Over the last couple of weeks, life has been feeling like one big chore, none of it particularly fun. Usually I love brainstorming photo ideas and story ideas but I was feeling like Instagram was a skewed highlight reel that plays the same stories over and over. I was just feeling…over it.

I think we could all use more of a sense of authenticity and more importantly, believe-ability when we look at a social feed. The false positivity of edited images and the overwhelming quality of “absolutely-nothing-wrong” that people will push out into the world naturally makes us feel a little sh*tty when our own lives reflect something else.

But there was more to my plain-old “meh” feeling than just social media. After some thought, I realized there’s been…a lot going on for me. If you’ve been in this audience for awhile, you know that change and I rarely get along, and lately change has been winning out. I’m about ready to say that I’m just stuck on a merry-go-round of change for the next however-long and I’ll just have to be okay with it.

In the last 6 months, I started this blogging thing, I graduated college, I got a job I hated, got a cat, got promoted to a job I like better, and just recently I’ve been trying to figure out some family stuff and my finances and student loan repayments and enrolling in health insurance and, ya know, trying to be a functioning, healthy adult (stressssss). Not to mention winter is here now. That’s great.

So I have some reasons for losing motivation, but how did I get it back?

Well. First of all, I spent the weekend at my mom’s house, which is a good way to change things up for the better. My dog is there, so basically I have to feel better about life. Plus, my mom’s the best. What worked:

INCORPORATING SLOWNESS.

I kind of hold myself to high standards sometimes? I’m talking “why-don’t-you-have-more-done-and-have-more-success-you-piece-of-shite” standards. This means I get caught up in trying to do as much as I can in as little time as possible. The thing is, operating this way is not efficient for me. Some people have trouble focusing, but I’m finding that often I focus so much that I get lost in one task and the rest of my to-do list goes to the wayside. Life is slower at my mom’s. I don’t bring my laptop there because it’s expected that your Saturday will be spent watching successive episodes of crime dramas you’ve already seen, with Toto (said dog) in your lap. Slowing down gives us the opportunity to release some of our standards, because we acknowledge that we’re going to be moving at a slower pace, and that that’s okay. Slow and steady does not equal inferiority or failure.

SINGLE-TASKING.

I made a conscious effort this last weekend to watch some favorite movies and do…nothing else. I love film because it’s immersive and imaginative and creates time away from my own reality. Single-tasking is underrated these days, especially if we’re doing something we simply enjoy doing. I quoted every line while watching The Princess Bride (one of my very favorite movies) and got so immersed in episodes of Castle (that, you guessed it, I’ve seen many times) that I just had to fast forward to the episode where Castle and Beckett FINALLY get together because come on, it takes so many seasons. I admit I could have done a better job of staying off of my phone, but overall it was so great to be off of social media even for a little bit and feel good without it.

LISTENING.

Going off of single-tasking, I took time to listen to some great music for awhile. I have an instrumental playlist that I put together while in school for doing homework, because I’m one of those people who loves ambient noise when working. I listen to music or podcasts all day every day at my job because it’s easier to focus that way. I took some time to just listen to something and not try to write or plan. For you, meditation might work better, but regardless I encourage you to take even 10 minutes to listen to something calming (or energizing, if that’s what you need).

PETS, AND MORE PETS.

Need I explain? Cuddle a pet—instant reason to be doing something.

The thing about motivation, whether we’re talking content creation or doing your laundry, is that it’s tied to a “why” and to goals. With a lot of tasks, I find that my level of motivation directly correlates to my belief in my ability to achieve my goal. If I don’t believe I can do it, my motivation is nowhere to be found.

Social media for me often dredges up a tendency to compare myself to others and feelings of impostor syndrome. Instagram shows us well-curated people who stumble and are instantly back up again, with a couple hundred more followers and a sparkly brand deal or new house in tow. People who go through awful things—they can let their followers in on it and you might still never know it looking at their feeds. And we know this already. Social media is a highlight reel that misrepresents real life a lot of the time. I guess I get irked when I recognize that people are seemingly so okay with that.

So for me, part of getting my motivation back with social media was acknowledging that I have a desire to see reality and representation as I scroll. I might have some unfollowing to do. And that’s okay. Not every account on Instagram requires a lifelong commitment.

After taking a bit of a rest to get my “real” life more aligned, I’m feeling more excited to post on Instagram, capture images for Pinterest and write blog posts! And the motivation has spread to the rest of life, too. I want to take better care of myself. Dress better. Clean my room. Meet up with more friends and foster connection.

Some other ways to re-start your motivation could be meeting up with your support network, writing down and recording the ways you feel right now, or just focusing on your overall wellness—diet, exercise, all that jazz.

Sending good thoughts to anyone feeling unmotivated or down about social media, but especially anyone feeling down about life in general.

You can do it.

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