Why "Enhanced Social Connectedness"
The truth is, I read these words and they resonated with me when I was trying to name what my show was about in early 2019. It wasn't like I was doing something profound, going LIVE every day about a different topic. One day a listener said "you really need to name your show, there needs to be a theme, you need to get focused on just one topic".
But just one topic limited me to reaching just one type of person. I guess you could say "unofficially" way back when...my sister committed suicide. No one labeled it that, she just stopped taking her insulin properly, was a Juvenile Diabetic and had some things happen to her that were very traumatic that led to her to believe there was no reason to live. Things that to this day have not been shared. Things that no one should ever have to go through. Things that could have been prevented.
So, I withdrew. I am a thinker, a worker, a strategist, a marketer, a massive action taker, street smart and book smart. But when it came to being there and connecting with her at the time she needed people the most, we were all just caught up in our own worlds and just didn't think it was ...to that point.
Fast forward 20 years. I start going LIVE daily with an inner drive to connect with people "that frankly, came out of nowhere". I think I scared my family the most, they thought I was going crazy. ("Cheryl is sharing absolutely everything about her life online, there is a problem, I don't know what she is doing")
Well, not everything!
It' like this art of storytelling, connecting and being able to pull someone out of their perceived "life of struggle" was buried so far down that until I started going live, I didn't realize, but now I do.
So why share all this in this article now? well there is a reason, I am getting to it.
I finally decided to name the LIVE show I was doing. I mean, seriously I did some crazy stuff. One day I drove to pick up my mail at the UPS store and just decided that day I would setup my camera and just film myself taking everything out of my trunk of my car and talking about where I got it, where it came from and why it's still sitting in there. I called this Livestream day "Junk in Your Trunk".
It was so average, ridiculous, crazy, real topics that everyone totally related and connected and started looking forward to the show. I discussed Life, Death, Suicide, why brunettes have ore fun, Opioid crisis, violence in schools, health issues like hormones, fitness, weight loss, songs, music, even did a Karaoke day. I know people (lots of people) thought I was going through a mid-life crisis...NOPE!
Listeners started telling me that if it weren't for the show, they wouldn't be alive. "What?" yes, they started telling me that because of my show, they had a reason to live. This created some pressure, but not really I was just connecting. They needed connection, they needed to feel heard, they needed someone to just relate (NOT FIX their problems).
So one day I just looked up Suicide in the dictionary, they had the Suicide Hotline number and below it..it read.
What Is Connectedness?
In 2011, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) adopted promoting connectedness as its strategic direction for preventing suicidal behavior.1 The CDC defines connectedness as “the degree to which a person or group is socially close, interrelated, or shares resources with other persons or groups.”
So that day, my SHOW officially became titled and it's purpose was to: ENHANCE SOCIAL CONNECTEDNESS.
Today all everyone talks about is being socially distanced, ironic!
I tell this story because, I was meant to be the connection point for the person who just needs to see that one thing, hear that one thing or read that one thing, that changes their direction in life.
Since telling the greatest stories in the world, in film, in TV, in Movies is one way to connect with people, it's my passion to be and help content creators who are also passionate about sharing their story.
I think my focus when it comes to entertainment for the most part (focuses on things based on a true story) but embellished or added to - not necessarily a documentary.
Everyone has a story in them, but not all stories are worth telling, and not all stories are going to sell out in the movies. Some stories are only important to you, no one really cares.
Someone who has an experience in them that is so profound, so crazy, so gripping that it would almost be impossible to make it up is what I look for and then I help them connect with streaming networks.
Today I hope to help one person feel "A LIVE"
~Cheryl