Why I'm leaving Instagram
And how you can stay updated on the evolution of my work and offerings
I’m doing it. I’m leaving Instagram. My best friend gave me courage because she’s doing it too. And when she announced she was leaving - and not just taking a break, but like leaving - it gave me gusto.
Deep down, I’ve known that I’ve wanted to disengage from Instagram for a while. Why? Because I’m flat-out addicted to it. I will pick up my phone and click on the IG app with zero consciousness of what I’m doing. Then I scroll, mindlessly numbing, thinking about all the ways I “should” be showing up more frequently on it, posting content, gaining followers, building my ‘brand’, making more money, la-la-laaaaaaaa. Ohhh the hustle, the rat race…and we wonder why we’re so tired?!
I exit the app. I feel like shit. I didn’t actually read anything or learn anything new, and now I just feel scattered, empty, hella ADHD, and I notice a deep and strong knowing that how I just spent my time is not in line with my values anymore.
I like lists. So here is my short and concise list of why I’m exiting IG:
I don’t align with or support influencer culture. Even with the influencers that I agree with, I still think it’s wreaking havoc on our collective mental health. I don’t mean to offend you if you’re an IG influencer or have a massive following. This isn’t personal.
I don’t like how IG has evolved. I did love it when it was more pure, and truly about connecting with others and sharing knowledge. But it’s not about that anymore. It’s about capital and dollars and power and policing opinions and I’m over it.
I don’t actually need it to be successful in my work. I used to think that I did. And I believed that lie for a long time. I believed that to be a “notable” therapist, I had to give so much of myself and my knowledge (for free, by the way) and that somehow having a “following” made me more knowledgeable, likable, and respectable. These are lies, and I see that now.
The product pushing is exhausting. Like, I don’t need more STUFF. And the ads for STUFF make me dizzy.
Motherhood has radically shifted my priorities and what I care about. I used to think I could just be thoughtful and mindful about how much Emmy sees me on my phone. I thought, “I’ll have really good boundaries around it.” And I think that totally works for some people. But it's not working for me.
I desperately miss reading books.
Making graphics on Canva is a giant pain in the you-know-what. I’m a therapist, not a designer. And don’t get me started on Reels.
This move feels really counter-cultural, though my hunch is that more and more humans are going to decide to exit social media now that we’re seeing its negative impact on our collective mental health. As I grow up, I’m realizing more and more how much my beliefs - largely those shaped by my faith and worldview - call me to live in a way that runs contrary to mainstream culture. Sometimes that is fun, sometimes it’s scary. It’s mostly both. But I feel really confident in this decision. I feel ease and peace, relief and anticipation.
*I’m not going to delete my IG - I’m going to leave it up so that people still have access to the resources that I’ve shared and posted about over the years. I might also - very rarely though - pop on there to announce new work offerings / resources for purchase. I’m still sifting through what this will look like. But I will be like 97% gone-gone.
This really cool resource I made that will be available soon that I want you to know about.
I almost didn’t leave IG quite yet because I thought I needed it to promote an offering that will be available in the new year. IG has likely helped me sell my workbook, and I feared that if I left, this new digital resource wouldn’t sell. But I’ve learned not to let fear make decisions for me anymore. Fear rarely makes good decisions. So I’m going to stick to my guns and get creative with how to market this new resource, sans IG.
I’m in the process of making final edits on a resource called: “Recognizing and Understanding Emotions: A guide for befriending and becoming curious about your emotions and the messages they deliver.
I’m so excited about it. It’s a 13-page digital, downloadable resource that is geared toward helping people better understand, identify, and move through their emotions. It’s no shocker that our culture is largely emotionally illiterate, and I want to be a part of changing that game.
Underneath the surface of almost all mental health diagnoses and disorders is difficulty processing emotions. So many of us are scared of our emotions or detached from them because we had emotionally repressed caregivers (who also had emotionally repressed caregivers) who didn’t have the tools and skills available to them to help us become emotionally healthy. The cool thing is that now, we are adults, and we get to do something about it. We get to learn how to regulate our emotions and if we’re parents, we also get to pass that down to our children. And I’m becoming more and more convinced that THAT is the ultimate gift we can give to this next generation.
I hope you’ll stay tuned. This resource will be available on my website for purchase soon!
Since I’m leaving IG, I will be shifting a lot of “work” updates and offerings to being announced here, on Substack. My goal in the new year is to offer a monthly newsletter. More info on that soon!
Thank you for being here. Thank you for supporting me and my work. Being a semi-creative and somewhat of a part-time entrepreneur is weird.
Wishing you ease, presence, and peace in this coming new year.
With love,
Rachel