It seems like everywhere I turn someone's selling something. Whether it's a new TV show or a political candidate, everyone wants your ear. Or better yet, your money.
I know that's how it's pretty much "always been," but I guess with all the countless outlets for it, I'm feeling overwhelmed and it's hitting me a little extra hard lately.
There was a time when commercials were in between the shows.
Now they've became the shows.
And it's not just on television, it's everywhere you go, everywhere you look.
I can't even open my email without friends asking to "Like" their latest page or project.
But I'm choosing on this day to never do that again! With this blog, I vow to never ask my friends to forward things for shameless self-promotion.
Whenever I am asked to forward on someone's "whatever-it-is," I will simply reply with a link to this piece.
On some level, that may be why I haven't shared anything here in months. If I don't write anything, I won't be tempted to ask someone I know to read it.
Or better yet, to forward it.
I have a folder in my computer titled "Shameless Self Promotion." It is there that I put the countless emails asking me to watch their reel, buy their CD, read their book or see their play. And it's usually followed with a friendly request to "Please forward."
I should know, I'm a singer. Believe me, I've done my share of "please forward if you feel moved" emails to my friends.
I want to see it differently.
I don't want to feel put out every time I'm included in a forward. And every time I get an email inviting me to hear a song, read a blog or see a show, my friends are reminding me that there's something else out there.
People are doing things.
It's not just all about me or the unfinished lists we collect that keep us on a path of self loathing and feeling less than prime.
I don't want to feel like just a number to the many numbers, I mean "friends" on my Facebook...
I want to smile when a friend takes the time to share with me something they've taken the time to create.
I want to smile as I remember "what is achieved by any one of us, is potentially accessible to every one of us."
Whether it's big or small.
I want to smile because everyone matters, and because every single person in my address book is a reflection on some level of me, who I am and what I can be.
If what they do doesn't matter, then who am I to think what I do should?
We can't all have the vision of a Mattie Stepanek or a Steve Jobs, but we can see that the very person before us is the greatest gift of all. And sometimes, the greatest gift we can give is to see them, to hear them, and to support them.
If I should somewhere down the road decide to break my vow, and somehow I've sent you this blog, kindly forward it to your own Shameless Self Promotion folder.
But all I ask, is that when you do it, you do it with a smile.