Hot Takes On Social Media

Welcome to The In Between Podcast. I'm Astrid.

And I'm Alexis. And we're 2 best friends on a journey to living a fun, intentional life.

We know it's easier to share on a season of life once it's behind you, but what about when you're in the middle of the growth, confusion, and decision-making?

This lifestyle podcast is for the everyday gal who loves to travel, talk about business, relationships, fashion, and everything in between. Hello and welcome back to Welcome to another episode of The In Between Pod. It's one of your co-hosts, Alexis.

And Astrid.

I love it. There's a podcast I listen to called, um, oh, The What We Said Podcast.

Oh yeah.

And they always— it's with JC and, um, oh my gosh, I am not blanking on her name right now. Chelsea.

Chelsea.

Okay. And they always start it by— because they have like their cover art, and JC goes, and I'm the redhead. And Chelsea goes, and I'm the brunette. And I was thinking like, I'm Alexis and I'm the brunette.

And I'm the brunette.

Yeah, I was like, we're both brunette. I don't know how you can decipher us, but just go follow us on Instagram, I suppose, and you'll know who's talking.

The taller one.

Yeah.

And the— well, you're not short.

Yeah, I don't know.

Anyway.

Anyway.

All right, friends, today we are gonna have like a little girly chat.

Girly chat on social media.

Yes. We are so excited. This is, we're just gonna go back and forth on a few different questions.

Mm-hmm.

I'm very excited for this and this format, especially because up to this point it's been a little bit more deeper dive on conversation and story and what we've been through. And this is just discussion.

Yeah.

So you get a little inside scoop into how we chat about stuff.

We're just chit-chatting and this is like, this isn't a, this is like an opinion column.

Yes.

So please don't take it—

An op-ed.

Yeah, this is an op-ed, and please don't take anything that we say personal. And if you get offended, please don't message us. Just work through it on your own.

Reach out to your therapist.

Yeah, I'm kidding, but please don't be offended. And, um, yeah, these are just our strong, strong opinions, I suppose.

Yeah.

Loose opinions, I don't really know. We'll dig into it. But we have to start the show by talking about what we're currently In between.

We have to. We can never skip it.

No, we've got to stay in it.

Um, okay, what are you in between?

Well, okay, actually this is a good one. I have been very consistently meal prepping all of my meals, like, for the almost a year now, since July of 2021.

Oh my gosh.

Yes.

Yes, queen.

I'm like, yeah, by the time you're listening to this It'll be past July. Yeah. Um, we're recording this in late May, but yeah. So I'm in between figuring out how I want to continue.

Hmm.

And it's been amazing. I've loved it. It's really helped make— it's helped me make better, more nutritious decisions in split seconds because, oh, I've already made the food. So I'm not going to order takeout. I'm not going to like— I, I'm just someone that usually will just grab whatever's convenient and easy. Which is going and buying food. So spending a lot of, a lot more money and all the things. But I'm in between trying to figure out how I want to continue it and what that looks like moving forward. Um, because I'm in a little bit of a rut with it.

Mm-hmm.

And I find myself more snacky, more going out to eat more. I don't know if it's because I'm about to leave and a lot of my interactions, my social interactions are Hey, let's grab lunch before you leave. Or yes, I'm in Illinois right now. I'm getting ready to move to Houston in mid-June. And again, sorry you're listening to this like months after recording, but it's still relevant. Like the social interactions can take you out of your habit building. Yep. And it's like I'm in between trying to figure out how to prioritize staying on the course of, you know, focusing on my nutrition, focusing on my movement. And then also all the social interactions that are around coffee and lunch and dinner and drinks. And it's like, ah, so I'm feeling sucked back into that. So I, and that sounds like I'm being like forced into it. I love hanging out with people.

You know, you're like, let's go get tacos.

Let's go get queso. Let's go, you know, to hibachi, sushi, whatever. I'm in.

Yes.

And I'm in a season right now where I want to just spend time with all my people. And, um, Trying to figure out how to do that while still honoring some of the commitments I've made to myself.

Yes.

So that's what I'm in between right now. I just whipped that out of nowhere.

