After a few very stressful years I decided to give myself a break. I wasn’t up for making art and consuming art didn’t bring me any joy either. And being bombarded with everyones opinions and feelings was not great for my mental health.
So I deleted Instagram.
At first I felt relief. Then I felt quite lonely. A lot of my social arena is on Instagram as I am mostly housebound due to my illnesses. But I had enough contact with my friends, and eventually loneliness turned into calm. It was wonderful not picking up my phone every few minutes.
With time my urge to create came back and instead of sharing it immediately, I got to practice how to keep my art to myself. To give myself all the approval that I needed. I am happy to say that I was able to feel both joy and pride without anyone else’s input, which I think is so easily lost to us on social media.
My plan was actually to have a three month break, but I started to feel quite sad. I really missed the sense of connection and community that Instagram gave me. It felt great to be ready to go back, but I also knew I needed a plan for myself. I have landed on a schedule of two posts a week. This should be something I can easily keep up most of the time, and not so much that I feel pressured. I am also limiting my time spent on the app, as I don’t want it to ruin the good parts.
What I learned from my break was simple, but so complicated. That I need more space with less input. That I need connection and community. That I can create art just for me and be happy with it. That I can focus on the good parts of Instagram and not worry about the bad parts.
Here is a little peek at some of the art I created on my break!
