I love social media. I really love it. It’s become a job for me. Literally. I love taking TONS of pictures and documenting our daily activities. I’m not sorry or ashamed that I am looking at my phone 90% of the time. (There are times during the day I put it away. But not nearly enough – I’m working on that).

What I don’t like is what it’s turned into in recent months. Maybe it’s been longer than that, but I’m just now feeling it. If you’re an influencer, or trying to build a business, Instagram is LIFE. It’s all about the number of followers you have and how many ‘likes’ you get on each photo or video. I get it. Brands don’t want to work with someone who doesn’t have a large following. At what point, however, did we decide to let Instagram define who we are? I don’t know who ‘we’ is, but I know I am guilty. 

I’ve fallen into the rabbit hole of waking up, checking my stats and allowing the ups and downs of my account to determine my mood.

 Are you kidding me? Admitting this out loud makes me cringe. I’m ashamed. But, if you live and breathe in the world of marketing, you do the same thing.

I guess I’m here today to share with you how tired I am of the whole charade. I’m a writer. I love to write. I love to explore, research and find hidden stories in everyday life. I love to take pictures. I will continue to share my writing and pictures across each social media platform. What I will NOT continue to do is lose sleep (I don’t actually LOSE sleep) over whether anyone finds value in what I do. I’m done using Instagram as a tool to measure how successful I am in my job.

I’m done comparing myself to other people.

(By the way, follow me on Instagram)