sure why I bothered on the internet.

When it came to my music, I would always look forward to sharing my works with those who inspired me, but even that began to take a toll on me when I wouldn’t hear back from the artist/band representative, or the artist/band themselves. Did they see my email or message? Did they think it was shit?

It might seem silly, but the pressure of this absolutely weighed on me. I never tried to “sell out” to gain proper recognition or anything quite so drastic. But it would make me wonder what people truly thought of my works. All this said – I now fully intend to extend my 5-1/2 month hiatus to an indefinite one.

From now on – I’m going to simply post content for myself. Truly for myself. I can honestly say that I don’t care anymore if anyone likes it outside of me. But if you happen to, well then we would be pretty good friends. Please reach out.

I’ll leave you with my favorite quote from one of my favorite authors:

“In order to be able to make it, you have to put aside the fear of failing and the desire of succeeding. You have to do these things completely and purely without fear, without desire. Because things that we do without lust of result are the purest actions we shall ever take.” – Alan Moore

Be well,
-JP

JP Weidemoyer
Founder & CEO
Wagon Wheel Media
Music | Art | Writing
Photography | Design
jp@wwmedia.io
jp@jpweidemoyer.com
wagonwheelmedia.square.site
2021 DPD Interactive, LLC
Proudly based in Cornwall, PA, USA