I’ve talked about social media a good amount here and there in random posts, mostly highlighting Instagram and the struggles and joy’s that are linked to such an app. But, there are many other forms of social media than simply Instagram. BeReal has become quite a hit and although I don’t have one, I know a lot of people who prefer it. I am partial to SnapChat. Not that I post on my story all that often, but it is my main source of communication. It allows me to easily stay connected with my friends and family in a more casual setting. My sister and I talk about anything and everything all day on Snapchat because - first, she is terrible at answering her text and second, we can send a simple picture with one word or a 5-minute video explaining everything we did that day… that’s typically me. It also means I get to see my nephew every day. But the one that I have a deep love-hate relationship with is Pinterest. Sounds funny, but it’s one of those situations where those who get it get it and those who don’t, don't. Let me explain.
Picture Perfect
Remember when we were kids and the word aesthetic wasn’t a typical word in our vocabularies? Our birthday parties were minimal with no pressure to be flashy; weddings were still made to be beautiful, but not for Instagram, and clothes were left for us to drool over in magazines and on our friends who we thought were the coolest. In the world we live in today, a lot of us have this looming sense to have a picture-perfect life. To try our best to be beautiful and trendy. It can be a fun game to play or it can become a stressful game of tag where we are always chasing the next fad. Now Pinterest is a world of color, inspiration, ideas, and creativity. There are countless things to pull ideas from, nerd out on, dream about, and transport us through. I go through phases of loving Pinterest and spending more time on it than any other app. Then I go through phases of not touching it for months. It carries so many possibilities that we won’t find many other places. My top uses are for inspiration for easy vegan meals and fun, beautiful photos to use as guidelines for my art. Or when I need ideas for a new tattoo, that is the place I turned to. On a completely useless note, it is a place where I can use my love of organization to create different categories for the different interests I hold. It’s another one of those blessing and curse apps. It can be an app to inspire me towards life and an app to make me completely discontent with the life I have. But, typically when that happens, I refrain from looking at it until the need for inspiration brings me searching.
The Discontent
I become excited while scrolling through the app of endless possibilities and aesthetics. Until a good long scroll when the world around me begins to look bleak. There is a love of looking at the beautiful life presented through Pinterest. It’s exciting and inspiring, but can also become daunting and overwhelming. For instance, I have a board for how I would like to dress. And another for how I would love to design my home to look like. When I go through looking at a life that I would one day love to achieve, it causes me to become discontent and dissatisfied forgetting that these pins are a magnified realm of art. Yes, some people are blessed and can recreate their Pinterest boards, but for everyday people, it simply highlights an unobtainable reality. Creating a Pinterest lifestyle doesn’t simply present itself. My house might not look like those pins that I drool over, but I have created a space that is cozy and calming. My wardrobe might not look as classy and put together as some of the photos that have been saved to my arsenal, but I use it as a drawing board. It is important to keep in mind that the photos highlighted there are of ideal people with beautifully staged setups. We don’t see the setup process or how the outfits look on a variety of people living and doing their everyday tasks or how their bank accounts look. We need to zoom out to find the reality among the fantasy. Same with Pinterest weddings. This app is a great source to build that dream day. But, we can become lost in the bougie and expensive setup that it sells. Use it as an example, but keep it at arm's length. So many brides that I have known have explained how using Pinterest causes them more stress than simply using their imagination to create a day that ultimately is built on celebration and the personalities of the bride and groom. It’s a tool until we start seeing it as our standard.
The Inspiration
Now the name Pinterest is derived from the combination of the two words “pin” and “interest”. And the creators have created a world of beauty and inspiration. I am not an artist who likes painting the world right in front of me. I like to search and find photos that cause me to push myself, whether I am putting my spin on someone else’s artwork or finding artistic photos and turning them into a painting. The variety is endless. When I need a little pick me up from my normal eating routine. I go to Pinterest for recipes from desserts and dinners, to fun snacks, to have in kids' church. I have used it for ideas for crafts and games for the kids. I rely on it as my artistic Google. Google can feel overwhelming when trying to search for a specific thing, but with Pinterest, it feels concentrated. It is a place for creative people to create and inspire others. The world is evolving to showcase the pristine side of life. We see our goal and then do our best to recreate it. It can be hard to step back and know that we aren't meant to plagiarize the art that was placed there to be a vision board. We are meant to use it as a guide for our individuality. Art of any kind can begin to feel like a chore when we are constantly trying to hold ourselves to the standard that we think is perfect. To compare ourselves and our everyday life with a place that makes a simple coffee look like art because it is surrounded by other perfectly posed and edited items. It’s like when we see groups of people who are mildly attractive, but because they are grouped, they look elevated as a group because we don’t focus on a single one. If we step back and look at the things that this app can do for us and focus on one thing it can become obtainable and practical. But if we are left looking at the app as a whole, life loses its shine and we are left crawling for perfection.
A Single Perspective
Now, this is simply my observation on an app that I equally love and loathe. To each their own on how they view Pinterest or any form of social media for that matter. We all experience different emotions and opinions. I love to be challenged by the way Pinterest brings art, fashion, food, decor, simplistic quotes, and crafts to our fingertips. My bank account becomes sad after I spend hours seeing if my dream wardrobe is a possibility to achieve. But it is fun to daydream and come up with alter-egos that maybe one day will come to light. It is a great place to find what we think is beautiful and propel us in that direction. It is when we begin to try to perfectly replicate these hyped-up inspirations that we begin to feel defeated and overwhelmed. Pinterest is a showroom created for us to find our interests and influence us forward. If we begin to feel discontent, step back and recognize the beauty that we have surrounded ourselves with in our reality. It is good to be challenged and to be excited by others' art, but it is even better to bask in the creativity we have made into our reality. And to appreciate what we have here and now.
Pinterest is what kickstarted my love of painting. Finding my way to replicate others to then recreate photos and transform them into paint. It helped me create guidelines on what I wanted my tattoos to look like. I have a board of things that I find fun and make me laugh. Pinterest can be a place of life and beauty, but it also is a place to build up our imagination. It is not a place to compare with our reality, but to inspire us forward. If you would like to look over my random collection of organized dreams here is my profile. And for those of you who don’t have Pinterest, I highly recommend you try it and kick start those creative juices, it can be a fun time. I hope you all had an amazing week and it carries to this weekend. As always add your email and subscribe, share, follow on Instagram, and leave a comment letting me know why you love Pinterest. Thanks for reading Allie-cats.
Dru Allie
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