Everyone has been talking about working on social media and how profitable, exciting, and everything amazing it can be. But while painting this beautiful picture of what your career can look like if you start using social media to make money, no one really introduces you to the dark side of social media. You will have to manage your mental health when you make social media your job, career, and second home. And it is not going to be easy, especially if you are not prepared. It’s time to burst that bubble and embrace the reality of working on social media.
Is Social Media All Stars and Glitters?
People have dressed up social media as one of the best things that have happened to mankind and probably the only way gen z can make money. Well, let us break it down for you, whatever people are telling you is true. Yes, we are not going to deny any of that.
Social media truly is one of the best things that have happened to mankind and it definitely is one of the growing platforms that allows you to make a luxurious living without leaving your comfort zone.
But here is another truth bomb. Social media, just like any other amazing invention, has its downside. And when you are working on social media you are most probably going to experience the negative side of the platform more often than people who are using social media for fun purposes.
Does that mean social media is going to affect you negatively? Yes.
Does that mean you should give up on social media and go back to the usual work environment, the corporate culture? Umm.. no! Hello? Are you forgetting office politics?
That being said, it is important to understand that your mental health matters and if in case, you are finding it extremely hard to continue working on social media, you are allowed to leave. It is more than okay to follow the normal work culture and work from the office.
But, here are a few ways in which we believe you can manage your mental health so that you can work on social media without sacrificing your sanity.
5 Tips to Maintain Your Sanity While Working on Social Media
Before getting into the tips, understand that social media is not your life or the world, it is just a part of them. So anything that happens on social media should not affect the parts of your life where it has no role to play. Once you are off social media, you are a different person, and social media or anything that happens on social media should not affect the mental or physical health of this person.
Don’t Stress About Things You Can’t Control
This is something we all need to learn and it is applicable in every situation and aspect of our lives. There are things that you can and cannot control. Stressing about things you can’t control is useless. You are unnecessarily bothering yourself with something that you can never change, be it for good or bad.
How someone behaves, thinks, feels, represents, and shares their emotions or thoughts is out of your hands. However, how you react, behave, perceive, and feel is in your hands. We hope we are making sense here.
Not stressing about someone else, ignoring their behaviour, and removing yourself from the situation is apparently some of the things you can and should do to avoid getting hurt.
We know it is easier said than done. But you can actually master the art of ignoring with time. And this is going to help you manage your mental health more than you can imagine.
Take a Break the Minute You Feel It Is Affecting Your Mental Health
You know you don’t have to keep suffering, right? No! Don’t even think of throwing a “But I have to work, I can’t leave it” bomb at us. You don’t have to keep hurting yourself. Period. You know something is starting to affect you, you take a break. And when you take this break you don’t give yourself free time to keep spiralling about what happened, you indulge yourself in something you like doing OTHER THAN SCROLLING THROUGH YOUR PHONE, and let this feeling pass away.
Take some time off social media and make yourself familiar with the positive things about this world. Talk to someone you believe can help you smile and get over whatever is affecting you. Remind yourself of something good that you are planning to do in the coming days. Meditate. Listen to some calming music. Prioritise and manage your mental health over work, social media, and everything else that you believe is important. When you are mentally sane and calm, things will work out well for you.
Read more: How To Prioritise Your Mental Health When You Love Money?
You Don’t Have to Explain Yourself to Strangers
This one tip will work wonders for you, trust us. Stop indulging in arguments with people who don’t even know you personally. They are not going to agree with you and the debate will only affect you so just let it go.
You posted something, and people supported it. Someone came in with a negative or different opinion than yours and decided to comment. They did and left. You saw the comment, just stop there. You don’t have to explain why you wrote what you wrote and you don’t have to educate people about why their opinion is wrong.
Make a simple rule to stay at peace in such situations. “If you are not getting paid to educate, don’t educate”
You will probably learn this the hard way but people who are actually into learning something won’t be mean to you and people who are mean to you will never learn anything from you. No matter how right, nice, polite, or logically correct you are.
So, even before starting anything that will trigger you, put an end to it.
It’s Okay to Have a Breakdown But People Don’t Need to Know
It is okay to have a breakdown because of social media. It is more than okay to share that you are having a breakdown. But people, especially those who caused the breakdown don’t need to know that you are having a breakdown.
Acknowledge your emotions, talk to people who care about you, and try to keep it off social media, especially if it is not your personal account. It is not about “breaking down in front of your audience” you can break down in front of them, and share what you are feeling because they are there to see you, they are there to support you. But again, social media can be extremely negative, and in case people don’t react how you expect, it is going to affect you even more. So it is better if you keep some things off social media for your own sanity.
Maintain a Better Life Outside Social Media
Do you know what is the best thing about social media? It is not your entire life. You can have a completely different life outside of social media and have it all under your control.
What will help you better is having a routine that involves things you love doing. Introduce meditation in your routine as it is most probably the best thing that can help you manage your mental health, join hobby classes, work out, eat out, reading, writing, or even another side hustle in your life so that you can completely take your mind off social media when you are not using it. How about working as a freelance content writer?
Do not forget to include therapy in your routine. We all need therapy and you don’t need to have a mental health condition to take therapy. It is absolutely fine to talk to a professional whenever you feel low or stressed. Taking help will only help you become stronger and better.
Parting Words
Yes, we are going to conclude with “your mental health is important”. More important than any work, as a lot of people would suggest. But understand you can’t live without working, especially if your goal is to be independent and financially stable. So, to manage your mental health while working, introduce a few tips and hacks in your life that will work for you every single time and keep you calm. And if not that, these little things will at least bring you back to being calm after some point in time.
That being said, if you are looking to start working and earning money through social media, Hustlepost Academy has an amazing course for you. This “start and grow your online business” course will introduce you to every social media platform and guide you on how to optimise your profile to get clients online. It is the only ultimate course you need to start earning six figures from your side hustle in no time.