Oh, so good.

I'm freaking amazing.

Yes, you are.

Also, we're recording this and we're like slap happy. We are. Be honest with the peeps.

We're very slap happy.

We are slap happy. We have worked full days and we've already recorded other episodes and we, we're gonna give you like premium content.

Truly.

But we will Do it in a slap-happy manner.

This is— you just get to see all different kinds of sides of us.

We are multifaceted and we've got a sense of humor. I hide it, but it's there.

Same. Yeah, just kidding. I don't know if I'm that funny, but I can be.

You're funny to me. We're funny together.

Yes, we are funny together. Yeah, hence the podcast.

Okay, okay, let's not divert. What are you in between right now?

Okay.

I—

well, the reason why I smiled a bit whenever you mentioned meal prepping is because that's— well, I was gonna talk about food. So I haven't really meal prepped, but that's kind of the realm that I'm in between as of the last week, is I feel like since college I've overall ate pretty healthy. I changed my eating habits then and have just kind of stuck to the same thing. And I'm very much a person that would just to the same thing and never change it. I'll drink the same smoothie every morning and it has everything that I need all in one. Let's go. And even though it's practical and that's fine, I need to— I'm focusing on nourishment now. So I'm still eating healthy foods, but I need to like pretty much diversify my food a bit more.

Okay.

So instead of like chicken the whole week, then having some salmon and chicken And turkey and all of these different nourishing things. Yeah. So my body can actually get all of its nutrients. So I'm in between shifting that and also making it realistic with our busy lifestyles. Um, and also another thing that I'm into recently is, if you're a girly listening to this, is the—

Not just a girl, a girly.

A girly.

It's something that's totally come from social media.

I know, it's TikTok. I love it.

I love it. Okay, keep going.

I feel loved when people call me a girly.

Me too.

Like, oh, girly. I'm like, I'm in.

I've made it into the inner circle.

They think I'm cool.

Yeah.

Um, but is the huge impact that your entire cycle during your entire month has on you, girl, and how everything is designed for a 24-hour period, but we really need to— so I'm, I'm really restructuring, A, what I eat, and B, my workouts around my cycle. And just really taking care of my body that way.

100%.

So that's what I'm in between. I'm learning a lot.

Yeah, for sure. And like, I am, I am currently in the middle of my cycle, and like, I'm more snacky, I'm tired. Like, just paying attention to that and looking at movement differently through those times too, of like, hey, let's just go on a walk instead. You're gonna feel amazing afterwards. Yeah, but do you really need to go like Lift heavy weights right now? Yeah, probably not.

Exactly.

Can you push through it? I suppose. But do we really want to approach life through like pushing through things just for the sake of it? Or like, do we want to focus on what actually feels good for our body right now?

Yeah. And it's also the science behind, um, our cycles, right? Like the right— the week right after your period is the best for muscle building and pushing through. So really maximizing that and learning basically how your whole body works and what it needs to nourish and to have a good everything.

Yeah, next week's gonna be great for me.

It's gonna be fantastic.

I'm about to get those gains, those booty gains pop.

Um, so yeah, I am in between just learning how to take care of my body in a different way and nourishing myself. I love that.

Yeah, I can't wait to see what that looks like. Yeah, moving forward and just, you know, That's awesome.

I will come back with updates.

Come back with updates. I think it's always important to like close the loop on stuff like that. Yeah. Because it's like, okay, well, I've been doing this for so long, like what now?

Right.

And so we get like in these routines and these cycles with things. And so it's, you know, trying to carve out a different path that feels more intentional. Yeah. But it takes, it takes time and, and effort and, um, yeah, but I'm here. I'm here.

We are here.

We're here again with a slap-happy energy. Okay, let's dig into social media.

Yes, let's do it. Okay, I'm gonna kick things off with a question. Um, okay, do you think social media is good or bad for you?

I love this question, and I am going to answer this in the most Alexis way possible. I think that I don't like generalizations. I am someone that will call that out. And I, I don't like when someone says all of this is good and all of this is bad because I think it's a really limiting viewpoint and there's ways to be better informed and have different perspectives that feels more concrete. And so I would say, like I'm a political columnist or something, that I think that there's room for both.

