Avoid Becoming a Meme

Take Pen to Paper: Edition 87

May 23, 2024

Hi Friends!

Each week when I sit down to write, I think about what has inspired me and what might inspire you.

Finding inspiration is usually easy for me, but I try to avoid one trap that is ever present in today’s connected society.

You will want to avoid it, too.

In this newsletter:

We seek change.
The trap to avoid.
Know who you are.

Change and Inspiration

In my What makes you "you"? (January 18, 2024), I wrote about being grateful for who you are. There is no one else like you. You are appreciated by others as you are because you are you.

Still, if you are like me, you desire to change and grow in some capacity. You should never lose the desire to learn and enhance your life.

It’s natural to look outside of ourselves for inspiration. We consume new information through reading, watching, and experiencing. Some of our consumption a result what we are exposed to in our life. Some of it is purposeful.

Each time we consume what is in our environment, we pick up little inspirations that burst with creativity about something we can say or do in an effort to learn and grow. It happens as easily as hearing someone say thank you and, in turn, feeling the thanks that we need to express. What we say and do can inspire others in the same way.

It’s a constant cycle of pulling in inspiration, acting on it, and inspiring others.

The inspiration we pull in shouldn’t change our core being, so we are no longer ourselves. That’s where the trap pops up.

Traps Appeal To Us

The traps I’m referring to are memes.

I always thought of a meme as a funny picture on the internet that you see over and over. Sometimes the caption will change but the picture stays the same. Popular internet memes are passed around endlessly.

The definition of a meme is “an element of a culture or system of behavior passed from one individual to another by imitation or other nongenetic means.

So, you can become a meme by imitating others. This is fine if you don’t lose what makes you ‘you’ in the imitation.

For example, when I started writing, I joined an online cohort that taught the basics of writing on the internet as a career—a free newsletter leads to followers, which leads to a paid newsletter, and that leads to a product to sell. I learned a lot in the class. If I hadn’t participated, I wouldn't have two newsletters.

I could easily have imitated what so many others are doing successfully. I could have chosen the path of writing as a new career. I’m writing anyway, so why not? That’s where the meme becomes a trap. Everyone else is doing it, so why not me?

What is OK for everyone else wasn’t for me. I write and share what I write for fun. I hope I teach something or inspire someone. Everyone needs gratitude, good, and journaling in their life. I want my payout in knowing I helped spread those habits.

Self-knowledge Pays Off

In our efforts to grow and enhance your life, you really need to know yourself.

There are ways to change that still fit in with your uniqueness, like my expansion from this newsletter to my second newsletter on journaling or branching out from watercolors to acrylics (I’m still on the fence about that).

You will learn about yourself as you take action on the inspiration you get from others. This newsletter post was inspired by two other newsletters I read this week. That’s how inspiration works. When you are inspired, you take what works for you. Then, you leave the rest because it doesn’t work for you.

Inspiration is out there. We just need to act on what inspires us and weigh it against what we know of ourselves. Take the inspiration and make it your own.

Those who appreciate you appreciate you for who you are now. You don’t have to be a meme of anyone else. Inspiration leading to growth is a bonus.

7 Days, 7 Thoughts on Gratitude and Good:

When I saw my granddaughter’s picture from her first trip to the dentist, my response was, “That’s a meme!” because that is exactly how I feel every time I go to the dentist. 🦷🪥
The study of memes involves more than you think. This brief Wikipedia entry scratches the surface.
We are more familiar with internet memes, a term coined in 1993. Here is more about that.
I’m grateful for the inspiration I get from what I consume in my day-to-day life, especially from other creators. 💡
It’s good to actively seek ways to grow and enhance your life.
I’m grateful to have the self-knowledge needed to know what will inspiration will work for me.
Here are some memes as you normally think of them. I wasn’t familiar with all 50 memes on the list. I appreciated the background information to help me understand them. 🖼️

Thank you for reading. This week, take some time to think about where you get your inspiration.

Until next time,

💚

Susan

What inspiration have you acted on that had a positive response? Leave a comment and tell me about it.

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