Instagram Roundup & Reflection: It’s All Smoke & Mirrors

Instagram allows me to share pieces of my life in cute, little 4 x 4 squares. Everything I post is carefully posed, chosen, and edited to represent what I want my life to look like from the outside looking in. Is it an accurate representation of what my life realistically looks like? Definitely not. What you see on my Instagram are carefully curated, colorful, and pristine snapshots of the outfits I wear, the activities I participate in, my relationship, friendships, and the food (and massive amounts of coffee) I consume. Yes, I really do wear those outfits, go to those museums, and drink all of that coffee; that’s not a lie. But what you don’t see are the worries, the tears, the fights, the fears. You don’t see the hospital visits to my grandmother, the car wreck I was in last week that landed me with various injuries and a totaled car, or the struggle I have with my body image, or the hours I spend brainstorming new post ideas for my blog and social media. You only see the happy, pretty side of my life.

It’s all smoke and mirrors, y’all. No one’s life is as perfect and aesthetically pleasing as their social media makes it look. This obvious statement may seem like common sense to most, but sometimes our subconscious minds play with us a little.

Take this photo from the inside of my car, for instance. It makes my lunch break seem like a picturesque flower and Starbucks run. I actually took this in the Walmart parking lot in my Trailblazer (RIP) with the air conditioning on high because it was so dang hot outside. I had just poked myself with the thorns on the stems of the roses (that I just bought inside) as I ripped off the cheap plastic wrapping to replace it with the brown tissue paper (that I had also just bought). My strategically hidden jacket propped up the bouquet so the blossoms pointed up and not down, and I was squinting as I took ~~at least 20 photos~~ the photo because I had placed my sunglasses in the cupholder to add “interest.” And that doesn’t even cover the 20 – 30 minutes of choosing which photo to post, editing it at least three different ways, making sure it matched my Instagram theme (even though my “theme” is quite sporadic), and adding a caption and hashtags.

By no means am I saying my Instagram feed, or anyone else’s, is fake or shallow because they’re not. If blogging and Instagramming has taught me anything, it’s that the 4 x 4 square is only just the surface of that person’s day and life. There is so much more to the lives of bloggers and Instagrammers than coffee, clothes, food, and selfies. What we see, and what we post, is only a small percentage of our lives. As Seattle Stylista puts it, ” Sure, you may know the name of [a fashion blogger’s] fiance or their favorite coffee spot, but that’s all surface level information…”

I love my readers and followers, and I wish I could share every minute, both exciting and mundane, with y’all. Chic Little Honey has become such a bright spot in my life. Reading comments and emails from those who read my blog brings me such joy. And y’all have no idea how euphoric I feel when I hit that Publish button after slaving over a post! I want to thank all of you for hanging in there with me as I grow into this blog. Thank you for all of the liking, commenting, emailing, and making my day, even though you don’t know me outside of my outfit choices.

With all that off my chest, follow me on Instagram to see positive updates of my life, my outfits, and which mug I’m drinking my coffee out of.