I Am Not a Brand

Lately, I’ve been hearing a lot of talk about “personal brands.” People who want to gain online credibility are encouraged to treat themselves as brands and their content as products. They adopt marketing strategies similar to big corporations and try to convince people that what they have to say is worthwhile. All of this is very concerning to me.

I am not a brand. I am a person. I don’t have an expensive logo or a witty catch phrase. I’m not trying to “sell” my thoughts, opinions, and beliefs to anyone. I’m not trying to establish myself as an online authority on anything. I don’t spend hours a day thinking up ways to get more people to pay attention to what I have to say. I’m just trying to share my life with people in a meaningful way.

I think seeing oneself as a brand threatens that. If all you’re doing is trying to gain as many followers as possible, then you’re going to end up selling out and just sharing whatever you think will draw attention to you. That’s not what social media is about. Too many people get caught up in the statistics. They live to reach the next big goal in their quest to gain as many followers as possible. Personally, I would rather have a few followers who are actually interested in my life than hundreds of thousands of people who could care less who I am.

The truth is that things are changing. People—my generation, at least—are getting tired of corporations telling them what they should do or think or buy. We live in a world of Kickstarter and Indiegogo, where creators don’t go to big corporate sponsors to support their creative endeavors. They go to the people who really, truly care about what they’re doing, the fans, and they find the support they need from them. This system really empowers the everyday person to have a say in what gets made and how it’s made. It’s really incredible.

I know this change is slow, but I see it happening. As people get more and more tired of traditional marketings schemes, companies are having to change their tactics. And all the creative commercials in the world aren’t going to change the fact that people want something more than that. Eventually, companies are going to have to offer something substantial. Maybe they’ll actually offer better products or more ethical practices. Something real.

Because that’s what matters. And that’s what social media should be about. Marketing techniques aren’t going to change the world or people’s lives. But real people sharing their lives, their interests, their thoughts, and their experiences with others in an honest, open way? That could make a difference, and that’s something worth following.

So you won’t be seeing any advertisements from me. And I won’t spend hours and hours strategizing how and when I’m going to use social media. But I will be sharing my life with you in the most real, honest way I know how. And if it makes a difference for a person or two, that’s enough for me.

The Lego Movie

Last week, my friends and I went to see The Lego Movie. When I first heard about it, I thought the idea was stupid. But as soon as I saw the first trailer, I knew this movie was going to be something great. The Lego Movie has so many good things going for it. If you’re wondering whether or not you should see it, the answer is definitely yes. Here’s why.

The Lego Movie tells the story of Emmett, a construction worker living in a Lego utopia, who accidentally gets involved with a rebel group trying to bring down President Business, the leader of the seemingly perfect society Emmett lives in. For the most part, the plot is straightforward and easy to follow, but that doesn’t mean it’s dumb. It will suck you in and keep you interested for the full 100 minutes the film lasts.

I think the best thing about The Lego Movie is that it’s truly a film for all ages. Because it is based on a children’s toy, it only makes sense that the movie would appeal to kids. And it does that really well. It’s totally clean and something kids will enjoy seeing. But it’s not just a kids movie. Unlike most kids movies that try to throw a few “higher-level” jokes in to appeal to adults, this film is just as enjoyable for adults as it is for kids. The humor is deep at points, and I spent the entire time laughing along with the kids in the theatre. I think people of all ages will find this movie enjoyable.

It’s also got a really great cast of characters. I’m guessing that Lego slipped in a clause about movie rights in the small print of all of their deals with the various brands they work with, because the Lego movie has a vast array of characters. All kinds of DC comic books characters are in it, including Batman as a main character. There’s a great scene between Dumbledore and Gandalf, something only Lego could make happen. And they even threw in a surprise cameo that I won’t spoil. I’ll just say that it will make most adult viewers very happy. Lego used all of their available resources to make this movie, and it turned out to be really cool.

But the animated characters wouldn’t have been nearly as enjoyable if it hadn’t been for the amazing voice cast. I really don’t know how Lego managed to get as many famous people into their movie as they did. Chris Pratt voices Emmett, and his performance was simply perfect. Will Ferrell voices the villain, and again, it was spectacular. Other big names include Elizabeth Banks as the female lead Lucy, Will Arnett as Batman (whoever came up with this idea was a genius), Liam Neeson as a cop with a personality disorder, and Morgan Freeman as an old wizard. It was so cool to hear all these people’s voices in one film, and all of the casting fit perfectly. I was very impressed.

But as funny and star-studded as The Lego Movie is, it also has a lot of heart. I won’t give any major plot points away, but as you watch the film, you slowly learn that there’s more to it than just a bunch of Lego people fighting the bad guy. The Lego Movie actually brings up some deep issues and offers some answers that are universal and very satisfying for a viewer of any age. Ultimately, it gives a really positive message that adults and children alike will benefit from hearing, and it presents that message in a compelling, entertaining way.

