If you follow me on Instagram, then you know that I went to the Influence Network’s conference this past weekend in Nashville, Tennessee (and if you don’t follow me, please click here and do it now lolz). It was a whirlwind and I will tell y’all about the details of the trip (like where we stayed and ate and all that fun stuff). I first have to immediately tell you what convicted me most…

Jess Connolly started the day with so much truth that is really sticking with me. She talked about how she was prompted to think of her ideal self. She asked us to do they same. While I can think of many versions of my ideal self one stood out most. My ideal self is a blogger who is influential and reaches many people (with high monthly pageviews making lots of cash money lol, being honest).

Her ideal self was when she gets to go to the beach on Monday’s for an hour and be with the Lord. She shared her ideal self with her mom who then told her that her ideal self wasn’t really attainable everyday. Jess is a mother who’s busy with kids and who’s phone is constantly going off because people are telling her of their triumphs and sorrows. She realized that while her ideal self was awesome, it wasn’t really going to help her help others.

So she threw away her ideal self and encouraged us to the do the same. She still spends every Monday she can at the beach but she’s not trying to make that her whole life. I realized the same can be said for me and my blogging goals.

Did you know that for every thousand followers someone has on Instagram, they can technically charge $10 per post? So if I have 10,000 followers I can charge $100. While that’s all good and well, I would rather have 10 followers that like my content and that use my suggestions and reviews in their everyday life. $10 per 1,000 people is literally nothing to me in comparison to 1 person that cares.

Yes, I love pretty photos. Yes, I love fashion and decor. Do I need to stop sharing that? No. Do I need to post about Jesus all the time? No. Is He a part of my life? You better believe it and when I feel called to share about Him with you I do. My blog isn’t changing, but I want my life to.

I get so caught up in using my influence for good that I forget to be a real life ambassador. The internet is amazing and it allows connections to be made that might not have otherwise ever happened. For that I am in awe and thankful.

I do know that being behind a screen is comfortable to me though and I am seeing that I am losing opportunities to be present. The world doesn’t need me to be a blog celebrity sharing my belief in God (even though it is good, helpful, and is not to be stopped because Lord knows I love being inspired by people like Amy Lou Hawthorne who I met and died over and who’s Bible is pictured below). The world needs more real life, side-by-side, human-to-human interaction from me.

I want to be more present in my community, in my church, and in my friendships.

“For you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.” 1 Peter 2:9