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  1. I totally agree! I think Instagram is for recognizing those beautiful moments in mundane everyday life. I’m pretty picky about who I follow on Instagram, and my main criteria is that the content of the feeds be visually inspiring. I also really admire people who are able to share the imperfect aspects through the comments of Instagram, while still keeping their photos visually appealing. I get what the author of that original article was trying to say and there are certainly people who aren’t being authentic with social media in general, but you don’t have to follow those people. I love the way you use Instagram, Whitney!

  2. I’m so glad you wrote about this. I want to pull my hair out everytime I read someone else on FB post that ridiculous article about how Instagram makes the author feel so bad about her life.

    I read stuff all the time about this topic. “Blogs make me feel bad about myself. Magazines make me feel bad about myself. Models make me feel bad about myself.” What’s up with this? Why all the negativity? The truth is, this has ZERO to do with the magazines, the models, or the blog. It has EVERYTHING to do with the person themselves. And they’re trying to hold the magazines/blogs/models/whatever accountable for the way THEY feel, which is completely wrong.

    Do I feel less-than when I see girls with “perfect” bodies? Yes, absolutely, sometimes I do. But that’s MY responsibility — and usually when I feel jealous of someone else, it’s because I’m not making the effort to do my part to make myself happier. Happiness is directly related to how much responsibility I’m willing to take for it.

    So my answer to the Instagram article is this: Why do you feel so badly about your life that seeing beauty elsewhere only enhances your negative attitude? And then this — what are you willing to do about it?

  3. Wow! This is timely today. I spent a little bit of time this morning filling out your Authenticate workshop survey, and therefore thinking about values. I think it’s important to honor God by using one’s God-given talents, whatever that talent may be.

    Later in the day, I kept tearing up thinking about Lilly Pulitzer. Which is a little odd, since I didn’t actually know the lady. But I keep thinking about how she inspired me, and so many people. What an incredible talent and legacy.! Lilly Pulitzer made the world a better place! She made the world more beautiful, she made my heart beat faster when I would see that perfect hot pink “fill in the blank” item that I HAD to have. Eternal significance of creative efforts?! I think that’s awesome. Lilly Pulitzer used her God given talent and made the world a better place.

    I love instagram because its visual and easy and fast. And {a little bit} social (I really need to get out more). And it inspires me. It probably won’t have an impact on my life like Lilly did, but I’d miss it like I did webvan if it was gone tomorrow.

    So thank you for another timely, relavent blog post! You’ve been pretty inspiring tp me recently. I’m looking forward to meeting you in Nashville.; )

  4. Great post Whitney! The quote above is beautiful to the eyes as much as it is to my soul…AND so true. I try to remember…even in the ‘not perfect’ moments I try to find a little piece of humor, beauty, positive spin, or learning opportunity. Rachel, your comment is so so true! I wish there was a ‘like’ button…I would ‘like’ it ten times over!

  5. I am also so glad you wrote about this! After all the hullabaloo regarding that article came across FB and Instagram I finally checked it out the other day. And I’ve been bothered by it ever since. I love seeing other people’s babies, dinners, views, latest projects and anything else they deem worthy to take a picture of that day. It makes me smile and I love sharing just as much and that, my friend, is worth every second of it! You put my feelings into words, Whitney! Hope to see you soon…maybe at Inspired this fall!!! XO

  6. Beautifully written, Whitney!! I completely agree with you. Though I felt like the original article that sparked this had fantastic points, I wanted to address the issue of taking responsibility for how we feel. That’s exactly what you’ve done here (as well as Rachel’s spot-on comment) in reminding us that we shouldn’t apologize for striving to find beauty around us. Posting pretty pictures does not tell the whole story but why should it? That’s not the point. My instagram feed is not my entire life. Would we really follow someone that worked to find the ugliness in their life and only posted that? Of course not, there’s enough ugly in the world.

    Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts with us. Muah!! 😉

  7. Whitney,
    I’m not exactly sure how I found your site or when I started following you, but I also follow Rachel and Kate’s blogs too! Actually, now that I think about it all three of you have beautiful websites and write amazing blog posts that hit so close to home I look forward to reading the new ones as they’re posted!

    As a new mom with a full time job AND trying to relaunch my side business I find that if I spend too much time looking at blogs and scrolling through Instagram I start to feel really inadequate. As a person and as a mom. It’s amazing how much you all have accomplished and without social media I never would have had the pleasure of seeing of all the gorgeous photos and finding inspiration. As someone who works in social media for my career, it’s even harder to remind myself though that all social tools (not just Instagram) tend to highlight the best parts of peoples lives. Now, you can take that and walk away inspired or walk away upset. I go back and forth, realizing of course that everyone has good days and bad days. I love that technology can take my bad day and turn it into a good one from the internet “connections” I have made.
    Great post and thank you for sharing, both wise words and lovely photos ladies!

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