“To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh.
Hello lovelies,
Hope you’re all happy and well! I thought I’d create a post today about how I personally deal with some of the stresses of social media and ways in which I am learning to love and accept myself. I’m only writing this because I believe as inspiring and amazing as social platforms can be, they can also be mentally draining for a lot of us who are part of this virtual world. We are all human, and I feel as though a lot of the time we do and try to constantly show all the positives and share only the positive moments. However for me personally, I do have difficult days and I am in no way complaining about how incredible social media is and how many wonderful opportunities it has opened up for me. So just to make sure this post isn’t about me complaining or talking about the negatives, it’s more to highlight that we are all human and social media can sometimes affect us. Below are a few different ways I cope with it all. It can be overwhelming and so hard not to compare yourself when you are constantly surrounded by everyone’s highlight reels, so I am trying hard to learn how to release self-neglect.
I am a firm believer that you can create your world by working hard, putting your all into it and being positive about everything you create. I also believe it’s okay to have those down days and be open about the things you go through – it doesn’t mean your moaning if you need to express how your feeling! So I wanted to share some ways I personally deal with the stresses of social media and how it can sometimes make me feel.
As I am sharing so much of my life online already, and will only continue to share so much more over the next few months and years, I want to make sure I am always honest and open with you all and will share as much as I can on my thoughts and tips with how to deal and enjoy this journey.
So, here goes… Here’s some of the things I’ve been doing lately to allow myself to have down time from social platforms and learn new ways of self-love and accepting myself.
- Starting the day with love, not technology. Reminding yourself of your worthiness in the morning. Don’t go on your phone as soon as you wake up. Give yourself an hour for your body to wake up slowly before flicking through social platforms – it’s not going anywhere, you won’t be missing out, promise! It honestly helps so much with feeling relaxed. As going on your phone as soon as you wake up can be such a shock to the system as its such an over stimulant.
- Give yourself breaks from constantly checking your phone. Find something that allows you to switch off. For me personally, it’s going to the gym. I don’t have any wifi there (thank goodness – a little blessing) so it means I can just listen to music and switch off from it all for a bit. MY suggestion would to be to consciously turn airplane mode on and do something for yourself, for part of your day. This could be anything – cooking, planning what you are going to do the next day, going for a walk or spending time with loved ones.
- Follow accounts that inspire you, not ones that you find yourself comparing too. As I see it, you may just need a bit of space from following that person sometimes. I am in noway criticising them, but it’s simple, everyone shows their positives, their proudest moments or shares all the things they love. However, it can be extremely unhealthy and also damaging for us to spend some of our time comparing ourselves to someone elses best moments. I know I’ve been guilty of this, I have moments where I don’t feel like this and moments where I do. Just look out for yourself, as we can sometimes do it without even realising. There is a big difference to admiring/ being inspired by someone and feeling envious and constantly finding yourself picking at your own features or lifestyle because of having an insight to someone elses. We are all unique and everyone is on their own journey, so enjoy yours.
- Time off before you got to sleep. Try give yourself an hour or two before bed to not go on your phone. Recently, I’ve been writing in a note pad and filling it with ideas I have that I want to start creating after university, I think it’s important to allow yourself to relax before sleeping! Listening to music or reading is something that also helps me sleep better at the moment.
- Talk about how your feeling, if you feel affected in any way. It’s okay to talk about it all, social media has so many positives but also can have so many uncertainties and worries that occur due to it, and it’s okay to take time out to focus on what is right for you and be in the moment. Surround yourself with people who make you happy and be in those moments with them, not always living it through your phone.
- I also want to briefly touch on numbers, followers and engagement. As I know a lot of us can be affected by this. I have always tried to never ever focus on any of those things as it’s something you don’t have full control over, but I understand it is something that does feel like recognition/ a sense of achievement to things we create through social media sometimes, but we shouldn’t let it. Our platforms are a place where we are able to be creative, and share our love, whatever it might be with others. It’s a very inspiring place however, we need to remember why we started sharing these in the first place. When I first started blogging, I ended up stopping for 7 months because I began to feel constantly down about what I was doing and that it wasn’t ‘good enough’, so I stopped. I took time out to have my space and think about why I wanted to pursue this in the first place, and for me that time was so helpful as it brought me back to all the reasons I wanted to do this. So do what is right for you. Allow yourself to step back if you need that time, you need to feel happy and positive towards what you create.
- Talk happy to yourself. If you can, try and think of 3 or more things daily that you feel you’ve accomplished and things you love about yourself. Although I found this difficult to start with, I believe it really helps you focus on a positive mindset towards your body and your mind.
- Be patient with yourself and appreciate/ think about the things your grateful for when you can. We can only do so much and it’s good to listen to your body, to allow yourself to relax and focus on doing the things you love. When it works for you, it’s good to have time to reflect on some of the things you’ve accomplished and what your grateful for.
- Talk to someone, or seek professional help. Dealing with self-rejection and stress can be extremely difficult, and we all deserve to be happy. From personal experience, I think it’s important to try tune in and work out what you may need, and if seeing someone may help with that support in your life then it’s something that’s worth exploring. There are lots of different approaches you can make to this, so it’s always good to try different things and if they don’t work move on and try something else. I’ve tired a few different things regarding therapy to help with the ways I deal with stress, and am still learning and trying new things, such as yoga and meditation. Talking to people can also help, such as friends or family. If you are reading this and want to chat, I will always be more than happy to talk to any of you as a friend (I’m no professional) but sometimes it can help just to let it out in the open.
I want to thank you all for reading this and sticking around to be part of this journey with me! I will always be honest and true with you all. I am forever grateful for all of your support and love.
Love, India Moon.
Full outfit: Topshop.