It was an honor to receive an autographed copy of Sheri Fink‘s newest book, InstaGrateful: Finding Your Bliss in a Social Media World. From the intro, I knew that Sheri and I share a similar outlook on life and her inspiration is the same inspiration which led me to starting this very blog – to inspire others to create a dream-come-true life! I flew through this book in a day and a half.
In Sheri’s words, “The lotus is the symbol for the book as it represents beauty blooming from the mud and sludge in which many of us feel trapped in today’s hyper-busy, highly distracted social media world.” What a beautiful and encouraging sentiment! The lotus visual really resonates with me as I’m sure it does with many others.
This self-help book is unique as Sheri walks us through strategies on how to lead a life filled with the five P’s — Passion, Peace, Power, Prosperity, and Panache while pairing each of the P’s with the best social media platform to aid in achieving that particular P.
Let’s get to it! I won’t spoil too much for you, but these 5 P’s are excellent words to live by!
Here is a breakdown of the 5 P’s from InstaGrateful by Sheri Fink:
#1. Passion
Love what you do and do what you love, am I right? I think it can be easy to get swept up in what you see other people doing on social media and follow the herd. Instead, you should explore your own unique passions that bring you joy and implement your passions into your life as much as possible.
Sheri ties Passion to Facebook which couldn’t be more accurate. In our recent political climate, I would say that people’s passions definitely came through in some controversial posts with strings of comment threads. While these threads can be quite entertaining, they can also be detrimental to our well-being and relationships. Now, I think that’s the worst side of Facebook’s curated passion. To flip the script, you can join and create Facebook groups to connect and have conversations with others who have shared passions and post to your friends about your passions. When you share that you love a certain place, book, restaurant, hobby, etc, it can be really exciting to discover who in your network shares those same passions!
Follow us on Facebook! Here is Sheri’s Facebook page, and here is my Facebook page.
#2. Peace
When I think of peace, I think of practicing yoga and avoiding triggering situations. What brings you peace? Repeatedly I hear about the benefits of journaling and meditating for peace but I must admit, that I haven’t quite worked those into my routine yet. The closest that I have gotten to journaling is this blog and writing down my to do list. I find peace in getting everything out of my head and onto paper and then crossing off each completed item. Ah, bliss.
Would you agree that using Pinterest makes you feel relaxed? Sheri says, “I find Pinterest to be more self-driven and less reliant on interactions with others. I use Pinterest as a personal, virtual vision board with the goals and adventures I hope to have in the future.”
Pinterest can be the source of inspiration for a plethora of things. When I’m trying to decide on what color to paint my nails, home decor ideas, popular haircuts, recipes, etc I often peruse Pinterest. Additionally, I do use it for work as well. When ideating and visualizing for design projects, I will use Pinterest to search for photos for mood boards and I must admit that it is a fun, enjoyable process.
Follow us on Pinterest! Here is Sheri’s Pinterest and here is my Pinterest.
If journaling does bring you peace, check out Sheri’s My Bliss Book for an inspiring 12 week journey.
#3. Power
I think we can all agree that feeling empowered is important. You can feel powerful when you overcome a fear or anxiety that was holding you back, when you move your body and feel fit, and when you stand up for what you believe in and empower others.
The power of Twitter is instantaneous. You can get the most up-to-date news, stay connected, and have your voice heard. This is the easiest platform to post quickly in real time and to see trending topics. Knowledge is power!
Follow Sheri on Twitter! Here is Sheri’s Twitter account.
#4. Prosperity
Having financial security, happiness, and health all tie into leading a prosperous life. It’s hard to flourish and thrive without these factors. Your career and business opportunities often factor into prosperity and feeling successful.
Having a LinkedIn account is one of the best things that you can do for your professional presence online. In addition to staying in touch with your professional connections, the platform has been huge asset for staying on top of industry trends, for finding job opportunities, and for hiring new talent.
Want to brighten up your LinkedIn connections in an instant? Here is Sheri’s LinkedIn Page. She is rocking rainbow colored hair in her profile photo. Which leads me right into our final P…
#5. Panache
Panache, pronounced puh-nash means “flamboyant confidence of style or manner”. The word panache is definitely not used regularly enough, I love it! I think that Sheri is a great example of someone who lives her life with panache.
This reminds me of the popular saying, “Never let anyone dull your sparkle.” Being confident in who you are and outwardly expressing it is the best thing that you can do for yourself and the world.
It makes sense that my favorite P word would be paired with my favorite social media platform. Instagram is fun and easy to use. It is very photo heavy and visual and with features such as stories and reels, you can effectively display your unique personality and panache.
Catch our latest and greatest on Instagram. Here is Sheri’s Instagram and here is my Instagram.
Who better to write a self help book than an inspirational speaker who believes in magic? Thank you for this delightful read, Sheri! Incorporating or improving the presence of these 5 P’s IRL is much more important than improving your social media presence. Your true happiness offline is more important than your highlight reel of happiness online. If social media can amplify your happiness and be a means of sharing your happiness, than by all means, embrace it and use it for good! I find that reading books like InstaGrateful by Sheri Fink help me further achieve that happiness offline.
You can purchase InstaGrateful: Finding Your Bliss in a Social Media world on Amazon or through Sheri’s website.
I applaud self-published authors like Sheri. My friend, Annie Franceschi is also a self-published author. If you enjoy supporting these authors as much as I do, check out 5 Reasons Why You Should Read Permission To Try By Annie Franceschi as well and get a copy of these authors’ books to read pronto!