Gorgeous. I left social media in 2019. Even here, it feels the same, to be honest on Substack. Maybe that's because they are all either from Elon Muks companies or FB if you look at the leadership But I love your post, your beautiful voice, your soulful, gentle way of putting into words that which lives in you and in so many.
Thank you so much Alicia. And well done for leaving it. I applaud you. I'd love to hear how it has impacted you and what has changed for you in the past 4 years of not using social media and why you decided to leave it in the first place? Sending love x
Well...like the people you quoted, I used to love it. I had a thriving international and local community. Why I left was sort of it's own spiral. This is such a big conversation and hard to share it in this forum because it is so deep and nuanced. In the end, I found that I paid dearly for being on and I was neither able to give what I wanted to give nor was I able to receive what I wanted to receive. As for my life "after," it was both a birth and an incubator from which I am just beginning to emerge. During 2020-2021 I became very present to the three or four blocks where I live. My views are not the same as most people here but I have always believed in being a bridge without sacrificing authenticity and the pandemic opened people up to want to conncect genuinely. I've been out in the open about being a bit of the crazy lady who talks about spirituality and quantum physics and who you'd expect to be a bit of a theorist. So I was able to spread kindness and humor and love. When the cases went down but the coercive measures went up, that was a low point for me. A real struggle to watch people behave completely irrationally and find that I could not join them. I was very lonely. But I grew closer to my family, worked through lots of my own stuff and I guess kind of went through a bit of an ego death where I no longer cared if anyone knew I existed or if I ever was able to bring forward more public offerings in my work. I continued my prayers for the whole and spreading kindness where I could. This summer I started to feel like poking my head out and saying hi to the world again. I felt that more peoples hearts were open to the kind of person I am, and what I bring into the room. It's been wonderful! I have a lot of lit conversations with strangers. I talk to those who come to get me to vote about what I don't and how I believe we need people on the inside and the outside who are committed to genuine love and integrity. I started writing a substack, and of course, it's getting no views outside of anyone who directly goes to it.
Alicia- I feel this as well here! I love the long form content, and try to just enjoy and comment on those I truly resonate with! All of these platforms are of the same in the end so it is just about us setting our own boundaries in how to use them for ourselves and our growth in our writing/business (personally still trying to figure this out!).
Nov 9, 2023·edited Nov 9, 2023Liked by Claudia Wilde
Yes, I love the long form content too, and it can take a little time to find the people with whom you resonate, but I agree, it's how we relate to technology (as well as who is in charge of it) that makes the difference. Have you looked up Substack's leadership?
There have been SO many times I’ve felt the fatigue of social media over the last 10 years. I’ve done my best to not complain about it and embrace it because I’ve much preferred to show up on Instagram rather than get a job I’m not inspired by BUT over the last years - possibly since reels came out and video was prioritized? Things shifted.
I feel like 10 years on instagram creating community and content has been somewhat wasted based on my now engagement and algorithm changes and I often reflect and cringe on how much of my life was spent there.
I’m really enjoying the changes of moving to Substack primarily and though I also spend a lot of time here- it IS different.
Yes yes so true. Also all the shadow-banning, the reporting and removal of content because "it goes against community guidelines" and the thousands of fake comments (lol) have been beyond frustrating and got me to a point where the desire to leave and find another medium to share my writing and photography got too strong to brush aside.
I'm the same in the sense of not wanting to complain because it has been great in so many ways however just unsure of where it's heading.
Goal is definitely to move over here primarily.
And thank you 🙏🏼 digging through so many poems lately and also filling pages after pages .. definitely a sign that creative juices are flowing here haha xx
This is beautiful 💫 You are beautiful. What a gift it is to feel the hugeness, the magnitude and the amount you love 🤍🤍 It’s one of the reasons I enjoy reading your Art so very much x
I find instagram very overwhelming and overstimulating, since my pregnancy loss in 2019 I have been in this dance of being ‘off it’ then back on. The longest I deleted the app for was 5 months and I’ve even gotten rid of all my accounts from my Isagenix days to eliminate the noise of the constant videos and reels but they always seem to slowly sneak back in. Maybe I’ll just delete it all one day and people can just connect and access me on here xxx
Rachel THANK YOU. Your comment made me teary this morning and I am just so grateful for your presence here. Thank you for you support and for seeing me.