The Lego Movie is in theaters now, and I can say with 100% certainty that if you go see this movie, you will enjoy it. Take your kids if you have them. Take your significant other if you have one. Take one of your grandparents if you want. I really do think this movie has a universal appeal that most movies cannot achieve. The Lego Movie is going to be on the list of best movies of 2014, so do yourself a favor and go see it. I promise you won’t regret it.

You Are Enough

It’s something we all struggle with. The question, “Am I enough?” For each of us it’s something different. Maybe you want to be smart enough, attractive enough, successful enough. Enough to impress your parents. Enough to be what society tells you you should be. Enough to attract a future spouse. Whatever it is, we all just want to feel like we’re enough. We want that sense of self-worth, of completeness, but no matter how hard we try, it always feels like we aren’t enough.

I find that I struggle with self-worth most often right after a failure. When I get a bad grade on an exam. Or when I say something stupid in front of someone important. Or when I inevitably mess up the tires on my car. Whenever those things happen, I start to get really hard on myself. I tell myself something’s wrong with me. That I’m not good enough. “What is wrong with me?” I ask.

But failure isn’t the only thing that can trigger it. Sometimes it’s caused by something completely out of my control. When someone does something that hurts me. Or when I’m feeling lonely or abandoned. Sometimes it just comes out of nowhere for absolutely no reason. I all of a sudden find myself asking the question, “Am I enough?”

The answer to that question for each of us, as hard as it may be to accept, is yes. You are enough. Just the way you are. Even when you don’t feel like it. Even on your worst day. Even after you’ve done something that you think is unforgivable. Even when you feel like you’re alone and you’ve lost everything and there’s no hope, you can find hope in the fact that you are enough.

We base so much of our worth on the things that we do. How much we are able to achieve. How many mistakes we make. But this isn’t right. What you do is such a small part of who you are. Are your actions important? Yes. Should you take pride in your accomplishments and try to fix your mistakes? Of course. But those things don’t define you. Your worth is not based on the things that you do. You are worth so much more than that.

Your worth also isn’t based on what other people expect of you. So many people have complexes because they can’t fit into the idealized image of what society says they should be, but the truth is that no one fits that. It’s part of the reason why we have so much trouble accepting that we are enough. Forget what society says you should be. If they’re telling you you’re not enough, then they’re wrong.

Finally—and this is a tough one—your worth isn’t based on how other people treat you. The truth is that we live in a broken world, and people are going to mistreat you. They might even try to make you feel like it’s your fault when they do mistreat you. And when people do that, it’s hard to see yourself as worth anything. I get that. I’ve been there. But the truth is that you are worth so much, and the fact that someone else can’t see that is not your problem. It’s theirs. People who try to devalue others probably don’t have a very high opinion of themselves and have to compensate by tearing others down. If only each of us could just accept the fact that we are enough. You are enough.

You are a reflection of the God who made you. You are precious to Him. He made you just the way you are with a purpose in mind for your life. He loves you. He wants to do something big through you. And He wants you to know that you are enough. Because to Him, you’re everything. You’re worth dying for. And when He sees you questioning your worth, feeling like you’re not enough, it breaks His heart. He wants you to know that you are enough.

I know it’s hard. I struggle with this constantly. Sometimes I have to pray and ask God to remind me that I’m enough, to remind me who I am to Him. And I pray that for my friends and family, too. It’s a simple message, but it’s hard to accept. I hope and pray that someone who needed to hear this today will read this little rant and be blessed by it. I want everyone reading this to live their lives knowing that they are enough, that they mean something to God and they mean something to me. You are enough.

Byword

I recently discovered that I really enjoy writing. Like, I really enjoy it. It’s a great way for me to think things through and organize my thoughts. It also gives me a chance to express myself in a way that is constructive and healthy. Plus, when I’m done, I have something that I’ve work hard on, can be proud of, and can share with others if I choose to. Writing is great!

Like I said before, this is something I discovered recently. I used to think writing was lame. That’s because my only real experience with writing was with academic writing, something I still find to be lame most of the time. But I tried writing for myself instead of for an assignment, and I found that I really like it. The only problem was that the writing tools I was using were for academic writing, not for creative writing. And that’s when I discovered Byword.

Byword is a simple text editor for Mac and iOS. It allows you to edit rich text (like you would with TextEdit or Wordpad), but the coolest thing about Byword is that it also allows you to write in Markdown. More on that later. Byword syncs your documents between your devices through iCloud or Dropbox. That way, you can start something on your computer and revise it later on your iPhone or iPad. All of the apps are really beautiful. The UI does a good job of not getting the way so that I can just let my creative juices flow.

Another really cool thing about Byword is its publishing capabilities. These options cost a little more, but they are definitely worth it if you’re using Byword to write for a blog or if you want to sync your writings to Evernote. Whenever you’re done writing, you just hit the Publish button, tell Byword where you want to publish to, and it does all the back-end work for you. It’s really cool.

