SOCIAL MEDIA BREAK
A glimpse into my social media break.
Hey guys, it’s me. Remember me? I know, it’s been a while. If you haven’t noticed, I took a much needed break from the internet. For those of you who know me (personally or have followed me for a while), I am ALWAYS one to take care of my self. It is one of the most important things to me in this world, and I don’t take it very lightly. I wanted to share my experience on here for two reasons. First, to look back and be able to reflect on how this time was for me and second, to be here as a resource if someone else has gone through the same thing.
If you don’t already know, social media is exhausting. When I first started Instagram in 2011, I used it as a photo album. I was in Spain with my family, and I carelessly started to take pictures on the street. I was so fascinated with the filters and how the photos truly transformed into art, I never really thought twice about what I was taking a picture of. As time passed, social media evolved. Everybody started to use it, more people began to follow me, and all of a sudden it felt like the privacy that I had contained my entire life was no longer there. Numbers started to take a toll on me. Frustration, anxiety, and even questions about my identity all started to surface.
From the outside looking in, I was just a girl who happened to be a mother & wife, with a close relationship with my sister. A girl who traveled around the world, loved make-up & cooking, and wore nice clothes. I wondered if my followers had any clue who I even was. Did they know about my life as a therapist working two jobs? The endless nights I stayed awake with my daughter so her teeth wouldn’t hurt. Did they know about all the times I felt overwhelmed with everything I had to do, or even the moments I cried in the car because I felt so tired from lack of sleep. It was in those moments, sometime at the end of 2018, that I decided it was time to disconnect.
‘Only a couple of days’, I thought. This is a business after all. I felt as if I couldn’t just stop for a while because it would halt all of the progress that my sister and I had made together. Two days turned into 5 days, turned into 2 weeks, turned into a month. I stayed off social media. I posted a story every now and again to show that I was active, but no photos were posted or even taken. Now, looking back, I realized how important this was. It’s okay to put everything on pause for a moment and just breathe. I learned so much about myself and how I thought about things. I discovered how much I wanted to just make myself happy like I did all of those years ago, when I first started blogging. When I took photos of the beautiful people on the streets of Spain.
Times have changed. Social media has turned into a business now, but guess what? I don’t care. I don’t do it for that reason. I do it because it makes me happy. I do it because I can inspire others to eat the best kinds of food, feel their best in great clothes, and maybe actually make a good difference in the world or even within themselves. Yes, it’s February now, but it’s never too late to show who I really am. I’m back, and you’re going to get the REAL me.
Thank you for all of your kind messages and thoughts while I was absent. You guys are the greatest. We are so lucky to have you around. xx- Dania