Yes.

There are elements of it that are very good. That are helpful for business, brand awareness, just the awareness of so many different things that I have learned.

Yes.

Because of social media and because of, um, movements that have happened on social media that have totally changed my life. Right. Then there are things that are bad. There are things that are frustrating. There's comparison, there's jealousy. There's, uh, it's an extreme impact on your mental health and especially if you are In an unstable place in your mental health, being on social media can really suck you farther into that hole. And, um, yeah, I think it's, it's incredibly impressionable on young people.

Yes.

Like there are just, there's so many things to say there. So I would say for me, it's both. It's good and it's bad. And it's also neutral because social media is a tool.

Is a tool. Yes. Amen. Retweet. Okay. You go now. So I love to ask that question because I I could not agree more with you. It's not good or bad. And there's so many people that will say social media is just so bad for you.

And I'm annoyed by the narrative.

Yes.

Yes.

And that's why I like to ask that because it challenges it back. And what I find is they'll say, okay, social media is just taking up so much of your time.

Okay.

Well, in the '60s, people sat in front of the TV for a really long period of time. In the '90s, they did too.

True.

And so it's never about The actual tool. It's about where we at in life.

How can we take accountability for what's going on and how we spend our time?

Yes, definitely. And at the same time, I can see both angles. Like, there is kids being exploited online. There's so many horrible sides of social media. I can see the horrible sides of the algorithm that doesn't serve people. For example, Um, there was a sound that was trending on TikTok, and whenever I went to go look at some videos on it, it had a girl who struggled with an eating disorder. And so I clicked on it because I didn't know at the time what I was watching. And so for about 2 days, I started getting a lot of videos on my feed about eating disorders, and they weren't all informative or helping people with an eating disorder. Some of them were encouraging it.

Oh my gosh.

And so I could very much see how detrimental that would be to somebody that goes through that.

Yeah.

And so the algorithm works that way. And so just how it exponentially has helped me grow, because I will get business tips on there, I'll get encouraging things, I will get fashion inspo and creative inspo because that's the life around me. I'm also aware that other people. Are getting the algorithm in different ways.

That's a really good point. Yeah. And, and being mindful of how that's impacting you and being able to take breaks from it. Or one of my favorite parts about TikTok is like sometimes a video will pop up and I'm like, I am on the wrong side of the algorithm here. Yeah. I'll hold the video down and it'll, uh, like a, a box will pop up and it'll just say, I'm not interested in this. And it'll kind of kick it off my algorithm list.

Mm-hmm.

But yeah, it's crazy how even on Facebook, the Facebook algorithm and like during the election and there's just like all of this rhetoric out there and it can really suck you in. And I think it, it can, can be a really beautiful part of your story and it can also deeply impact your identity. Yeah. And so again, it goes back to personal ownership.

Yes.

But you know, how can you give personal ownership to a minor?

Right.

And so I think there's just so much there that it's really difficult to, um, Like fully say one way or another. Yeah, but for me in my life as a fully functioning adult, it's, it's good. Um, but I have had rough seasons with it.

Yeah, me too. And I think, for example, things that I struggle with with social media is it's a way for me to cope at times. So if I am really struggling or avoiding something that I need to do, I will scroll away. Doom scrolling is on.

Yeah.

Yes, so much. And not as much on Instagram anymore, but especially TikTok. I'm like, what else is coming next? What else is coming next? And the biggest thing is when I can catch myself with that, saying, okay, instead of just being aware of the fact that I'm doing it, I now fight it by asking myself the question, why? So I put my phone down. I'm like, why am I doing this?

Yeah.

Why am I resisting what I need to get done? Why am I here? What's going on under the layers that we're avoiding? What emotion are we avoiding or something to process? And that's the thing too, is like social media is very addictive and addictions come from coping mechanisms. What do we need to escape from? What are we coping and what are we looking for? So whenever we can stop ourselves in those habits, then it's just a tool.

Right.

