I’m proud to announce that I’ve completed the Social Media Management certificate from Coursera, in collaboration with Meta and Aptly. Since the certificate is digital, I am using a generated image of me in this post.
My certificate is here.
It took me longer than most students to finish. Yes, I dragged my feet. Yesterday, while talking to a client about procrastination, my own advice boomeranged back to me. We often avoid things we don’t want to face. And more often than not, we’re in denial about something.
My denial was that I’m not good at social media. Completing this course meant facing that truth head-on, seeing in detail the areas where I felt lost or inadequate.
If you were born between 1965 and 1980, you’re a certified Gen Xer like me. We didn’t grow up with phones in our hands. We were trained in analog, and now we’re learning to live in an increasingly digital world. It can be overwhelming.
My truth is Soc Med is a pain in the a$$. I’d rather not engage with it. But I need to face reality. We all know that when reality and idealism clash, reality usually wins. Y’all know I am a realist.
The course covered the vocabulary of the current trends: content creation, analytics, calendars, branding, threads, reels, and streams. But before I got swept up in it all, I had to return to my “why.”
Why take this course when I could just hire someone?
Because I’m a frugal Chinoy so I don’t spend unnecessarily.
Because I’m entrepreneurial so I want to learn the ropes myself.
Even if I don’t become an expert, and even if I eventually hire an assistant (yes, that’s the dream, and more on that later), I still want to get my hands dirty.
My “why” is this: My words, insights, and creations should reach the people who need them. If I want my work to find its audience, I need to show up where those people are. I can’t empower others if they never find me.
Taking the course helped me visualize social media as a kind of truck—a mobile news truck, a vehicle for distributing content. In that vision, I’m the one driving, operating, and broadcasting from that truck. The goal is to use that tool intentionally and effectively.
Moreover, I know myself as a deep thinker and seeker of wisdom, as well as a responsible mom and role model to my clients. I’m a licensed psychologist, and I should practice what I preach. I want to make social media work for me. I refuse to let an algorithm dictate my worth or allow myself to be consumed by it. If I’m going to tell my clients—and my kids—not to be addicted to social media and to trust their inner wisdom, then I need to do the same.
Take, for instance, the part of the course (and advice from other authors) that kept telling me to post videos. But I had to draw the line. That’s not me. Maybe someday I’ll have someone film and edit videos with me. But doing it all myself? No deal. Finis. Once I made that ultimatum to myself, I was finally able to move forward and complete the course.
Another thorn on my side was the section on metrics. I still don’t like data analytics. I just want to know: Did this reach someone who needed it? Did it feel real? I measure impact through heartfelt messages, thoughtful comments, and the occasional “thank you” in my inbox. Once I made peace with that truth, I moved forward.
In the middle of the course, I was preparing for my first book launch. So, I hired a short-term social media assistant. My main reason was to see a Gen Z pro in action. I wanted to learn what I can do, and what I don’t need, can’t, or don’t want to do. Watching her work was a lesson worth every peso.
My short-term assistant overhauled my Facebook Page, revived my barely-there Instagram, and created templates I still use today. But more than anything, it was the companionship and creative nudging that I valued most. (ChatGPT does not count as human.) That person-to-person interaction gave me the encouragement I needed to believe I can get to my ideal social media destination…some aspects now, and some in the future.
Because the dream is this: one day, others will post about me, and I won’t need to be on social media posting about myself. That will be the time when I’ll just maintain a website and blog like Seth Godin. I also fantasize about having a dedicated assistant to handle the nitty-gritty social media stuff—all of it—while I just do the writing and the clinical work.
When my time with my assistant ended, I returned to my ENTJ, Gen Xer self: independent and effective, sans blah blah blah.
In the end, this course and my procrastination weren’t really about social media. As a Chinoy, business and entrepreneurship are in my blood. My dad passed that on to me, and I want to honor the best parts of that legacy.
Self-help psychology teaches that we should celebrate our wins.
So here I am, saying:
Hooray, I made it.
I did! I worked on myself! I said no to self-sabotage!
The featured image on this blog was AI-generated by me using free tools, namely ChatGPT, Canva, and Leonardo AI. I use these images to support my written content creatively and cost-effectively.
