It’s a new year,

and here we are, pivoting away from social media to a seemingly archaic and often forgotten form of communication, the blog. Ordinarily, this would be the part of the year I internally recommit to authenticity and vulnerability on my personal Instagram, the time of year I promise Radical Means’ social media strategist (that’s me) we’ll finally get serious about consistency.

This year, I’m doing things a little bit differently by not doing any of that at all. In fact, for the sake of our team’s mental health (it’s me, I’m the whole team) and my affinity for really going all in with things, we’re pivoting away from Instagram altogether.

Below are three important questions I always ask myself before making a pivot in my life:

1. Does this feel right and good and true to me?

I think it was Glennon Doyle Melton who originally put this series of words together, and they’ve always stuck with me. Something about “good” and “right” and “true” feels approachable and authentic and strikingly honest. It’s the poetic way they’re arranged that helps me distill my thoughts into something translatable, and I try to ask myself slowly, to let the words settle evenly, to listen for my own voice without urgency.

I’m guilty of spending waking (and sleeping) hours agonizing over Instagram and its role in the Radical Means digital strategy. It’s undoubtedly pivotal, the avenue through which the majority of our audience will find us, but that knowledge, and the subsequent expectation, real and self-imposed, was (and is) suffocating, completely paralyzing to me.

It begged the question: “Does this preoccupation with, or prioritization of, Instagram and social media feel good and right and true to me?”

No, it doesn’t. It doesn’t feel right TO me or FOR me. It creates a tension between me, my business, and my passions that makes me feel disconnected from my most authentic self.

2. Who says this is the right way? How else can it be done?

After establishing if something works for me, I, a little more confident, start asking bigger questions: Who said it has to be done that way? Where’d that information come from? Who benefits from me pursuing this particular path? Is there ONLY one way to do it?

Asking this question helps me recognize when I’ve subscribed to a particular way of thinking or doing without first examining its roots. It took me many, many years (truly, like my mid-twenties) to realize I could challenge commonly held belief systems, trends, and approaches.

In the case of social media vs me and Radical Means, I resist the idea that it’s the best and right way to build a community. It can be done that way, sure, but how else can it be done? From what other directions can I approach this? What am I not seeing yet?

3. What do I have the capacity for? Where do I need help?

It’s hard to get clarity on what you have capacity for without first recognizing where you’ve been stretched too thin. Boundaries, especially work-life boundaries, help us create space between the person we are and the work we do. I, personally, need this desperately because I am painfully passionate about what my work. I’m sure you are, too. We’re some passionate people.

Once you get clear on your boundaries, ask yourself, gently and lovingly, where you need help. There’s an emphasis on “gently” and “lovingly” because I also hate asking for help. However, I have begrudgingly come to understand that asking for help (and, more importantly, knowing when to ask for help) is some real hot girl shit.