And again, in our own stories, there's so many dark sides to social media and vice versa. Then on the other flip side, One of my favorite things to have seen, especially as a creative, is how TikTok has really made it possible for musicians to be discovered, for artists to be discovered, for talented people who perhaps didn't have a marketing team and a social media team to help them get that exposure. They're just showing up as themselves, throwing up the video of their talent, and their pure talent is getting discovered. And I love seeing that.

Yeah, I agree. It's easy. I feel like it's, it's easier now than ever to be discovered, to, to grow a community, to build an audience. Like, but it starts with putting yourself out there too. And like hitting record, pressing publish, pressing post. Like there's that side of it too on like the creator side. But yeah, it is really interesting. The, it's back to like consumption around it.

Mm-hmm.

Sometimes it's like out of boredom. Out of avoidance or out of just like loneliness.

Yes.

Like there's really no, I'm not, I'm not coping with anything. I'm not avoiding anything. I'm just lonely. Or I'm just like honestly stuck in a, in a loop where, where I'm like, oh, I need to, I'm like, oh, I need to get outta here. I need to get outta this loop.

Mm-hmm.

But like the big thing that has really helped me over the last couple months change my relationship with TikTok in particular, because it's designed to keep you on the app.

I mean, that's just how social media is. Yeah.

But, uh, TikTok in general is, I will ask myself like, can you even remember 5 videos that you just watched? Like, can you list what, what was your favorite? What'd you learn? And like, yes, I'm always learning things on there and it's amazing. But like, if you're so far into like a doom scroll session, mm-hmm, that you're like, they're all jumbled together in your brain. You're just there as like almost like a robot just scrolling.

Yes.

It's like, mm, okay, we are not accomplishing anything here. Not that you're trying to accomplish anything, but this is beyond entertainment. Yeah, we're just like exhausted laying in bed scrolling like at a screen when we really just need to go to sleep, babe.

Yep, you know, it's like just go to sleep.

Yeah, have you ever had those TikTok thing that's like, but hold on, I hate it.

I scroll, so I scroll away from it so fast I feel guilty. Yeah, I'm like, and you caught me.

There's another one that's like, hey. Are you, are you like, you know, scrolling on TikTok instead of going to bed right now? And I'm like, okay, leave me alone.

Yeah, bye.

It's kind of like that version of Netflix of like, are you still watching this show?

It's like, yes, I'm watching, clearly.

Obviously I'm here.

Leave me alone. Oh my gosh, that is so good. I also— a little tip that has helped me Is, uh, if you have an iPhone, you can set limits on how much time you spend on an app, and then the reminder will pop up. And even though there has been times where I ignore it, it's actually a little checkpoint where I'm like, I am choosing to actively continue to watch this. And like you mentioned, sometimes it's just boredom, it's just other things. So I go back to What hobby could I be building right now? What book could I be reading? What— like, it doesn't always have to be productivity that I could be doing instead of TikTok, but what life— maybe just go for a walk.

Yeah. What life could I be living? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. What's, what's next? What's else on the list of questions?

Okay, full disclosure, I came up with these questions today.

I love it, and I'm thankful for it.

I was like, I think this would just be so fun for us to chat through. Um, okay, I mean, I feel like this one's pretty easy, but which one's your favorite social media?

TikTok.

Okay, mine's LinkedIn.

YouTube, Twitter, which honestly, those, those, those are still going strong.

They are.

LinkedIn has had a massive professional resurgence. Yeah, like, you know, stepping back into the tech world after being out for a year and a half, everyone's like, LinkedIn this, LinkedIn that, and I'm like, I'm sorry, really? It's very, very LinkedIn heavy. Um, it's really interesting. Yeah. I, I personally, in terms of consumption, TikTok.

Mm-hmm.

Creation, Instagram. I feel this sense of like I've already created a community there.

Mm-hmm.

And I have relationships with these people. Yeah. And it feels very homey to me. Yeah. Because I've done it for almost a decade and it just feels like, it feels like flexing a muscle.

Mm-hmm.

