I’m not talking about a fad social media juice cleanse or any type of diet cleanse. I’m talking a full-blown social media scrub down! Don’t get me wrong. A digital world is great for so many reasons. We can connect with long-lost family members, find our best friend from elementary school, social creep on an ex’s profile (jk… kinda). There are so many wonderful aspects of social media. However, on the flip side, these platforms can be detrimental to our well being.
What we see on Instagram isn’t always the full truth.
It’s a single moment of time from someone’s life, curated into beautiful little squares. One picture does not paint a full story. There are so many incredible accounts, influencers with hundreds of thousands of followers, and it makes it easy to want to compare to what someone else may have. It’s not too hard to go down the rabbit hole of comparison while scrolling through all our social channels. Then the whirlwind of “I wish I had”… “I wish I looked like”… “If only we could go.” Do you catch my drift?
“Stay in your lane. Comparison kills creativity and joy.”
– Brené Brown
Now if Brené says it, you should really listen! But, I’m also going to challenge you to stay in your lane. If you find yourself spiraling into the could have, would have, should have, I’m going to stop you right there.
Take a look at the social media accounts you’re following that makes you think those thoughts.
If they make you feel less about yourself, your well-being, or ignite any type of guilt you should do one thing. UNFOLLOW. I promise it’s as simple as that! It might sound silly at first, but you’ll start to notice a pattern. I’d bet you’re not just following one account that makes you have ill feelings towards your life, your social media is filled with them.
And, one-by-one, you have the POWER to remove the toxicity from your feed.
I know I just blew your mind a little bit! Honestly, doing a social media cleanse every once in a while when you find yourself scrolling and after a few minutes finding yourself in a funk, think about why. Is it because you’ve been COMPARING yourself to others? What you think about their amazing life? How you wish you could dress like them? Go to the fancy places they go to?
A simply unfollow will take away the need for comparison and lead you to be happier.
I know because I’ve been there. Time and time again I would find myself saying the coulda, shoulda, woulda and I was robbing myself of joy. So, I unfollowed the accounts that didn’t “spark joy.” Basically, I Marie Kondo my social media before Marie Kondo had her Netflix special! I’m encouraging you to do the same.
What I do recommend is following accounts that make you feel inspired, enlightened, and happy!
I follow a ton of influencers, but only the ones that spark inspiration and motivation. Social media was designed to connect people, not make people feel like they have to “keep up with the Jones’.” There’s enough of that in traditional media. Which, I would also recommend giving a cleanse, but I’ll stick to one thing at a time.
