What happens when you stop posting? What I learned from taking a break from Instagram.
Who’s guilty of checking Instagram while you’re having a conversation with someone or playing with your kids? My hand is raised. It’s so rude, but it’s becoming a part of our day-to-day.
I would constantly be checking my phone to find out how many likes my latest Instagram post had. Instead of being happy with whatever engagement I was getting, it was never enough. I always felt like I needed to do better. Comparing myself to this person or that business. It felt competitive, not in the good way that pushes you to achieve your goals, but in a bad way that made me feel like a loser.
I want to be open and authentic, but there’s got to be line somewhere. I’m trying to spin everything in my life into an Instagram post. WTF.
Ugh, what am I going to write today?
How can I use this for Instagram?
What’s up with the stupid algorithm?
Write something clever.
More witty. More authentic.
Do more Stories. Share more.
More. More. More!
I started to dredd social media all together.
As a business owner, we’ve been told how crucial your presence on social media is. You have to post at least once a day! It’s important. Like your entire business depends on it!
Instagramming used to be fun. It was a way to share and connect with people. A fun little burst of inspiration in my day. Now it was just a choir.
It went on like that for months. Throwing something together half heartedly just to put something up. Feeling crappy about it.
When I was about 6 months pregnant in early 2018, packing up our lives to move across the country and working full time – I reached a tipping point. I just didn’t care anymore. There was too much on my plate. I was overwhelmed.
I decided social media was the first thing to go. These are actual thoughts that went through my head… Is this career suicide? Will people forget about me? Will I lose all my followers? How will I stay relevant? I gotta keep up with what everyone else is doing!
Guess what? I didn’t post anything for months and the world didn’t end!
Orders kept coming in. Business went on as usual and I was less stressed. I did lose some followers, but not as many as I thought.
Sometimes I would catch myself taking out my phone for no reason. I was so used checking Instagram a million times a day, it was like muscle memory. Whenever there was a lull in my workflow, I would take out my phone. After a few days of not posting, I wasn’t checking my phone all the time. I was slowing breaking the habit.
Now that things have settled down – I had the baby (a beautiful little girl), we moved into our new house, and I’m working intermittently on maternity leave – I’m planning on getting back in the game. I’m not sure what that looks like, but if it doesn’t feel good, I’m not going to do it.
Maybe my social media solution is posting less. Maybe it’s planning more. I’m not sure yet. I can tell you that I’ll be worrying less, comparing less, and enjoying more. Living in the moment instead of trying to document the moment on my phone.
I would totally recommend a social media detox if you’re feeling weighed down by social media. Take a break, even if it’s only a full day without Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. I promise it will be okay. You might even feel better afterwards.
Cheers,
Brynne