TikTok, I've gotten in my head and I wish a way that I, a way that I wish I would've approached it is whenever the pandemic hit and everyone was creating content in 2020, I wish I would've just jumped in and just did it and treated it like an experiment instead of trying to make it into a business.

Mm-hmm.

Because whenever I get on TikTok, it's like, this has to be a business. This has to be a purpose. Or they're, you know, look at all these people that are like, It's helping them move the needle forward in their business. I don't feel that way about Instagram. Mm-hmm. I'm on Instagram cuz it's like I wanna share what my day is and, you know, like I connect with people and we are, we're in the DMs, we're chatting.

Yeah.

TikTok feels like I need to have a purpose. I need to have a strategy. Mm-hmm. And I wish that early on I would've just jumped in just like I did with Instagram when it came out.

Yeah.

And just like, oh, this is fun. Let's just like be who we are and show up online. Yeah, like what we've always done. Yeah, but I've gotten my head on it and it's been 2 years and I still don't really create anything on it.

Yeah.

I mean, like, like sometimes if I have a spark of inspiration, but not as consistently as I'd like to, and I want to. So for anyone out there that resonates with me, I feel you. It's hard. You get in your head on trying something new, on creating. And so yeah, it's my, literally my favorite thing in the whole world.

Yeah.

To consume. But when I think about recording and sharing something, I, I feel blocked. So I'm still working through it and I, I do want to get past it because gosh, 2 years, Alexis, like, you know, give ourselves some grace, but also that's a long time to keep yourself from creating just because you're scared. And you know, what are we scared of?

So yeah, and I think a lot of people are feeling like you too, and thank you for sharing that because so many people got, you know, finally the hang of Instagram. Yeah. Especially business owners and creatives are like, okay, here we go. We're posting, we're doing the aesthetics, we're doing the feed, we're doing the stories, all the things. And then TikTok comes in and disrupts everything.

Very disruptive.

Yeah. And I've even noticed it in the photography community. Um, and, and there's a lot of people who may maybe are more introverted that don't want to be on camera. And it's really hard for them, especially if you're a business owner, to be like, oh my gosh, things are shifted there. Or even in Reels, if you're staying on Instagram and that's how to grow your Instagram account now, and you're like, dang, if I want to grow my business, I have to be on video. I have to be on video. And that can be very, very hard for them. And I, I feel for that. Yeah, I really, really do, because Yeah, I just, especially for when it comes to an artist, I just, I don't know, it really weighs heavy on my heart when there is a barrier to sharing your art with the world. It's not just like, oh, look at me. It's your art.

Yeah.

And so, yeah, so it's really interesting how Instagram creators have now had to, and business owners in general, had to pivot over to Reels and video, right? Um, and there are a lot of people sharing how to do TikToks and Reels without even have to, uh, be on camera. Sure.

So yeah, there's a lot of, a lot of unique ways around it as well. So is TikTok your favorite as well?

100%. Yeah, 100%. And I'm actually kind of on the flip side where to me TikTok is where I can just experiment and it doesn't really matter what I post on there because the algorithm will just show it to whoever it needs to. And I think it was because I started sharing just— it was just whatever, like travel little TikToks and just outfits for the most part. And that's it. Like, I don't treat it for my business. I'll— I've just recently started sharing the reels that I make for my business on TikTok just because I'm already doing the work. Um, and I do want to jump a little bit more to be strategic with TikTok for my business, but I'm just not there yet. So right now I'm just more like your average person creating on there.

And I think, so this is actually, I just saw a TikTok on this and I think it'd be really interesting to do like a deep dive on influencers, like having, I've kind of been an influencer. Like a micro influencer, I suppose. Same to you and what that's like. But there's been this— there was an— there was this TikTok on like the shift away from the influencer. Did you watch this?

Yeah, the Emma Chamberlain podcast. She kind of like kickstarted it and everyone's like talking about it. Yeah, yeah.

