Okay, you guys, it’s time.
Time for another dose of Obnoxious Positivity in Voiceover Land.
Time to send some Extra Sparkly Joy-Filled Delight into the hearts of those haters.
Time to Smash the Patriarchy, social media style.
This week, I posted on LinkedIn an absolutely delightful quote from one of my eLearning clients as a testimonial graphic. It was pretty, it was attention-grabbing, it was utterly positive because that email from my client made my day.
And of course, being filled with the Joy and Rapture of Voiceover Success, some colleagues and connections commented positively about what great feedback it was and other general congratulatory things. As is The Way, because here in Voiceover Land, we love one another and we celebrate one another’s success.
We pause here for a flashback montage:
Over the last few weeks on Linkedin, I have received some rather strange messages from a man I don’t know. Let’s call him, hmmm, the self-appointed Designated Operative of Patriarchal Enforcement. From the first message, he was clearly not interested in me as a voiceover artist or fellow businessperson.
He wanted me to look at some dress designs. Then he wanted some feedback on his website. I didn’t respond to these messages. If I recall correctly (I can no longer see these messages for reasons which will become clear), I said nought to him but an initial cursory “hi, great to meet you”.
Then, Mr D.O.P.E asked for my “heel size”. I don’t even know what that means. Does that mean my shoe size? The height of my high heels? What? I did not reply. If a random internet D.O.P.E wants to get kinky with my feet, he’s gonna have to try harder than that.
So, back to the Joy and Rapture of Voiceover Success. As I was faffing about on Linkedin, replying to lovely comments, up popped a message from Mr D.O.P.E. And another, and another.
Here’s what they said:
“Sumara”
“U have over confidence.”
“Which cause you mental illness.”
“good luck to your mind set.”
“bye”
I stared at these messages, and I thought to myself, well, huh.
Here I was thinking that being confident in yourself and celebrating your successes was actually really good for one’s mental and physical health.
When you feel confident you tend to make decisions that are good for you and your health. You are more likely to take care of yourself, get out and about, be active, and choose healthier foods. Confidence can also give you a positive outlook on life, increasing your mental and emotional wellbeing. – Jean Hailes
Does Mr D.O.P.E. know something I, and a bunch of easily-googleable experts, don’t?
Or is Mr D.O.P.E. … a hater? Does he lack the Joy and Delight of Self-Confidence? Does he think, like his patriarchal overlords, that an assertive, fabulous, talented woman who knows her own worth is somehow a threat?
Probably.
Well, sir, this is all I have to say to you and your D.O.P.E. friends:
Truthfully, I did attempt to reply to Mr D.O.P.E.’s missives with an extremely confident and overly friendly message about how my self-confidence is just perfect, thank you very much – and that my heel size is none of his business! – but as I was typing, the messages disappeared and up came a notice “Are these messages spam or harassment? Click to report this user.” Thanks, LinkedIn. 🙂
So the poor ol’ D.O.P.E. missed out on my life-affirming reply – but hey, you don’t miss out! You get to read it right here, in a much more polished and Joyously Positive format:
Your self-confidence is a super-power. You know your talents and abilities, and you know what you’re worth. Your voiceover business is wonderful, and the hard work you put into it deserves recognition.
Haters are just people who want to be more like you, but don’t know how to do it. Forgive them, watch them drift past and keep them out of your head. I mean, first, you could write a blog post about them, I guess. THEN, get ‘em outta your head!
Every moment of triumph from booking your first job, to getting the attention of an awesome casting person, to hearing yourself on TV, to receiving a genuine piece of day-making feedback from a client, is there for the celebrating. Love yourself silly!
Thanks for all the Joyful, Encouraging, and Simply Fabulous support, Voiceover Land! I love you guys.
Images by myself, @DimaBerlin, @shanatant , and @wanaktek via Twenty20.
Loving the retro coloured text.
Also, could you consider changing one word? This line says, “Time to send some Extra Sparkly Joy-Filled Delight into the hearts of those haters.”
After considering the context, I was wondering if if could read, “Time to send some Extra Spanky Joy-Filled Delight into the hearts of those haters.”
Thats all I got. Thanks for the read Sumara.
Spanky! They probably do need some spank action, those haters, for sure!
Listen. I’ve already apologized for my messages. Please unblock me. And I still need your heel size, thanks.
Okay, but if you really need my heel size, it’s going to come with a very long and very obnoxious lecture about your beliefs around self-confidence, starting with the fact that self-confidence is, in fact, a super-power, evidenced by the fact that there’s a dude called the Super Voiceover and he wrote Super Voiceover Books, and everything he owns, probably, has a Super VO logo on it, and THAT dude has astounding self-confidence, and so, ergo, therefore, it follows, as has been suggested, that self-confidence is a tremendously, positively, amazing superpower that should be utilised and demonstrated and recognised and emboldened and… is this lecture long enough yet? No?
*gasp*
Self-confidence and obnoxious positivity are aligned, if you will, that is, for these reasons, as demonstrated, with the life-enhancing philosophy of Positive Thinking, which…. is…. um, good. And stuff.
Sumara
U have over confidence.
Which cause you mental illness.
good luck to your mind set.
bye
OH NO. 😂
I thought that said Super VO YOGA up there- and I was like Wow, Josh really does it all. I’m a bit disappointed that it’s just logo…😂😂😂
Now there’s a good idea, Aleesha! Josh, it’s time for Super VO YOGA. You know you want to!
Smash the patriarchy like a jack-o’-lantern one week after Halloween!!
“Which cause you mental illness.”
Congrats on your healthy perspective, which this individual seems to believe to be mental illness.
Some people can never be pleased, and often they project that unhappiness or unwell-ness onto other people. And some people just plain suck!
Yeah! Smash it good!
Thanks, Michael. Definitely taking your words about health over random social media hater. 💪
I love this so much, but heel size…ewwwww!!!!
Thank you Aleesha! 😁
I know. It was an… interesting one. … I don’t even have pretty feet! 😂
Definitely a dude with his dial set to max cringe.
I love your confidence, the smile in your voice (and your writing) and all of the fabulous fabulosity that is fabulously Sumara.
This:
“If a random internet D.O.P.E wants to get kinky with my feet, he’s gonna have to try harder than that.” This made me laugh out loud, which made my boss notice, which led to questions about what I was doing at my desk, which led to an investigation, which led to an hour long meeting with Human Resources, which led to my being fired, but it was soo worth it! Who needs a steady income anyway?
Never let anyone talk you down from the heights of being your best you.
Thank you Jon!
If you need some cash now that you’re broke, you’re welcome to use that quote as a prompt for writing the next great novel (there aren’t enough novels about social media creeps, after all), which I’m sure will sell millions, et voila! You’ll be paying bills again. In 2035, maybe.