Ep48~ Influencer for Good

Man Shopping with Stacie

This inspiration for this podcast actually came from a Mass I attended. During the Mass, the priest said that if Moses were alive today he would be considered an "influencer". He went on to tell the parishioners that we could all be influencers for good in the lives of those around us, not just on social media.
In this podcast, I explore how posts on social media affect us. I discuss my own presence on social media. Lastly, I talk about how we can all be influencers for good in the lives of children and in our daily/work lives.
To begin, I use the example of the loss of my dog, Nica, to show how sharing on social media can be a healthy form of expression. I'm not above needing support and sympathy, but I think it's important to be clear and direct with our messages and captions online. I don't think we should use our shares to be manipulative or to draw negativity. It's important to keep it real and balanced.
Our relationships with kids, direct or indirectly can be a great opportunity to influence for good. Through divorce, even after our kids have seen us struggle, we can be examples of strength, resilience, humanity, and grace. We can show them how to make responsible choices, take the high road, be amicable, and pull ourselves together. We can BE their emotional support person and not use THEM as our emotional support.
If you don't have your own children, you can still have such great impact when you have genuine interest in them- what they're up to and how they're feeling. You can influence kids just by being a good listener. Your image alone can influence for good. You can emit positivity just by projecting happiness, care, and concern.
I share examples from my career of times that I used my job as a pharmaceutical rep as an "influencer" to spread joy. There were many years when I felt as though my job didn't matter. I was overlooked and viewed more as a delivery person than an intelligent, skilled professional who brought value to a clinic. I shifted my mindset from feeling worthless to using my presence in the clinics as a platform to grow relationships, listen to other's stories, and share happiness with them.
We can use brief, public interactions with strangers as an opportunity to be influencers for good. I share an example of a conversation I had with a young guy at a checkout at a local store. If we just open up and give a little, we can impact so many lives.
Work environments are a huge part of our lives and they're not always positive . When your work environment is negative, you can choose to go against the grain by shedding a positive light and by not allowing yourself to be pulled down by negativity. Our work environments are ever-changing and you can even be a catalyst for good by simply being positive. When your influence spreads to others, that's when the game changes.

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