Of just like, first you, you show up online and then you're yourself and you're sharing your life and who you are and what you do and And then all of a sudden you end up growing this audience because you've built an audience around being relatable and around, they feel connected to you because they have some sort of shared interest or whatever it is. And then all of a sudden, now you've got tens of thousands of followers and now you've got brand deals and you've got advertising and you've got all of this, this outside influence because now you've taken this community as a creator and now it's a business. Yeah. And that is beautiful. There's a huge opportunity there. I'm not, I'm not in any way knocking that. It does add another layer of complexity though. And it's like, is, is the goal always to monetize?

Right.

You know, it's like, it's exhausting. Yeah. Can we not just have a hobby anymore?

Yeah. Yeah.

I'm getting angry.

Yeah. I'm angry. Well, and at the same time too, I think that looking at it like that audience you've grown now gives you the opportunity to do that full time, to continue to cultivate that community, which is amazing. And going back to basics of marketing is 80/20, 20% sales, 80% genuine content communicating and like with your community. Totally. But I think sometimes the influencers can just shift everything completely. Yeah. To just the brand deals that they forget about the people that got them there in the first place. Yeah. And really connecting with them. Yeah. And so it's okay to obviously do that, But then that keeping that ratio will really help still give you that income so that you can freely be with your community and you're still serving brands.

Right. Yeah.

Such a great point.

Yeah. It's, it's, hey, I'm not knocking anyone that's monetized content. I've done it. Like, it's not, it's not a dig. It's more of building awareness around what's next and like this shift away from the everyday influencer back to the average person.

Yeah.

And like, we love to be entertained and we love to feel connected to people and we want that to feel genuine.

Yeah.

I think that's just the human, that's human nature. That's a desire we all have. And it's like, how can we infuse more of that into business? And whenever I hit record, I'm like, what's the strategy? It's like, oh my gosh, Alexis, you know, so I want to Show up on TikTok and just a really genuine, you know, I'm a 29-year-old woman building a business. I'm married. I just moved to a new city where I know nobody besides like 4 people and I'm starting fresh. Like, okay, let's talk about starting fresh and all the scary crap that comes along with that. It doesn't always have to lead back to business, but I definitely get in my head about it.

Yeah. It's hard. It's hard to create in general. Yeah.

Okay, next question. Okay, not us being like, this is gonna be a light topic.

I know. Anyways, we're gonna end up crying at the end of this episode.

Yeah, I'm like, I'm gonna suck it back up. Let's keep it high level.

No, that's— that— this is what it's all about. I know, this is truly how our conversations genuinely go. Um, okay, let's talk about thoughts on soft launching on Instagram slash boundaries with personal life. On sharing your personal life, I like it. On Instagram, hot take thoughts.

I like it.

Okay.

The reason I like it is because with anything, people follow you for you. They don't always follow you because of your relationship. They might learn things from it, but whenever you end up making everything about your relationship or about Your kids and you take it away from who you are. And, and like, yes, being a mom is a part of who you are or being a dad or whatever, but it's like that always can sometimes take away from the building, the business and the brand or the community that you're individually building.

Yeah.

Um, so I like soft launches. I like privacy.

Mm-hmm.

Um, yeah, I share some elements of my marriage. Some elements of like life, but I think that there will always be a part of my life that is very private. Mm-hmm. And I appreciate, I appreciate that about myself. Um, because it feels, it feels protective and loving and honoring to the people in my life and to myself.

Yeah.

To like, it, it's just between me and that person.

Yeah.

So I like it. What about you?

Yeah, I definitely like it. I think that— I don't think that— and this is even off of social media— I don't think that everything needs to be shared.

Amen.

And I share a lot on Instagram. I share often on stories. And but at the end of the day, it's maybe 10, 5%, 10% of my life.

Absolutely.

Maybe, right? And there's so many things that happen in my daily life that I just keep to myself. Every time— this is something that I do, this is kind of cheesy, but I guess it's the photographer in me— is sometimes I just take photos and they don't end up on stories. It's not for any purpose other than I really liked how the sun was coming through at the restaurant and I took a photo of it and it made me happy and it just reminded me of the light, like just literally the moment. And I take a lot of photos with my phone with about things around me, and it's not usually for social media. Very, very, um, there's a lot of those that just stay on my phone.

Yeah.

