Influence & Purpose

Last Wednesday, I talked in a campus event. The theme was, “How to be a good influencer” and the audience was mainly university students (gen Z) who were interested in being ‘influencer’ and wanted to be one. At first, I hesitated. If you personally know me, you must know that I’m not comfortable with ‘influencer’ title, even when people add ‘micro’ or even ‘nano’ in front of the word. However, I gave it another thought, “Oh, well, isn’t everyone an influencer at different scale? And isn’t it a good opportunity to share and listen to the younger people?”

On the event, I shared what I considered as the most important based on my experience creating online content since 2002: sincere relation with the audience, purposes & responsibility.

To be honest, I always treat people who kindly read my blog or follow my social media account as my friends. Probably not the one that will pick up each other’s call in the middle of the night, BUT at least a friend who will NOT offer multi level marketing membership or harm the others with thoughtless advice. So I talked about how we should be honest, empathetic and insightful, because they are quality we like from a friend, aren’t they?

I also talked about finding purpose(s) because without having one(s), we can get carried away by many things especially popularity and money. I know it’s not an easy subject. It sounds preachy and it requires maturity but I think I need to talk more about it.

Well, I’m glad I did, because those who attended the talkshow clearly hadn’t been really aware about what is beyond fame, number of followers and freebies. The questions I received were mainly about making an Instagram account interesting and gaining more and more followers. I couldn’t blame anyone because it’s so typical of us: we think we know what we need without really ever asking why and how much would satisfy us.

This year, I’ve been very fortunate to have opportunities to share and think a lot about my purpose.

Then a day after the talk, I watched ‘A Star is Born‘. I keep thinking about it and playing ‘Shallow’ on repeat. The movie got me thinking, often purpose is something we discover along the way. It might be a series of searching and finding out, if we ever find it. Sometimes, it’s always there but it takes some time to remind oneself about its presence. But there’s a chance that we won’t realize it out and once we do, it’s already too late.

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Tell me something girl
Are you happy in this modern world?
Or do you need more
Is there something else you’re searching for?

I’m falling
In all the good times
I find myself longing for change
And in the bad times I fear myself

Tell me something boy
Aren’t you tired trying to fill that void?
Or do you need more
Ain’t it hard keeping it so hardcore?

I’m falling
In all the good times
I find myself longing for change
And in the bad times I fear myself

I’m off the deep end
Watch as I dive in
I’ll never meet the ground
Crash through the surface
Where they can’t hurt us
We’re far from the shallow now