I follow UberFacts on Twitter. My husband, Scott, turned me on to it. Anyway, a few days ago UberTweets had tweeted that President Obama read all of the Harry Potter books to his girls.
I retweeted it because I thought it was wonderful that President Obama reads to his children (any parent who reads to their child is awesome in my book, regardless of their job title) and also because I thought it was cool that the President of the United States read Harry Potter.
It wasn't about politics for me. I wasn't even thinking about politics. It was about Harry Potter. But of course, someone sent me a wave of heated tweets telling me to stay out of politics. After putting down Obama, they followed with "people follow you for food facts, not politics!"
I have a personal page on Facebook that's separate from Happy Herbivore's Facebook page and once in a while this happens there too. Since it's my personal page (keyword: personal) I express myself there. I always have. I rarely talk about Happy Herbivore on my personal page outside of sharing news a la "I signed a new book deal!"
Some of my posts are silly. For example last week, this was one of my updates:
"At least once a day I have to Google an abbreviation. I'm just not hip. I tweeted this confession and was met with "Lmaoshmsfoaidmt" as a reply. It's the abbreviation for Laughing My A** Off So Hard My Sombrero Fell Off And I Dropped My Taco." You're welcome." Some of them are my musings on life -- I've recently taken to posting my daily life lesson, because the universe always has something new to teach me every day. Anyway, since it's my personal page (and not my business page) I get personal on it, which includes making political comments from time to time. I do it on twitter too. My life is not only about food. My life isn't only Happy Herbivore. Yes I am Happy Herbivore but I'm also Lindsay Shay Nixon and I was Lindsay Shay Nixon first. Point is, as I became a "public figure" I took care to stay true to myself, and be myself, and be both uncensored and real --- not become vanilla or yellow, muted to appease everyone like a politician pandering to the masses, because I couldn't live with such dishonesty. I can only be me. and I'll always be myself on my personal page. and twitter. perhaps now more than ever. I have to believe it was who I am that got me where I am today. So why would I change now? Success will not scare me away from my true self. If I've offend you, I'm sorry, that was not my intent, but it's hard to exist without bumping elbows from time to time. I choose to love and respect people who are different than me in every way. It enriches my life, and hope you do too. In my opinion, the world needs more color. I'm happy being bright yellow. Or neon green. What color would you pick for me? I can't be two people. Being two people would be exhausting. and it wouldn't be minimalist. If you've ever felt like you had to be two people -- ask yourself why? and would it be worth it? Wouldn't it be easier, simpler to just be yourself? I've played that game, and now I'm just me. No matter the costs. Don't let anyone tell you how to live your life. Be authentic. Be you.