And so being able to keep a lot of things, especially as a creator, to yourself that's not for the purpose of engaging, that's not for the purpose of anything other than you—

Totally.

Is important. And at the same time, like you mentioned, there's just things that don't need to be shared with people that it doesn't pertain to. Um, and I think too, the more you share, the more you're opening a door for people to speak in and to share and to add on. And so to each their own, to like, every brand is different. Every person is different. I personally think soft launches are amazing. And for those of you that might not be familiar with a soft launch, what is a soft launch? So that's a popular term. I think specifically on TikTok is where it's been going around, and Instagram, um, where you basically take a really long time to— I think specifically it's around like launching your relationship. So for example, they might post a photo on stories with dinner and you're— and 2 dinner plates, but you can't see the person, or like you just see the back of their head.

Or like they're holding hands, but you can't See who it is. Yeah, it's like the mystery, or like mirror pic, mirror pic, but like his head's kind of tucked behind her hair. Yeah, yeah, I'm just walking you through it.

Okay. Yes, exactly. And so, um, that's basically quote unquote a soft lunch. You're not sharing that you're in a relationship, you're not tagging them in the photo. Yeah, yeah, nothing.

They're just— they're a part of your life, you're acknowledging it, but it's not about the whole relationship.

Yeah.

And I also think, like, remember whenever you would change your Facebook status to be like Dating, and everyone would like it, and they would like or you know marry whatever it is. Yeah, like no longer dating. I remember doing this. I specifically remember doing this in college. Yes, like Alexis Teichmiller is single, and then people would like like it and comment on it.

And they're like, hey yeah, this is the opposite of that.

Okay, literally, this is the absolute opposite of telling anybody anything about who you're dating. Yeah, yeah.

There's people too who are now basically it's what they call a hard launch, which is you never share your relationship online, and then you get married, and then you're just like, hey y'all.

I got married.

It's crazy. I love it. I think that's how I'll be at some point. Just kidding, engagement. I don't know, we'll see when— we'll cross that bridge when it gets there.

But I want to do the same thing with, with a kid, you know? But hey, if I decide to have kids, that's a whole other conversation. But like, this is all of a sudden just me and a baby, and it's like, had a baby, guys. I'm gonna hard launch my kid.

I love it. Oh my gosh.

No, you know me.

Please.

I'll be, I'll be sharing. I'll be sharing all the things.

Yeah.

But yeah, I, I like it. I also just, whatever, it's your life. Share what you wanna share. Don't share what you don't wanna share.

Exactly.

My opinion is like, I like it, but I also understand that people have different approaches. I hard launched my relationship. I was like, not even hard launched. I launched it. I was like, we're dating. Like literally like 4 days after.

4 hours after.

Oh my gosh, can I— this is so funny. I— Matt and I dated in high school. We broke up all of college, got back together like 3 and a half years later. Okay, we hung out for the first time May 11th, 2014. It's our anniversary. 5 days later, I post a picture of us on Instagram. Caption, old flames. Reignited.

Oh my God, I'm dead.

Honestly, like, what a good caption. Super proud of myself. But like 5 days after hanging out, I was like, we're back together. And we, we have— we've been together ever since.

Old flames.

Took a couple breaks there, you know, in the mid-teens. But you know, we, we got back together and we were together and like, that's our anniversary. And I— there was no soft launch.

That's amazing.

Old flames.

You need to print that. Go back to that post, find it on your desktop, snip it, and put it, put it up on your wall. That would be iconic.

We'll put it in the In Between Pod Instagram feed.

I'm kidding. At least on stories. Yeah, we'll put it on stories. We'll put it on stories. Okay, last one. Who's your favorite creator or brand on social media?

This is super tough for me. I I draw inspiration from so many different kinds of people. I follow food accounts and fashion accounts and fitness accounts. And just, there's so many different people that I really enjoy following. So my favorite creator is me. I like to create too. And I think I can put so many people ahead of me.

Hmm.

that they're farther along on their journey. They, and like, I need to realign and be like, what did it used to feel like to create? You know? And, and I know it probably sounds like egotistical, but like whenever I can look at it through the lens of like, I love creating.

