Rise Up! A Message The World Needs To Hear.

Earlier this week, in between running errands and writing emails, I tuned into the Rising Tide Society’s RiseSummit webinar. The whole Rising Tide Society movement is something we’re passionate about. Their message to creative entrepreneur (and anyone else who will listen) is “community over competition”, and it speaks so much to the heart of who we are and what we do.

But the thing that impacted me the most wasn’t the newest business tip or the latest business model. It was seeing the craving people have for real community.

And not just any community. They crave those who understand and those who aren’t afraid to speak the truth. As I scrolled through the Instagram posts of fellow entrepreneurs and watched all the comments roll in on the sidebar, I saw the hunger for affirmation and encouragement.

There’s so much self-doubt in the world of entrepreneurship. You watch other people’s businesses from the outside. You see the glamorous Instagram posts. You see the successes they are celebrating. You see yet another stunning session shared by a fellow photographer.  And you start to compare yourself.

You start to wonder why your own life doesn’t look like that. Why your work doesn’t look like that. Why they got so many more “likes” than your last post. You play the comparison game. It looks so glamorous when somebody else does this thing you do, but when you look at your own business and your own life…it feels like it just doesn’t add up.

Today I was planning to share with you the top three tips I gleaned from the Rising Tide Society’s Rise Summit, but I feel like there is so much more to share.

I think there are so many hearts that still feel the weight of self-doubt, who feel the temptation of comparing themselves to somebody else is perfect. And I know. I’m there, too.

Have you ever been there?

The “I spend hours thinking of something clever or helpful to consistently put up on social media every week, and she just throws on a picture with a boring caption every once in awhile and gets three times as many likes and comments as I ever get!” kind of place.

None of us are immune to the poison of self-doubt and comparison. From the very top industry leader to the newest newbie just starting out in business, it’s a real battle to fight.

It can be a tough life, this business owning thing is. There are a lot of challenges people don’t tell you about before you go in. And I think that’s why it really struck me again to see that craving for community and connection. You think it would be easy to find connection, but sometimes real encouragement and community is difficult to find. We’ve always had hearts to encourage and serve in our own business, but I think the need is bigger than any of us realize.

We all have our own strengths, our own weaknesses, our own talents. We all have our own journeys to walk, and my journey doesn’t look like your journey. I think we forget that God put us exactly where we needed to be. And yes, we have to work really hard. Really, really hard. Building a successful business is not for the faint of heart. It requires long and tedious hours. It means that you’re writing a blog post when other people are watching Netflix. It means you get up early on Saturday morning whether it’s a wedding weekend or not because your to-do list needs to be knocked out. It means giving up your free time because you know that in the long run, you’re building something bigger than yourself. You’re building something that’s going to impact other people.

But even if you’re not an entrepreneur, there’s so much space for community over competition. There’s so much space to encourage and build each other up. The girl who sits at the desk across from you might be struggling with body image. The neighbor boy down the street might come home from school every day feeling like he’ll never fit in. Competition is a strong mindset in our culture. We all compare our boring lives to the glamorous pictures shared by people on Instagram, Facebook, TV, movies, etc, etc, etc. And when our own reality doesn’t add up to what we wish it would be, we feel less than. Less than perfect. Less than important. Less than successful. Less than beautiful.

Comparison and self-doubt are not just for the business owners. It’s for all of us. And so how much bigger are the opportunities to encourage and build each other up in this great big world? God put people in your lives that need encouragement and love. You have something to offer that nobody else can.

Yes, you.

How is it so easy to forget the gifts we’ve been given? How is it so easy to base our confidence and perception on the “likes” and comments? We live in a world where we compare our reality to someone else’s highlights. You see everyone’s avocado toast and cute coffee cup on Instagram and their world looks so peachy, but you’re not seeing the tears of frustration she just wiped away. You’re not seeing the piles of laundry or an overflowing inbox waiting just on the other side of the screen. You’re not seeing the late nights away from home or the depression that sometimes starts to set in.

None of us, from the least to the greatest, is immune to comparison. To self-doubt.

But your wins will not look like their wins, and vice versa. You have a path to take that might include a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch instead of avocado toast, and that’s okay! Live your life passionately and with your whole heart. Don’t focus on what you can’t do. Focus on what you can.

So rise up! Put aside your own self-doubt and use the voice of God’s given you. You have something to offer the world. You might not feel like it’s glamorous or important, but when you give an encouraging smile to that boy who feels like nobody cares, or when you’re kind to the girl next to you who feels like nobody cares, you do have something to offer.

You have something to offer that could be a world of difference to the person next to you.

You think the world needs a little help? Be the first one to breathe the encouragement it needs.

*hugs*

Amber