But my favorite thing about Byword, and the reason I chose it as my primary creative writing app, is that it is a Markdown editor. Markdown is a writing language that lets you do HTML-style formatting without having to actually write HTML. Instead, you use symbols to represent common HTML code. For example putting a # before a word or sentence makes it a header. The * symbol is used for italics, and ** is used for bold. It takes a little bit of getting used to, but once you get the hang of it, Markdown is a powerful writing language. And I like it because it makes me feel like I’m doing a little bit of coding along with my creative writing, which is an awesome feeling.

Beautiful user interface on multiple devices. Excellent publishing options. And Markdown support. That’s why I love Byword. I use Byword to write everything for my website. I also use it for my Bible journal and for writing sermons. I once used it to write an email just for fun. Basically, any of my writing that isn’t for school is done in Byword because it’s the best way to write. I would highly suggest Byword to anyone interested in writing. Thank you guys for reading, and I hope you’ll try out Byword. I’ll see you on Tuesday!

Byword is available for $9.99 on the Mac App Store and for $4.99 on the iOS App Store. It’s definitely worth every penny.

Plans Change

This past Sunday (as on most days), I woke up with a plan for how my day was going to go. I was going to go to church, spend the day there, and drive back to school after watching the Super Bowl with my friends. It seemed like a pretty good plan to me. After all, I was the one who came up with it. But my day didn’t turn out that way.

When I woke up, it was sleeting. I didn’t think much of it. I got up, got ready, and headed to church. But I quickly realized that things were not going according to plan. The roads were slick, and just driving from my house to the church was a scary experience. Once I got to the church, I had no idea what I was going to do. I ended up going home after service because the roads were too dangerous for me to drive to school on.

My initial reaction was frustration. Why did my plans have to change? I had to email all of my professors and let them know I’d be missing class, which is not something I enjoy doing. I also had to cancel an allergy appointment, which meant having to rearrange even more plans. Plus, I had no guarantee that the weather would ease up for me to drive to school on Monday. In my head, it all seemed like a big mess, and it upset me.

I think this is a pretty typical reaction when plans get messed up. It is for me, at least. I like to think ahead. I like to know what I’ll be doing at any given time throughout the coming day. I don’t mind a bit of spontaneity every now and then, but for the most part, I’m a planner, and I think a lot of people can relate. Life is just easier when you go in with a plan. You can get more done that way, and there is less room for a wild card to come in and take up all your time. Planning things out just makes sense.

But I think problems arise when we get too attached to our plans, and this is something I really struggle with. Once I’ve got my day planned out, I don’t like it to change. If someone asks me to rearrange something, I am tempted to get annoyed or frustrated with him or her, and I start to feel like my whole plan is falling apart right before my eyes. I mean, we already had it all planned out. Why does it have to change?

That’s the thing, though. Plans do change. It can be for any number of reasons, good or bad. It might be something uncontrollable like the weather, or it might be human error like a friend waking up late on the day of an important meeting. But no matter what the reason, plans are going to change. You could create the most meticulous, beautiful, well-thought-out plan in the world, but by the time that plan comes to fruition, something about it will probably change. And for me (and I think others), that’s really hard to accept.

It’s one thing to accept that plans change when it comes to small things like a lunch meeting or when one leaves for school. Even I can usually talk myself into coming to terms with the fact that plans change on this level. But what about when it’s something bigger than that? What about when your whole life plan is changed? What about when something unexpected, like an illness or the loss of a job, comes in and just completely shatters everything you’ve planned for your life? What then?

I can’t say I know a whole lot about this level of change. But I imagine that you have to do the same thing with these big changes that you do with the small changes. You accept them. You adjust to them. Even if that’s hard, even if it seems impossible, there’s not much else you can do. Sure, you can get upset or try to live in denial, but that’s not going to get you very far. Because like I said before, plans will change. It’s inevitable, and often it’s something we cannot do anything about. So we have to accept it and do what we can with the situation we’re in.

I think life would be a lot easier for myself and the other planners out there if we could keep the simple truth that plans change in mind while we’re making them. If I take the approach that I have a plan, but it’s flexible to some change if need be, I’ll probably be a lot more open to change when it inevitably comes along. I think ultimately all of our plans should be considered temporary pending God’s approval. He has a master plan for our lives, and we should always try to conform our plans to His.

Because when it comes down to it, God knows what’s best for us. His plans are perfect, very much unlike ours. And sometimes, those curveballs that come our way and mess up our plans may just be God’s way of saying, “Hey, that’s not the direction I want you to go!” And not all curveballs are bad. So if you’re a planner like me and things don’t go according to plan, just try to go with it. And if you end up snowed in watching the Super Bowl with your family instead of driving to school, well, maybe that’s OK. After all, plans change. May as well make the most of it.