How to Survive in a Pinterest Perfect World

Social media is like a tornado of perfection consuming you in seconds. If you pop onto Pinterest or Instagram, you are instantly blasted with picture after picture of pretty makeup, impossible wearing clothes, and miniature fashion icons in the form of children. It’s weird. And- if you are on my Instagram or Pinterest, you may feel as if I am contributing to the problem, but let me clarify something…part of my job is to post pretty pictures to show off makeup and other beauty related items. MY heart behind doing this is to help women GAIN confidence in doing their own makeup. With that said my dear friends, usually behind each pretty picture is hundreds of shots to get the right one and maybe even a kid screaming in the background while I tilt my face just so to get the right angle. It’s pretty comical at times. But hey, at least you now a know a trick or two about how to apply your eyeshadow, right? (See, I do it all for you.)

The reality is this, we had so much pressure on ourselves already from magazines etc., and then Pinterest and Instagram came along allowing people to show off  the best of the best of best–pretty pictures of a seemingly pretty life. It’s easy to forget that social media is a place that allows us to always put our best foot forward. I mean, thank you Pinterest for telling me that a simple birthday cake from a box is not enough for my child’s birthday party. I now have to make 19 million cute party favors, a healthy dessert bar, create custom chalkboard labels, and on top of that, have monogrammed everything. I can’t deal. I just wanted to throw a party for my kid. 

Life is messy, isn’t it?

Real life isn’t perfect of pretty all of the time and while yes, I post pretty pictures as part of my job, it’s still easy to forget that. So, let me take a moment to give you some personal advice on how to survive in a Pinterest-Perfect world.

1.Forced Perspective:  You are following hundreds, maybe even thousands of people that all have different talents like crafting, makeup, photography, modeling, styling etc…and guess what, that are all putting their best foot forward at the same time. Why? Because people like to see pretty pictures and truthfully, pretty pictures get more likes…and likes = potential cash if you are using these outlets as a business. SO, you need to force some perspective on yourself because it’s easy to pick the thing’s from each one of those talented people and think that you should be all of them. It’s hard to have one talent let alone put the pressure on yourself that you should have everyone elses too!

Yes, I can rock a smoky eye in 5 minutes, and can give you the run down on what beauty products you specifically need in seconds…but I can’t, for anything, keep my house cleaned and organized. In addition, hello to all of the Inst-kids that dress better than me…it’s hard enough getting myself ready in the morning. I mean, who has time to accessorize a 5 year old? Come on!

But hey, I can do you makeup.

2. Be Happy and Celebrate: Instead of comparing yourself to people on these social sites and feeling down about yourself, celebrate who they are and be genuinely happy for the giftings. Then, celebrate your giftings and the fact that there isn’t a single person on the planet that ever has…or ever will be, you! If you need a reminder, get a sticky note and post it to the top of your computer or make it the screen saver on your phone. You are enough…say it out loud and repeat.

3. Stop and Consider: If you look at social media as more of a tool to use and gain inspiration from, you will be able to navigate it a whole lot better.  Pinterest and Instagram wouldn’t be as popular if people were always posting pictures of cluttered spaces, bad makeup, and terrible food recipes. They are meant to be places of inspiration. So let them be simply that: inspiration and not self-annihilation over what you can’t do.

So what are you good at? What gifts and talents do you have that make you your unique self?  Celebrate those today!

xo! Kendra