Life Could Do With a Little ‘Unbrandedness’
Before today, I imagined my first post here to be an intelligent and “suit-pretty” tip on storytelling, content creation and editing or a topic on my newly found friend, SaaS content marketing.
But it isn’t.
I am glad it isn’t.
You know why?
Because I get the opportunity to be friends with you first
So, this post is no “5 Tips to Make it in Life”.
Neither is it “An Ultimate Guide to Content Strategy”.
I come on the holy grounds of humanity and humaneness.
Can we relate?
If yes, enjoy the read.
Here goes my story for today:
I enjoy meeting people and it’s easy to quickly think I’m an extrovert.
I used to think so of myself till quiet and seclusion became appealing.
On the flip side of meeting people, sounding cool, smiling and exchanging small talks is the not so fun part where I find it difficult letting people in.
It’s a little weird that I think twice before saving a new contact.
Why you may ask?
WhatsApp.
That’s the reason.
Of all platforms given to me by Uncle Mark, WhatsApp seems to be my most vulnerable.
Intentionally so.
It is a place where I share my beliefs, unedited photos in my regular Nigerian girl house wear, and sometimes stun you with pretty headshots in my routine plain face and red lip stain.
Recently, hardly a week has passed by that I don’t share a picture of the most beautiful baby currently in the world,
My niece 🤗
She’s pretty. I know. 😍
Okay, back to the convo.
So once a new contact attempts to get into my private space, I scream in my head
“Oh my God, they’re gonna see my status… they’ll see I am not as sophisticated as the profile picture on my social media platforms.”
Then I think again and consider blocking them from viewing my status.
That doesn’t work either, I end up saying
“Oh well, who cares? We all don’t need to act professionally.”
Maybe in my simplicity and “unbrandedness” on Uncle Mark’s WhatsApp, I could steal some time and walk into their hearts with a story.
Life is already too pretentious and social media encourages it.
Maybe we could do with a little “unbrandedness”.
You know, like coming down from our professional high horse of brandedness, (the idea of smooth and perfect) and sharing stories (whether everyday stories, business and product stories) that people can connect to and learn from.
For personal life, it doesn’t mean washing all your dirty linens outside, but letting people a bit into the side that hurts:
- What’s the story behind your pregnancy and childbirth? It could help another mother prepare for birth.
- What’s your product story? It could help customers connect better with your product
- What about the time your business encountered a huge loss that almost crashed it? It could spur another entrepreneur to wear a happy face after days of wallowing in self-pity.
You know, we all experience hurt once in a while.
Sometimes, it takes us days to gradually accept that we aren’t alright. Even after accepting this truth, talking about it becomes a problem.
In this light, I ask,
How are you?
Are you okay? Are you hurting or did you just heal from a hurt?
If you’re hurt? How is it coming up?
Now that sounds funny. 😅
It feels like I am asking how a project is coming up.
But you see, some hurts, like projects can take some time to heal.
Recently, I got hurt and I’m left to nurse the pains because I chose not to confront the person whom I feel wronged me.
But then, it leaves me with questions;
- What if the heart gets sick because many of us chose to avoid confrontation?
- What if we could speak our minds and just be generous with our thoughts? Would it be wisdom or termed immaturity?
- Why do we think that the person who said nothing but rather walked away, is the mature one?
- What’s this concept of maturity and when should it be applied?
I bet you’ve had times where you wanted to let it all out in the offender’s face and prove that they’re full of sh*t, but that mature mind of yours advised you to stay still.
This was me some days ago.
Honestly, my mature mind has convinced me to kill the matter, learn from it and move on.
But this here just knocks me out,
“Until you address me directly, you do not have an issue with me. You have an issue with yourself”.
Do you agree?
Well, maybe contextually so.
But not when it concerns a situation or person you know will be a dead end even if you tried.
I do not want to bore you by going any further. I honestly came to sit and chill with you on this one.
So, how do you handle hurt?
Do you confront the offender or nurse your pain and pretend like they never existed?
What if life is the offender?
How do you confront life?
While you are thinking about it, here’s how I deal with hurt coming from an offender;
I don’t confront people immediately, even when it’s so painful.
In my past life, I was very good at confrontations. 😅
Now, I chill till I can talk about it at a better time.
Or I never talk about it.
The bad part about the second is that my close pals suffer for it because I’ll certainly vent to them.
What if life is the offender?
It’s a tough one here.
I’ll say take it one day at a time.
Don’t give up on yourself when you’ve not stopped breathing.
Wanna share how you handle hurt?
Drop a comment below.
Remember, another person could be waiting on your response for a better approach.
Be unbranded for once.
This is your relatable zone.
And even when I’m talking about all things content, product, SaaS, they’ll always be a large space for relatability.
On all levels of hurt, storms and U-turns, whether in your personal life, career or startup, here’s some real talk from Haruki;
“And once the storm is over…you won’t be the same person who walked in.”
Looking at this statement from the positive side, that’s you evolving.
Till my next post.
Be pretty.
It’s the 14th of February.
Happy Love Day. ❤️
#NotEnoughWriters30DaysWritingChallenge
