Hi people! If you have noticed, I have not been posting on Instagram for about a week or so. AND I'm not sorry for it lol. If you didn't notice, well lol it's all good homie. If you know me, you know that I am a huge, and I mean HUGE fan of social media. I believe it is a necessary way to promote your personal brand and also such a beneficial platform to highlight your beliefs and express yourself on. So shoutout social media, I love you girl. Recently though, I have been feeling so overwhelmed and obligated to continue to post and keep my so called "image" up. It took me a minute to realize how toxic that thought is. The thought that I have to look, feel, and mold myself for other people. To me that idea is so ew. I don't have to be any different for anyone in my life. The true homies out there just want me. My crazy, sometimes funny, strong, passionate, slightly pyscho, crazy rap anthem obsessed me. So I logged off all my accounts and completely deleted the app off of my phone. And let me tell you, it was freaking SCARY, like I was scared to delete Instagram. I mean admitting is the first step, right? The first day with no Instagram was the hardest by far because I was just so bored out of my mind BUT we got over that hump and let me tell you, once that boring day was over, something amazing happened.
The thing about social media that is so mind blowing to me is that it tricks you into thinking that you have so many friends and such a large following yet, in reality, you only have a couple ride or dies and a ton of fake friends. Yes. I said it. Fake. Friends. Period.
Being off all of social media accounts shows you who your friends really are. You'll see the people who actually text you or call you or shoot you a FaceTime. Just the little I love you, I miss your face, let's hang out texts. You'll see the people who want to be around you and actually want to spend time with you because of who you are, not because of what you posted. Your mind isn't fogged with so and so's deep IG story or the hundreds of likes on your bomb selfie that literally half the people who liked it don't even know the true you. You'll spend less time looking down at your phone and more time looking at the world around you. You'll be more spontaneous and forced to live life in the moment. You'll cut your hair off and you'll buy plane tickets the night before they depart to take you across the country with your best friend (yup. i did that). You'll live lighter. Your coffee will taste more flavorful and your belly laughs will be numerous. You'll look at the faces that fill your day and you'll become more grateful that you get to surround yourself with the most beautiful, kind hearted, crazy, loving people on this planet. You'll find the people that love you even when you're a mess. You'll find your tribe.
So do I go back to Instagram now? I'm not sure honestly. There is something so damn freeing about not feeling pressured to post a cute pic and pretend your life is flawless perfection. My heart feels less weighed down knowing that I have filtered out the people who don't want or accept me for me. I walk lighter and stand taller (as tall as I possibly can). Bottom line is that something really dope happens when you drop everything and look around you. Our world today is so fast paced and hardcore. That's just a fact. Your mind gets flooded with 99 million things all at once, but take a step a back and ask yourself, 'Do all these things really matter?' I encourage you all from the bottom of my heart to take a moment and look at your life. Look at the people, the surroundings, the sounds. Just stop for a minute and breathe. See that. That's what I'm talking about.
