Ian Pagent has 2.6 million followers on TikTok, and now he’s trying to use his platform to raise awareness for mental health. In this new interview he opened up about his feelings about trolls, about not avoiding our dark side and about manifestations in life
In the latest issue of gay magazine Instinct, the actor and current gay TikTok sensation Ian Paget spoke about mental health and some life achievements. In a virtual world that based on scrolling and 3-second attention, taking responsibility for the eye balls that watch your dance moves and the dissonance between the perfect world that reflects on social media vs. the imperfect real world is extremely important.
Here are three authentic quotes we found in Pagent’s Instinct Mag interview, in between discussing his glamorous gay life. (Dedicated to all the kids who grow up wanting to become influencers):
1. A love/hate relationship with social media
Ian Paget says he’s not immuned to negative comments he gets on TikTok. Even he gets hurt.
“I grew up in a generation where we did not have the insta and the socials at a young age,” Paget told the magazine. “I have a harder time saying ‘yes’ to the mess of it all. I can be pretty good at not engaging in a certain way, but then you read a comment or see something and you can’t help but react to it; it cuts deeper than you think. I have had to really ask myself what it is that I want to share and what I want to create boundaries around. I am navigating that and it is an ever learning process.”
“I want to be someone who doesn’t feel that way,” he continued, “because I have all of these eyes on me and be so self-conscious, but then I also want to feel that what I want to share feels authentic and not exploitive with my life. Those are some really interesting things to have to manage and navigate in your everyday life.”
2. Looking to Esther Perel and Brene Brown
Being brave to tackle our ‘dark side’ in ourselves is hard and scary to deal with, Paget says. What we hate that we do, we avoid in ourselves. Therefore, when we see it on other people we either don’t want to hear about it and/or deny that it’s true. You don’t want to be reminded and faced with the mirror in front of yourself, because then you would have to deal with it.”
“Instead, we poo poo it and we shame other people about it, I think. I feel like there is that, but in 2022, there is a huge shift in terms of mental health being really important. I don’t know if it is because it is on my feed and in my ether, but ever since people like Esther Perel and Brene Brown, I feel like there is a good amount of support, especially on TikTok.”
3. Manifest your life
Looks like Ian Paget truly believes in manifesting things in his life, and he loved being asked about it.
“…you have to think of something that you really want. I think of that Marianne Williamson quote that says ‘our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.’ Six months from now, I would love to be on a sitcom. I would love to be own a show in an ensemble of actors.”