What Does Google Know About You?

Have you ever Googled your name? I suggest doing it at least once in your lifetime. Google will show all the accomplishments and what you are known for. Google will also show you the not-so-glamorous things you are known for too. Especially if you have a few marks on your naughty list. But what Google doesn’t display, is all the hard work you did to get noticed. The struggles. The rejection. The guilt in putting yourself first. The sneers. The whispers behind your back.

I found that these are the true attributes of a successful life. They keep you in check. They humble you and help in designing a better you. Better than an empty pat on the back. The fake cheerleaders that cheer you on when you cross the finish line yet were nowhere to be found as you were gasping for air while running uphill.

Google wasn’t there when you gave birth to your children and gave them everything that you had to give of yourself. Every part of you was committed to showing them how much you loved them. The sleepless nights. All your waking moments. The sacrifices. The empty bank account. All the “am I doing this right?” questions you had in raising them. But you did it. And now they are some of the most incredible people you will ever meet.

Google wasn’t there when you married the wrong person, who you thought hung the moon and stars. It wasn’t there for all the nights spent crying yourself to sleep and feeling sorry for yourself because you realized the huge mistake you had made. It wasn’t there for all the verbal abuse and gaslighting used to keep you under his thumb. But it does show that you got a divorce. Is that a win, or failure? It doesn’t distinguish between the two.

Google doesn’t show all the shitty jobs you worked just trying to keep your head above water. Trying to keep you and your kids from being homeless. It won’t show all the stress and worry that line your face today. All the feeling less than human from being so exhausted and hiding all your financial secrets.

Google will link all your social media sites. It will show the world how popular you are. But it won’t list the names of all the friends you made throughout the years. Those who are still by your side, nor those who are nowhere to be found today. All those relationships that taught you valuable life lessons on loyalty and trust.

Google will show the names of people who might be related to you. But it won’t show your true relationship with these people. How you don’t even know where they live, let alone communicate with them. It doesn’t show all the family fallouts and years of dysfunction that made you wish you were never born with the same name as shown on the screen.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that Google really doesn’t know shit. All it knows is what it is told. Just like people. People will think that they know you, and try to tell you how you feel, what you need to do, or who you really are. But they don’t know shit either. They are basing their opinions of you solely on what they’ve been told. But the information that they received, left a lot of things out. Just like Google. So, stop leaning in and soaking up all their false judgments and interpretations of who they think you are. They don’t matter.

Only you know what it took to get here. Only you know what your real accomplishments are. Not the one’s that pop up when entering your name.

What do you want to be known for? What do you want people to remember about you? Maybe we need to be more authentic and show more of our real selves. Maybe we should fill in the blanks that Google leaves out of our story. We need to embrace our lives. Our hidden lives. Because that will be our true accomplishment in life. Who gives a fuck about the rest.

I hope those reading this find peace in who they really are because you are amazing for all the things Google doesn’t show.