Mm-hmm.

For the sake of creating, cuz I like to connect with people, then that's really beautiful. But in terms of like who I draw inspiration from. Mm-hmm. I would say I really like Sydney Mick something. This is the issue. This is the issue with TikTok is I don't know people's names. Same. I know their faces.

Me too. If you put— if you line them up, I know who they are.

Elise Myers, you know who that is? Yes, love her. Love Elise Myers. Oh my gosh, she's incredible. I relate to her a lot. I feel like our humor is very similar. Um, what is Sydney McDaniels? Sydney Something. She's a fitness girly.

Okay.

And she does a lot of day in the lives and I really like her content a lot. Um, she's really, yeah, I just, I love how organized she is too. She's helped me kind of like get organized with my life.

Okay, cool.

Um, and then Olivia Mentor, she's someone I've followed for a really long time. She's a writer and, uh, we've also met in real life too, which is cool. I've always loved like meeting people in real life. And, um, yeah, she inspires me with her writing and she talks a lot about body neutrality and, um, she's writing a book. She's also a freelance writer. She's a creative, just all the different facets. And I followed her for a really long time and she never ceases to amaze me with what she creates. So.

That's amazing.

There's what I got. What about you?

I love it. Um, for me, my absolute favorite creator is Tezza.

Icon.

She is just an icon. She's my favorite for so many reasons. One, she is a photographer and has an incredible eye, just very unique perspective for shoots. And, um, yeah, and I just draw a lot of inspiration from her. Her style is just so bold and so fun. She is such a savvy businesswoman and CEO. Like, she launched an app and then she did prints, and then she's, she just knows how to run a business, which I admire so much because it can be hard to be a creative and a great business owner in the sense of like a CEO strategy aspect of it. And I think she does a very beautiful job at, um, of course, from an outside perspective of like balancing all of that and sharing both sides of, of that. Like, she also kind of like, she shares a little bit about her personal life, but overall she keeps it pretty private. She's like, this is my husband, is my, my kid, that's it. Like, I'm a creator.

Incredibly private person. She always has been though.

I like that.

I think I followed her since 2015, like when— I mean, she was— now she has like over a million followers, and she's always been that way. Like, it's, it's been so cool to see her Grow for her art.

Yeah.

And it's like her photography. I remember she— yeah, she's really inspired my journey as well. And I, I love her. I actually saw her one time.

Oh my gosh.

In SoHo in New York. She was— we passed each other on the sidewalk and I literally just stopped in my tracks like an absolute psychopath. But I was just like, oh my gosh, like, you know, people that just really inspire you, they, they play a big role in your journey. Yes, she is definitely that for me too. So I love, love, love her. Yeah, big Tessa stan. And, uh, I use her app to edit all my photos.

Yeah, it's amazing. Um, and then the second account that I really love— have you heard of, uh, Matthias J. Barker or Baker?

Oh, JT. JT Barton?

No, no, no, no. He's fantastic too though. This is Matthias. He's like a therapist. Matthias J. Barker or Baker. Baker or something? No, he popped off on TikTok in the past, I think since, since quarantine, and now he has like a whole huge following. But he does these videos where he is talking to the camera and it's kind of like very moody.

Is he really soft-spoken?

Yes, very soft-spoken.

I think I understand who you're talking about.

And it just feels like a hug, like a hug. And he has the most powerful things to say in a short 15 seconds, 30 seconds. And I just love it. I love whenever he posts. I love what he has to share. It's helped me grow a lot. It's helped me a lot in my healing journey. Um, and yeah, he just seems like a very down-to-earth guy and I appreciate him. That concludes our social media episode. Yes. I'm sure we'll do another one down the road. Um, but hopefully you enjoyed this. If you were able, um, or if you connected with any of this, please reach out to us and let us know. Um, and we would love it if you would screenshot your phone that you're listening and, um, go ahead and tag us on Instagram @theinbetween.pod. And you can always reach out to us personally as well.

Amazing. Thank you so much for being here and thankful for this community that we're building. We'll see you next time. Bye.