WHY I TOOK A WEEK OFF INSTAGRAM

I took a week off of IG and woah did it ever feel amazing. I honestly didn’t realize just how much I needed the break until I took it. 

The backstory: For the past 3 years I have taken a mini 1-2 week social media detox in December to disconnect. This year I promised myself to try to take a week off in each quarter (work permitting). While this may seem like a great idea, it’s actually pretty stressful as a content creator. “What if I lose followers, what if brands look at my profile, see that I’m not active and I lose out on opportunities, what if the IG algorithm messes with my account and people stop seeing my content and all of my hard work goes down the drain” and the list goes on. I logged back on IG yesterday only to discover that I did in fact lose a couple hundred followers (I’ll live lol), but needless to say my little break was worth it because now I feel way more inspired and sharp. 

My time off of IG encouraged me to disconnect, and reconnect with myself ( soooo cheesy but it’s true), and allowed me to concentrate on some other projects. P.s I still woke up at 6:45am every morning, drank my water, coffee, journaled and put my jeans on like a psychopath. Read my 5 tips on becoming a morning person here. I worked every single day, and felt extremely productive! Hint hint, I may or may not have a new website launching soon…

I speak a ton about self care, but if I am honest, I really need to improve my boundaries with social media. I may have mastered my diet, but nutrition isn’t everything! I love what I do, but also know spending too much on the app negatively impacts me. Instagram is addictive by nature, and the environment on social media lately has felt very overwhelming and toxic.

On my break I realized that I have been way more anxious than I had once believed. I always feel lucky that I have created a genuine account where I can just be myself and just be “real”. That being said, social media and running an account gets stressful for other reasons! (I will write a separate post on this!) On my little break I created a list of things I need to work on, so here it goes:

The 5 things I’m actively working on:

1. Delete the app – I have to simply delete IG when it’s not serving me. This can be for a few hours, a couple days, whatever feels good. 
2. Stop reading the news- Outside of IG, I need to disconnect from the news. There’s literally nothing worse than sipping a cup of tea, relaxing on my couch and reading about the pandemic. What the F have I been doing to myself???? I like being informed, but I have enough people in my life to fill me in. 
3. Be strategic with who I follow online- they say you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with. This also applies online.
4. Time Blocking on IG- my social media break made me realize I’m addicted to instagram (ugh cringe). The first few days of deleting instagram I found myself unconsciously trying to open up IG on my phone. It was just muscle memory- FML!! I need to be more strategic on how much time I spend on the app. My plan is to have set times I post/scroll/check dm’s.
5. Avoid IG first thing in the morning/before bed- I will still post my morning routine or anything that makes me happy, but I have to post and get off the app!

When it comes to social media, it’s so important to check in with yourself regularly. Notice your mood, your stress levels, etc. Remember to stay in your own lane and avoid comparing yourself to anyone!

Anyways, thank you so much for reading this and I hope you could take something positive away from this post. It feels nice to be back online, and I can’t wait to create more recipes, and content that helps you feel your BEST! Have an amazing day everyone! Xoxo Jord