Experience Life Fully: Breaking Free From Social Media Addiction Through UGC
Have you ever been physically present with your family but mentally planning your next Instagram caption? Or felt that sinking feeling that if you didn’t document a moment, it somehow didn’t count?
If you’ve ever relied on social media for income—or even just validation—you know exactly what I’m talking about.
In this episode, I’m pulling back the curtain on my 11-year journey through network marketing and social selling, and how discovering UGC (user-generated content) completely transformed not just my business model, but my relationship with my family, my phone, and myself.
Because here’s what I’ve learned: our kids don’t need us performing our lives. They need us living in them.
When Every Moment Becomes Content
“For the first time in a long time, specifically during the holiday season, I didn’t feel the need to document everything. I didn’t feel like I had to post every moment to prove that it actually happened. And what surprised me the most was how peaceful that felt.”
That peace didn’t come naturally. For over a decade with Beachbody and as an affiliate for multiple brands, my world revolved around what I call the “performance trap.”
Life events weren’t just life events—they became content opportunities. Birthdays. Vacations. Even quiet Sunday mornings making pancakes for my girls. Everything had to be captured, curated, and posted, because in the world of social selling, visibility equals value.
Or so I thought.
The Hidden Cost of Always Being “On”
“I spent so much time mentally split—present, but also thinking about the post. Like I was physically there, but my husband could tell that I was thinking about the caption or the timing of it.”
Even announcing my first pregnancy was a calculated decision, timed strategically around my business goals and the opinions I knew would flood my social media.
And here’s the thing that nobody talks about in the social selling world: there’s always this underlying pressure that if you’re not visible, someone else will be.
If you’re in network marketing, you know exactly what I mean. Those end-of-year benchmarks—Premier, Elite, whatever your company calls them. Those massive holiday sales. That constant feeling that if you don’t post, Sally Sue is going to post first, and Susie Q is going to click her link instead of yours.
If you’re not showing up in life, you start to feel like you’re not working hard enough because social media is your job. It just felt like not only was I trying to curate a perfect feed, but it had to fit in a certain timeline. And honestly, it took a lot of joy out of moments that should have felt full.
The UGC Shift That Changed Everything
There is one thing that changed everything for me when it comes to social media, and that is UGC—user-generated content.
When I transitioned into UGC, something powerful happened. My work became deliverable-based instead of validation-based. Instead of creating content and hoping someone would click my link or join my team, I was creating content for brands with clear deadlines, agreed-upon rates, and—most importantly—boundaries between my work and my personal life.
“UGC allows me to be creative, but also flexible, and most importantly, private. My value is no longer tied to how much of my personal life I am sharing.”
Look at my Instagram feed today versus three years ago, and you’ll see the transformation. Three years ago, at least half of those first nine squares would have been my personal life — workouts, results, family moments — all carefully curated to promote Beachbody while maintaining that “I’m not selling, I’m sharing” vibe.
Today? My feed is specifically focused on teaching people how to earn money online without network marketing, without posting their entire lives, without turning every family vacation into a content creation opportunity.
What’s great about it is I’m still working, I’m still earning an income, I’m still getting to use my creative juices. But now I don’t have to turn every meaningful moment with my family into content.
The Truth About Big Influencer Life
Before you think, “Well, some people make it work!” — let me tell you about the reality behind those perfectly curated feeds.
I have a dear friend who used to be part of my downline. She now has hundreds of thousands of followers and gets paid significant income from brands upfront as a sponsored influencer. Sounds like the dream, right?
There’s no getting sick in her family because she has deadlines that she has to meet for brands that she’s getting paid significant income for. She’s part of a management company. So they’re pulling from whatever deals that she gets because essentially they’re landing her the deal. They get a commission off of that. It’s not all rainbows and lollipops.
The truth is, those big influencers with hundreds of thousands of followers? They’re the 1% of content creators, just like the top earners in network marketing are the 1% of their companies.
The 99 of people, the 99.99, quite frankly, need UGC, need to become an Amazon influencer. You don’t need the perfectly curated feed. You don’t have to have the beautiful aesthetic home, you know, where your sheets match your underwear kind of thing. You don’t need that. There’s a better way, and a better way that’s going to allow you to be present with your family.
What Your Kids Will Actually Remember
Our kids are only little once. My oldest is about to turn four. I can’t even believe it. I’m staring at her little handprint that my husband and I did within the first week of her being born, right in front of me. And I can’t even believe that that was four years ago almost.
This is where it gets real.
“Your kids don’t care. And they certainly won’t remember the photo angles or the filters you’re using or ‘oh, that was the perfect caption.’ What they’re going to remember is you being on the floor with them playing Candyland. They’re going to remember you showing up, laughing together, listening to one another.”
Three years ago, I would have made absolutely sure you knew via Instagram that I made sourdough pancakes on a Sunday morning. Mom of the year, right? Healthy breakfast, look at me go! “You want the recipe? Click here and I’ll send it to you!”
I understand why women do it, and I’m not hating on those that do and are very successful at it. I acknowledge. But the constant pressure to perform? Those moments quietly slip away, not all at once, but little by little. And you’re on this hamster wheel.
