Buildable Mascara

I took a class last week called Ninja. It's framed as a "real estate" class, but it's so much more than that. It’s the fifth time I’ve taken it. People ask why I keep coming back. The easy answer is because, “I get a few new ideas and nuggets each time.” The real answer is because I recognize when I need an attitude adjustment. Let’s call it a Mindset Shift of Epic Proportions. And man…is it eye-opening.

I got home after Day 1, and in five hours, I was more productive than I have been in one full day in the past month. As I was folding the four baskets of laundry that had been sitting beside the bed for a week, I watched “The Social Dilemma”, which was mentioned in class. What struck me was the increase in the rate of self-harm & suicide among teenage girls since the start of social media - I don’t remember the exact stat, but it was something like 70%. But I recognize that it’s not just teenage girls - it’s women in general. And men. It’s not gender-specific. It preys on people’s self-esteem, popularity, self-confidence. I don’t think I know anyone who hasn’t been affected at some point by a keyboard warrior.

I get Botox. I get lip filler. I’ve had two breast reductions. Lash extensions. Laser treatment. Etcetera. I do it for my own self-image. But my self-image wouldn’t be what it is without my prior programming and current social media - which tells me what I should weigh, how I should dress, how I should look, and how I should act at fifty years old. I would never speak to anyone else the way I speak to myself in my head. And I wonder how much more grace I would give myself were it not for Instagram and FaceBook.

What is “programming”? It’s how you’ve been conditioned to respond to how you’ve been spoken to and treated over the course of your life. It’s how you respond to incoming data. I’ve been in past verbally abusive relationships - one turned physically abusive. Interesting that I took the verbal abuse, but the physical abuse is what finally made me leave. And I'm physically healed, but the verbal abuse did far more damage. (Side note: That was ten years ago. I’ve been at Realty Austin for twelve years.) I never believed I deserved what was being dished out, but it does start to compound. It’s like buildable mascara - the more you put on, the heavier it gets. And the heavier it gets, the more your eyes start to close to the beauty around you, and the absolute beauty that is you.