USING POLITICS TO DECIDE WHETHER OR NOT TO SUPPORT A SMALL BUSINESS

The world is a crazy place, isn’t it? 2020 has challenged us all in so many ways and the hits just keep on coming! I’m going into month 4 of being home with my kids and when this whole thing started back at the end of February / beginning of March in Seattle, WA, I was very VERY dialed into the news on Facebook that people shared … my days seemed to be filled with scrolling FB and reading every single opinion out there …

AND I FOUND MYSELF FEELING DARKER AND DARKER WITH EACH SCROLL

And so, I stopped. Cold turkey. I closed FB, turned off my notifications, stopped looking into the mainstream media and what they shared … I turned my eyes off of the opinions of other people and the comments and the back and forth fires that people shot off when they didn’t agree … and omg, it was so freeing.

Now, I wasn’t innocent … oh no … the straw for me was when I found myself arguing with people I didn’t even know with comments from a ‘place of safety’ where they couldn’t see me … I was so enraged with the ‘new’ day to day life I was living, I was so angry at the virus and how my kids were missing their schooling … I was livid that my daughter couldn’t take her piano lessons anymore and that my son’s two baseball teams stopped their seasons … I was angry that my precious ‘alone time’ to work and be creative was taken from me.

AND THAT ANGER WAS ELEVATED AND SPEWED FROM MY FINGERTIPS TO SHARE MY ‘OH SO IMPORTANT’ THOUGHTS ON FB

It got really bad. And the worst part??? I felt like I was being helpful! And I know I wasn’t alone … because I was in strings with other people doing the EXACT SAME THING. When I realized how awful I was feeling and how with each comment and ‘political share’ I felt worse and worse, I realized I had to stop. I had to get off FB and I had to stop listening to other people and start asking questions for myself … listening to what was really going on … and that’s when my mind started to release from what I had always been told by the mainstream media and the fog started lifting.

I REALIZED THAT WHEN YOU REALLY LOOK FOR THEM, THE ANSWERS ARE OUT THERE

And then, the scariest question of all hit me: are my new views on this country and the world and how I feel going to destroy my business?

There is a divide out there. We all know this. A divide of left and right, of race, of gender, of vaccines, of this virus, of wearing masks … the divide is strong and the feelings run deep on each side. It feels like a FOR or AGAINST game of who is right … and I realized that I had a choice to make:

HIDE MY INTENTIONS LIKE A COWARD OR OWN THEM AND RISK PEOPLE NOT HIRING ME ANYMORE BECAUSE OF THEM

I can’t be the only one to feels this way … I know I’m not the only one who is questioning everything mainstream media is telling us … but am I in the minority when it comes to the industry I work in? I think so.

How many business owners are being tested right now with their political feelings? How many feel they need to hide them?

And let me be clear … I realize it’s not a topic brought up when I speak to potential clients … I know I’m not going to be asked my political standing … but sometimes, like with the black squares on social media last week, business and politics cross over … people watch to see what you’re going to do … now, to be clear:

MY MORALS AND MY LOVE FOR PEOPLE HAS NOT CHANGED FROM BEFORE

I’m just less foggy with how instantly I just believe what I’m being shown … what reporters are saying … what the different sides want us to trust is true. I’m waking up to it all … and that changes a person! It feels empowering … it feels freeing …

IT FEELS LESS SCARY AND SCARIER ALL AT THE SAME TIME …

Now, whether this will affect my business? Who knows … I know that my website designing talents haven’t changed, in fact they are just getting better with each project I complete … but it’s possible people may not hire me if they don't feel that I’m ‘with them’ … that people may not hire YOU because of your political beliefs.

I hope we can make decisions based on if a business owner is the right one for us to work with … I hope morals still shine the brightest through politics … I hope a person’s character is what we focus on and not who they VOTE FOR based on what they feel in their gut is best for them and their family while they live in our country.

It’s heated out there … it’s getting scary … I hope we can all come together soon. For me, it helped to create a CODE when I entered Facebook world again … my code is: I don't go on the main feed anymore and I only share HAPPY things … I will share my website designs and blog posts (so sharing this one might be a grey area within my code, as it is partly political) and I will share photos of my family … I also don’t comment anymore on anything … unless it’s regarding ‘thanking someone’ for saying my website design is pretty … lol

My business Instagram is not going to get political EVER … not even with black squares … my personal Instagram is my place to share my views and thoughts, but only in my Stories. So far, with this code, I feel much better … and I’m sure I will be adjusting it from time to time if I feel I’m getting carried away or feeling upset again.

I’ll leave you with this … being challenged with opposite views is what helps us all grow … as long as we are being respectful, not attacking, and not saying things from a place of hate, but of love … the intention is what should matter the most …

I hope we, as a country and a world, can learn to come together and grow and learn from our differences soon.

XO~ Heather