Let’s Talk: Numbers — Friends, Followers & Dollars

Welcome back to another “Let’s Talk” post! Today’s post serves as a discussion board on the topic of numbers: friends, followers and dollars. We live in a world where we believe numbers equate success, meaning the more the merrier. Everyone seems to be striving to double what they currently have in order to reach a higher peak of what appears to be happiness. Are numbers important? Is more really better? Do you let numbers hold too much value in your life? Let’s talk!

In our society, our numbers are on display for everyone to see. With the steady rise of social media, access to people’s numbers is literally at our fingertips 24/7, and working with brands as a social media influencer or blogger can cause us to feel inferior about our stats. Outside of social media, the emphasis on numbers continues for friend circles and income as well, to name a few.

FRIENDS

Have you ever thought, “do I have enough friends?” Though meeting new people and building new friendships is beneficial, the pressure to grow our circle is often put on us by others. It’s typically all about who you know and how many people you have in your corner, when in reality, the focus should be on quality, not quantity — and that goes for more than just friendships, but we’ll get into that in a minute. Many of us think our lives will feel more full with more people in it, but that’s not always the case. Focus on the friends you do have, even if it’s only a couple. Though friends are great to have around, remember that it’s important to stand on your own two feet and be able to help yourself grow and reach your highest potential, and not to rely on others to do that for you. You don’t always have to be surrounded by a ton of people to be happy or successful.

FOLLOWERS

Oh, social media. It’s something many of us are guilty of loving, as much as we may hate to admit it. I have always been a social media fan because I genuinely enjoy connecting with other people with similar interests, keeping up with people’s lives and all the self-expression that comes along with it. However, as fun as social media may be, there is definitely an underlying pressure to have a big following — especially for those of us in the blogging industry or on the business side of things. How often do you catch yourself checking your follower count? Again, for me, I think it’s all about the quality of your followers, not quantity. As much as many of us would love to have our posts viewed and appreciated by thousands of people, a higher number of followers doesn’t necessarily equal a higher level of readership or engagement. When working with brands as a social media influencer or blogger, it’s natural to feel pressured to have a large audience to market to, when in reality, it’s all about having a strong relationship with your followers, no matter how many you have.

DOLLARS

Why do we always crave to have more? Is it because we want to buy things that are out of our price range or to boost our social class? We live in a money-hungry society focused on status: who is paid the most? Who holds the highest title at their job? Who received the best job after college? Who has already bought their own house? The real question is: why do we ask ourselves these questions? We’re constantly evaluating how much money we have, how much money we think we should have and how much money we wish we had. Wanting to grow is healthy and natural, but sometimes it can be tough to realize that these things don’t happen overnight and we need to appreciate where we are now and how far we’ve come. I know I’m not alone when I say I’m striving to be the next girl boss every single day, but don’t let money be your sole motivator. Financial growth happens differently for everyone and you shouldn’t compare yourself to others.

Success should never be measured by a number, and neither should our value or self-worth. Life is all about becoming a better version of yourself every single day, and sometimes an increase in numbers is falsely associated with that.

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I want to hear your thoughts: do you let numbers get to you? Do you ever feel pressured to expand your social life, grow your follower count or change jobs to boost your status? Let’s start a discussion in the comment section below or feel free to shoot me an email on this! If you enjoyed this post, you can read the rest of my “Let’s Talk” series here.