Curating who you follow on instagram
While Instagram is wonderful for meeting like-minded individuals and growing your community, it can also be … mentally draining, overwhelming, and down right terrible. Sorry not sorry for the harsh verbiage there, but there’s been many a times where I’ve mindlessly scrolled myself into a bad mood. And I know that I’m not alone on that front. ;)
Now, I’m absolutely aware that I could delete Instagram from my phone to combat this. At least for a little while. And while I’ve considered it, I don’t particularly like the idea of shutting myself off to the Rowan Made community.
So a few months ago, I decided to figure out a compromise.
First, I made a conscious decision to browse instagram on my personal feed only. The Rowan Made account is for sharing stories and images, as well as communicating through DM’s.
This meant that my personal feed needed a bit of curation. I went through each and every account I followed and asked myself: 1) am I interested in what this person has to share + say and 2) is this account triggering for me?
The choices that I made for each question were extremely personal and had nothing to do with that account / person and everything to do with my own reaction. And the same goes for you.
One of my favorite expanders in the world, Adriene Mishler, summed this up perfectly in a recent newsletter of hers by saying “Remember to take responsibility for your energy. If someone or something is road blocking you from doing that, politely excuse yourself from that exchange.”
And if that happens to be an unfollow, so be it.
The next choice that I made was to put my phone away at a certain time. AKA, 5pm. I typically start making dinner around this time, so it’s a natural break for me to set my phone aside and keep it that way until the next morning. This was actually the hardest one for me, as I have a habit of grabbing for my phone when I’m bored. But I’m working on it. ;)
The last point leads me to forgiveness. Where if I catch myself mindlessly scrolling, getting upset, or using my phone after hours, I always forgive myself and exit out. For most, it’s easy to blame and hard to forgive. So be kind to yourself and know that it gets easier over time.
So far I’ve found this approach to be really helpful. Sure, it was difficult in the beginning, but I’ve gotten used to it over time. And I’m constantly refining, too. If something triggering comes up, I’ll ask myself if I need to unfollow or simply get off the phone for the day. Whatever it may be, I’m making it work, just as we all can.
Please note: This post was originally published in the Rowan Made newsletter on November 15th, 2018. If you like what you see, you can join us (most weeks) right here, since not all letters are shared on the blog. There are no opt-in promises or fancy worksheets on the other side. Just me, being honest with you.
