Quote of the day: We have to become super present in the real world with our communities to start to push back on these influences. — Jessica Elefante
Quick note: Given everything happening in the world and the news right now it can often feel frivolous and almost ridiculous to continue with regularly scheduled programming. But I also truly believe that we need a small dose of something besides terror and tragedy to keep us afloat during difficult times. So even as I mourn and pray for those being impacted so viciously right now, I want to bring you some small things to shift your brain, even for a few minutes.
Here’s something ridiculous for you that will hopefully make you laugh. I was scrolling through some #tradwife account the other day and she said “if you’re feeling down and you need a pick me up, put on a dress and wear it around the house.” I changed out of my ratty sweats and put on a Doen prairie dress and started flouncing about my day. And then I feel down the stairs. Because my house and my life and my body are not made for constant dress wearing. Yet….I was influenced to try it.
And this week we are talking about how to quit being influenced. And we are doing it with none other than a massive former bullshit artist herself Jessica Elefante. I waxed poetic about Jessica in our last newsletter, but now I get to release our entire podcast episode about how to quit being influenced by the nefarious forces that are constantly trying to sell us things. Releasing this now, as Amazon Prime deals start infiltrating our inboxes and social feeds, feels right. We are being constantly pushed to consume and consume and consume and it is making us feel crazy because it also makes us believe we can never have enough. Of course there’s also the massive damage it is doing to our planet, nevermind our souls.
Influence is everywhere. My podcast wouldn't exist if it weren't. Thanks for listening, guys. Love you all. But maybe one of these days, we will solve the problem and I won't have to make the show anymore. Until then, we're gonna keep chugging along. Because here's the truth about influence: We're bombarded with it constantly. And frankly, we are all exhausted by it. Our lives are being choreographed by forces that always want something from us. Mind altering algorithms create our foundations and warp how we see the world. They manipulate our decisions, and frankly, they even dictate our beliefs.
Yet, rarely do we question these everyday influences of our modern times, even as we go further down the path of being unwell, unhappy, unhinged. That is the reason that I recently picked up the book Raising Hell, Living Well by Jessica Elefante. Jessica is now a reformed bullshit artist, much as I am a reformed celebrity journalist, and she wants to help you to see the bullshit, to quit the Influence. She has gone from influence creator to influence fixer and today we are lucky enough to have her walk us through what influence is and how we can one day overcome it.
This is a slightly abbreviated and vaguely enhanced version of our podcast interview.
Jo: Who were you in a past life?
Jessica: I was a sales monster. I was a master wheeler dealer. I wanted to be an artist. I wanted to be a writer, but instead I accidentally fell face first into a world of influencing people, persuading people, sometimes manipulating people on behalf of brands and the companies I was working for. And when I finally realized the epic drain of what I had done to myself and the world around me it was influence that was sitting at the crux of everything.
Jo: I want you to define what you think influence is.
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