Hello everyone!
Happy February and Black History Month. I am so excited for this year and all that is to come but I wanted to write about something that has been on my mind a lot. On tik tok, I continuously see people say how judgemental Instagram feels and how it's no longer space they feel like they enjoy. That when they post things don't get likes or feel like people are judging them for posting too often and that's why they don't want to be content creators or in general use the app anymore. I honestly used to feel the exact same way especially when I found out people were judging me for my page. I remember someone saying I cared about my feed too much because everything was cohesive and I was using the same preset on all of my posts. So I wanted to write about how I changed my relationship with Instagram to not only achieve the life of my dreams but also make my relationship with social media a lot better.
1. Stop looking for approval from others
I know a lot of people who will archive or delete a post on Instagram because it doesn't get a lot of likes. I will admit I used to do the same thing. I used to think that my posts weren't getting likes or views because people didn't like my content or were judging me for posting something. One huge thing that changed my view of things was that no one is thinking as much about you as you think they are. If they are honestly judging your page and what you're doing that speaks more to their own insecurities than it does about you. When I started to post more often, I did notice my likes decrease but I also realized that if I were constantly posting for other's approval, I wouldn't be creating content I genuinely loved. I create content that I love and enjoy myself. When you stop looking for approval from others and build your self-confidence it will change your life and I will include resources at the end that helped me a lot with this.
2. Remember Instagram is a highlight reel
People only show their best parts of themselves on Instagram. I think it's gotten a lot better today in that content creators are showing behind the scenes stuff and more everyday life sort of things. Being a content creator on social media is a lot of work I will attest I honestly thought this would be easy and I could just go and take cute pics and post them and have fun. So one thing I did was change the creators I follow. I only follow content creators whose content I love and I know to show more than just what they want people to see. One of my favorites is @jules.jacobson .She often posts her mornings whether that's walking her new dog or getting coffee as well as talks about the reality of her life with her brand new husband on their podcast. She's honest a real about their relationship as well and I LOVE that. Def check her out and give her a follow and check her out.
One thing I would like to note is that I understand not having a good relationship with social media. For me that social media was Snapchat and after I deleted I was able to focus on myself more. There were two reasons I deleted Snapchat one being that it made me feel lonely which is weird to say but true. I don't have a lot of friends at Ohio State. I think there are around 3-4 people I talked to on a regular basis. Being in a sorority and constantly see friend groups go out and have fun not being invited honestly sucked and was really affecting my mental health and my performance at school. I will have a blog post maybe this summer on my experience being in a predominantly white sorority soo because that is an entire post in itself. The second reason I deleted Snapchat was that it is the first thing guys ask for when they want to start "talking" to me and I honestly hate that our generation has turned to Snapchat being the predominant line of communication. So the Summer of 2020 I deleted it. Streaks are dumb and I didn't see myself ever having a good relationship with the app. That was my experience with Snapchat and I know some that love it and others that hate it but if you feel like you will never have a good relationship with a form of social media I recommend deleting it if that's Instagram for you I get it!
Like I've written in the past growing my own self-confidence and happiness took a lot of time as well as removing things in my life that were preventing that happiness. I have taken a life course called balance boss, read a few books, and learned about manifesting. It's been a rough year but I am taking it one day at a time. Practicing gratitude and meditating helps us a lot as well. Change how you view social media whether that's how you use it every day or finding a healthy way to have it in your life. When I changed how I viewed and used Instagram I gained over 4,000 followers, have worked with brands of my dreams, and finally met people through Instagram who are passionate about the same things I am. I love Instagram now and have expanded from creating content on there to tik tok as well. I hope this helped feel free to dm me with questions on how to change your perspective I will also have a q + a up on youtube hopefully by tonight!
Have a great week!
xoxo
