I Took A Social Media Break

I took a break from social media.

It seems really cliché and in no way groundbreaking, but it’s what I felt had to be done. Every time I was scrolling through, all I could think about was how much better everyone else is at blogging, posting every day, working with brands, being confident and not screwing up all of the things. Comparison really is a destructive epidemic. It creeps in and paralyzes us from doing anything worthwhile. It breaks down our belief in ourselves and we end up worse than before we ever tried. We should look to others for inspiration and celebration, but when it turns to self-deprecation that’s when we need to take a step back and reevaluate we started in the first place.

My break, although it was short lived, was very insightful. For the first few days/ week it wasn’t terribly hard to stay off, but as weeks two and three rolled around I started to miss people. I know I could text them and I do, but I love interacting with the friends that I know solely from social media and cheering them on. I missed celebrating their wins and giving them encouragement or even just letting them know I was there if they were having a tough day. That’s just who I am. So, I thought I could still technically be on a break from posting while getting caught up on what my people were doing. Going on to social media with the mindset of “how can I edify those around me” completely changed my heart towards how I use it. Before it was how can I use my photos to benefit me, how do I get others to take me seriously, how can I socialize with others in the blogging community and how can I learn from them (just a disclaimer, I never want to be someone’s friend only to gain followers or benefit from their success. When I say learn, I truly mean learn. I’m still new to the blogging world and I genuinely don’t know how to navigate it all. I would love a mentor and friend.)

I tend to become very shy in new situations; I believe it stems from my lack of confidence and the insecurities of not being enough. So I use social media to make friends and peers in a less stressful environment. Sorry, back to what I was saying.

And now, it has become about shifting the attention away from myself and onto others. It is no longer about how I don’t measure up but how I can make the friends I interact with feel like they do.

Everyone is in a different season of life and no matter what you put on social media, life is not picture perfect. It’s actually quite heartbreaking how easy it is for us to become jealous of others’ wins and beat ourselves up because we don’t have what they have, whether it’s success in their career, a gorgeous house, an Instagram boyfriend, or whatever. Well guess what? They are feeling the same way about something in their life. They may seem to have an envious life and they may be genuinely happy but that never means that you are less than or that you won’t succeed. In fact, unfortunately some of those people you’re jealous of will become jealous of you and your wins. There’s a quote that says something along the lines of, “success for others doesn’t mean less success for you, it’s not pie.” We need to live like this. Supporting those around us by being a cheerleader for others is what breeds each other’s successes. We will always need people in our lives to build us up for the times we are about to give up or feel less than. Be that person for those in your feed and in your life, because the person you are and the character you have will have will have a greater impact than the number of followers, likes, brand collaborations, or anything else.

photos by: Heaton Johnson