The UGC Income Blueprint
5 Practical Ways to Protect Your Presence (Starting Today)
Here’s what I’m doing—and what you can start implementing right now:
1. Put Your Phone on Do Not Disturb During Family Time
Start with a few hours. As soon as I am done with work and I am on my way home, I put it on Do Not Disturb. Especially when I have off the next day, because I’m creating boundaries with my students, with my coworkers, with everyone.
Don’t worry about what people will think. “It doesn’t matter. It’s your family, and family comes first. You need to be present during those meaningful moments because you never know when they’re going to happen.”
2. Take One or Two Photos—Then Put the Phone Away
You don’t need to have a montage. You don’t need to video everything. Think about those people at concerts who video record every single song. You paid hundreds and hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars for that ticket. Why are you watching it through your phone?
The same applies to family time. Hit the beach? Take one photo, maybe two. Then be there.
3. Set Time Limits on Social Scrolling
This is something that you do for your kids, right? Because your kids have zero sense of time. When you’re at the park and say “five minutes left,” you set an alarm. When it goes off, it’s time to go.
You need to do the same thing for social scrolling. How many times have you said you’re getting off at 10:00, and suddenly it’s 10:19? The algorithm is throwing everything that it knows you want to see at you. Where did the last 25 minutes go?
4. Ask Yourself WHY Before Posting
Before you post anything, whether it’s on your stories or on your feed, you need to ask yourself: Am I sharing this because I want to, and I want a special place on my feed for it, a memory I can look back on? Or do I feel like I’m posting it for validation, or because I feel like I should?
This hit home for me last Thanksgiving. I told my husband, “Oh my gosh, I didn’t even take a picture of the four of us.” His response? “It’s okay. We have thousands of pictures. It doesn’t mean that we didn’t have a great Thanksgiving or that the girls weren’t dressed adorably.”
That was for ourselves. It didn’t have to be for the whole world.
5. Create Moments That Naturally Pull You Offline
You can’t be present if you also have your phone in your hand. Do activities that take the phone out of your hand—cooking together, baking together, reading, watching a movie. With sports, you’re in the pool, you’re playing golf, pickleball, whatever. When you’re doing those things, you literally can’t be on your phone. So you have to be present.
The Permission You’ve Been Waiting For
“You just have to give yourself permission to let that moment be enough. You don’t have to do anything else. You don’t have to post it. You don’t have to take a video or a photo. You don’t have to send it out in a mass group text to your family.”
Even with loved ones who aren’t nearby. My parents are with us in Florida seven months a year. I don’t feel the need to take 50 million photos every single day and send them. It’s just not necessary.
Why This Matters in February
It’s February, so a lot of those resolutions are kind of going by the wayside. If one of your New Year’s resolutions had to do with social media boundaries or phone time (and let’s be honest, it probably did), this is your moment to recommit.
This is a boundary that I’m choosing to keep. And it’s not because social media is bad. Listen, I earn an income from social media. I’ve met amazing people through social media, even in network marketing. It’s provided me so many things.
But here’s the gift: “I’ve learned how much more my kids get when I’m fully there.”
The Flexibility That UGC Provides
One of the biggest differences between UGC and traditional social selling or influencing? Flexibility when life happens.
If your deadline is somewhat near a birthday, a holiday, or whatever, you have the ability to talk to the brand and let them know. Do you know how many times I’ve talked to a brand? I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, I meant to go record this this week but my kid’s sick. Can I have a three-day extension?’ Yeah, sure, no problem. You’ve created quality content for us before. Life happens.
Try doing that when you’re an affiliate racing against other affiliates for clicks, or when you’re in network marketing and someone else in your upline is posting while you’re dealing with a sick toddler.
A Moment Doesn’t Lose Value Because It Wasn’t Shared
“If you’re feeling that pull to share more, show more, post more, hear this: It’s okay to step back. It’s okay to keep the moments private. And it’s okay if your memories live in your heart instead of your feed.”
Your children aren’t going to remember what you posted. They’re going to remember how you made them feel.
So I am choosing presence over pressure. I hope you join me not just during special seasons, but all year long.
The Gratitude I Feel
I thank God every day that when I wasn’t this way, I didn’t have kids. I’m learning that you go through things for a reason and seasons. And I’m eternally grateful that God put network marketing and going hard in the paint on social media — all the things — prior to having children, because I would have hated to miss every little moment that I’ve had with them because of my bad habits that I used to have.
If you do have children and you’re where I was just three years ago, I encourage you to make this boundary for yourself and protect your family.
“The most meaningful moments don’t need an audience. They don’t need captions or validation. It’s just you.”
Ready to Earn Income Without Performing Your Life?
If you’re a creator, mom, or entrepreneur looking for a way to earn income online without being part of a network marketing company or turning every family moment into content, my UGC Income Blueprint course is exactly what you need.
You’ll learn how to:
- Create scroll-stopping content that brands actually want to pay for
- Pitch to brands with confidence and land your first paid deals
- Price your services so you’re getting what you’re worth
- Build a portfolio with projects you already own—no huge following required
Whether you’re working around nap time, have a full-time job, or just want something flexible, UGC fits your life.
