I had been having one of those weeks this past week. Probably started with the lack of sleep; I was definitely feeling a bit grumpy, not to mention it just started getting cold here in Iowa, and I was just not really in the best of moods. I actually woke up on Friday and I was like, “man I just wish sometimes I could be normal and not feel pressured to share every detail on my life on social media” you know?
I totally understand, trust me.. I put myself out there, this is what I get, blah blah. But sometimes it’s just SO frustrating to feel misunderstood, or know that people are saying things about you that are untrue. I swear, there are so many days where I just want to delete every form of social media and not worry about people “watching me” anymore.
So earlier in the week, this girl messaged me on IG and said she was in town and asked if she could drop into our gym on Friday. I welcomed her and told her that I coached the 3:45 class that day. She didn’t say anything else to me; just that she was in town, and she was hoping to drop into a class.
Fast forward to Friday, this super small (BUT SUPER JACKED) girl comes into the gym, and after introducing herself, I realized it was the girl from Instagram. She was pretty quiet at first, took the class, we chatted a bit throughout the workout and overall it was a pretty chill afternoon. I asked her if she wanted to stick around for our little version of the “Friday Night Lights” and do the Open workout with me, to which she said she would. We talked a little bit more, and then eventually did the workout side by side. After dying on the floor for about 10 minutes afterwards (lol) we moved over to the corner of the gym and just started talking. And I mean, TALKING. She’s been in medical school forever, now applying for a sports physician position up at Iowa City, has an awesome husband, We were just going to town chatting it up. I couldn’t even tell you how we got into the conversation that we got into (we were all over the place chatting about things) but she had mentioned at one point during the conversation that she was afraid I would think it’s weird that she knows so much about me and I didn’t even know who she was.
But in all honesty, I wasn’t thinking about it like that at all. We were talking as if we were real friends, not some weird “social media person” thing and it was SO cool. We clicked instantly, and the entire time that we were talking, I just kept thinking to myself how awesome it was that she wanted to come in here and work out at my gym just because she follows me and felt comfortable enough to do so. Then she proceeded to tell me something that literally made me erase everything negative I had JUST been feeling about social media.
She told me that she has been following me for FOUR years, and seen me go through a lot. She said that I was the only “Youtuber” that she’s consistently watched because she feels like I’m just a real person, and I’ve always stayed true to myself and inspired her in that way. I’m not joking, I literally started crying. LOL. Tears were flowing and I just gave her the biggest hug because I felt like I truly needed to hear that this week.
I mean honestly, how cool is that? She was a complete stranger to me (as many of you are) and yet she felt inspired by me, continued following me over the years, and then dropped into my gym and we had the most amazing time together just bonding and talking about life.
Yes, social media has made me cry (and not in a good way) and made me want to give up entirely, but these moments are what inspire ME to keep going.
So to Erin, thank you so much for choosing to drop into my gym and reminding me that social media is not ALL bad.
And to any of you who follow along silently, support me, or just stick around because of the dogs 😉 I appreciate you so much. I am just a normal person who somehow grew a decent social media following and I NEVER want that to change me. I said this in one of my very first Youtube videos, and it still holds true to me:
I don’t care if I have 100 followers, or 100,000 – I want you to know that I’m just a 25 year old trying to figure life out like the rest of us. And my only goal is to positively inspire people to be better in any way that I can. Whether that’s through food, the gym, the dogs, laughter, mental health or whatever it is, I want to be a source of positivty for those that choose to follow me.
I know not everyone will like me, and that’s okay, but at the end of the day – I just want to remain true to who I am and continue to be the best possible version of myself.
I love you guys so much.
xo
Manders
SIMPLY MANDER 