I recently posted a photo to Instagram after about a month or so of a hiatus. The three most recent photos on my account span from 6 weeks ago, to 3 to a couple days ago. There have been a lot of reasons for my semi-hiatus from social media, and I'm going to share the lessons I've learned while taking a break from (mainly) Instagram.
There's less pressure when you don't post. Being less active on Instagram left me with more time to do other things, and when I did decide to go onto the photo sharing platform, I liked other photos, but didn't feel like I had to post one of my own.
I've been too caught up in all of it. I'm active on Instagram, but also Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest and Snapchat. Having all of these accounts can get to be a little much, so taking a break from one of my most-used ones left me realizing that I spent a lot of time crafting the perfect image. Stepping back allowed me to gain some perspective on the fact that it's simply a place to share your life, but it shouldn't be all of my life.
FOMO and Insta-envy are very real. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has felt pangs of jealousy or felt frustrated over seeing others having a great time while you're stuck at home. I noticed that social media really can impact your self-esteem or feelings about your own life, and it affected me rather negatively.
Coming back to social media, but with a different approach. I finally did post a new photo on Instagram a couple days ago. And I'll admit, I was hoping it would get a lot of likes. It got a decent number, but I realized that's not the most important thing. It's my page and it's my life. I shouldn't let other people's posts dictate my own. There's no real rulebook to social media, so why make one up that stresses us all out? I'm trying to remember that pictures don't always tell the whole story and I may only be seeing someone's highlight reel and not a whole catalog of their lives.
If I find that I'm getting too stressed out again, I may take another break. But for now, I'm happy to be back. Sometimes we just need to put some distance between things to get a new view, you know? There's no shame in that. So try not to let social media control you, but if you find it to be too much, don't be scared to take a step back. You may learn a lot from it. And remember: you're worth way more than a "like" or a "retweet."
