I finally said "Yes!" to my soul's longing to take a break from Instagram

Here are my thoughts so far, plus a few recommended content creators I think you should know about

Photo by Mary Claire Photo. Image ID: Bethaney wearing an olive green dress, leaning on her kitchen counter, looking out the window.

Hello Dear Readers,

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve dropped into your inbox. After my last post, I wasn’t sure I’d have any readers left. I carry tons of trepidation when it comes to sharing my honest opinions about public events online. You never know when a poor word choice or a misunderstood idea will catch fire on the interwebs and burn your creative confidence to the ground. In any case, a break from writing was just what I needed, and after a few weeks of settling into the Fall season, I’m back to sharing reflections on what A More Beautiful Way means right here and right now.

When was the last time you took a break from social media? How did it go?

I kicked off an Instagram sabbatical a couple of weeks ago. After days of complaining to myself, my husband, and even to my mom about how miserable Instagram was making me, I finally announced my upcoming break and deleted the app from my phone. Sweet relief. Be it due to algorithm design or the slot-machine effect, social media tends to put my mental-emotional world into a state of constant disarray.

Maybe it’s the relentless comparison and sense that my work is never good enough. Maybe it’s the drive to perform whatever values will get me the most likes. Maybe it’s the pressure to become a videographer for the sake of “growing my presence” and sharing my art with the world. Maybe its a disordered affection (to borrow from St. Ignatius) and I’m simply looking for love and validation in the wrong place. Or, more likely, it’s some combination of all of the above.

There is something to be said for innovation and for doing our best to keep up with the times. The elders I respect most are the ones who see changes coming and lean into the shifting cultural tides instead of resisting them. But at what point to do we set a boundary? At what point do we pause to consider what these technological “advances” are actually advancing towards? Where are we going with all of our reels, memes and hot takes? I wonder.

Of course, a case can be made for the rich connections and inspiration to be found on social media too. I recently had the joy of connecting off-Instagram with Hillarie Maddox of Black Girl Country Living, who is someone I found via an Instagram live. I think of my friends Tess and Eric Weaver whose homesteading journey is inspiring thousands via Instagram, and now via YouTube. There are voices I’ve been missing over the past few weeks of my sabbatical, namely Erika Brown, an investor teaching folks how to build wealth and support their families through real estate. Instagram does bring some good things into my sphere of awareness when I step back and think about it.

Interestingly, however, each of the folks I just named are also proactively building community off of social media. Hillarie has her own substack where you can read her beautifully crafted essays about moving out of the city and building towards one’s dream of slow life. Tess and Eric are creating these incredible videos capturing everything from dealing with easements in the Tennessee forest to the challenges of digging a pond to provide water for dairy cows. Erika keeps me in the loop via her email newsletter, so I’m able to see exactly how to engage with her work. Creatives and entrepreneurs are building pathways to share their work without directly investing all their creative capital into a single social network.

I, too, started this Substack in hopes of carving out an off-Instagram space to connect with folks who are also dreaming of what a slower, simpler, and more Sacred way of being might look like for them.

I will likely return to Instagram one day. When I do, I hope I’m able to craft some boundaries to make my presence there worthwhile to me and the folks I hope to serve. But for now, I’m enjoying this spaciousness. It’s freeing to exist without the pressure to perform on that particular stage.

So—I’m wondering, have you ever taken an Instagram or social media break? Why or why note? Have you ever felt the need for one? Tell me your stories in the comments below. I read and respond to every single one.

As I get back into a writing flow, keep an eye out for upcoming posts on what slow living might look like for the over-achievers among us (it me!) as well as a few stories from my recent trip to Concord, MA where I toured the home of my childhood hero, Louisa May Alcott.

Stay tuned, and be well.

Bethaney