Yes that's the goal for me as well to move over here completely. I very much feel the same sense of overwhelm and overstimulation on Instagram and it's hard not to get sucked in. After all that's what it was made for and it's hard to resist sometimes.
I mainly use it now to chat via DM's since I do still enjoy to be able send messages directly to someone, create group chats etc although I guess I could just use what's app or telegram for that .. 😂
There’s so much that I adore about this letter my love, thank you. I realised as I was reading your letter that for me, IG feels so “hey world, look at me”, where as SS is feeling so much more “hey me, look at me” if that makes sense 😂 sounded better in my head than typed out, but I guess I’m trying to say - everything here pulls me in further to myself (likely also due to lack of video and images), vs further ‘out there’. And as overwhelming as it can still be, it hits differently. And the community engagement and interaction feels richer and less transient too.
UHM YES! Each letter reveals so much to me, that's the beauty of putting pen to paper right. Getting to know ourselves on a more intimate level. I love how this platform has pushed me out of my comfort zone so much already and how we are able to get to know each other in a deeper, more meaningful way, investing time and energy into reading and having a conversation with each other. Yum . Thanks for reading & sharing my love xx
Beautifully written. I quit my personal instagram almost 2 years ago and I have not thought about it even once ever since. There is so much beauty to be enjoyed in the real world. I have time to paint, have conversations with family, sit still and breathe and what not. I think we live in a world where most people are running a thousand miles an hour, but we don't really know where anymore. If success ends up draining us, maybe it's time to redefine its meaning in our life.
So beautifully put Mansi. Thank you. I love how you said we don't know what we're running towards anymore and that you consciously chose not to participate in that xx
Gosh I relate so much to this and have definitely a complex relationship of many threads with IG... I take regular total breaks to reattune to myself because the noise gets loud at times!!!
I much prefer the space here and the long form writing for me is the medicine. I still find myself getting a bit frazzled with things like notes though because it’s quick and feels more demanding. But I’m being quite intentional with my boundaries!
It’s a bold statement to make but Substack has changed my life already!!!!!
I love that you take regular breaks. Something I need to get better at .. however more leaning towards a long, perhaps permanent "break" at the moment. ✨
Long form is definitely the medicine, you're so right. And the time that's set aside intentionally to connect and nourish each other.
I am soooo in this with you. I have been on insta for 10 years - 8 of it intentional building. My account hit 16K and then never went over, engagement went to shit and i started a new account. I go through waves of creativity there but i wonder if im only there out of habit, and how much of my creatvitiy (that i use for reels etc) could be used here or just in my life.
YES! I had a larger account as well and started another one haha I enjoy being creative on there since I love photography and videography but I can feel myself retreating from it. I haven't posted there since loosing bub and moving over here and honestly it freed up so much space to not only make mothering and business flow better but also get into projects I never even attempted to start before.. xx
I love this Claudia, adored your poem and hearing your beautiful voice. I relate to it all so deeply, yes it is a newsletter but it is so much more. Your thoughts align with a lot of what I have been thinking about, writing in letter form to make sense of ourselves and our thoughts and placing them somewhere that they are respected and held with reverence and reflection.
I am barely on IG these days though until relatively recently it consumed a lot of my time/brain space. I don't feel that pull towards it anymore, possibly due to my annoyance about the algorithm etc.
Anyway, so happy to be here and for myself and for the beautiful people, writing and inspiration that I continue to find here xx
Thank you so much for reading and listening beautiful Lyndsay! So happy to be here also and to continuously meet inspiring and genuine people like yourself my love ✨ thank you for your support xx
Claudia, I copied so many of your sentences, so much of this rings true for me too. 'Once we start to approve ourselves, once we love ourselves so deeply no one can fuck with us, once we dare to open our hearts and realise that above all else what matters in this life is right here, right in front of us, that’s when true success hits.' Yes to this, yes, yes, yes. I have been on this journey back to myself this past 12 months and it has been the most incredible ride. Thank you for sharing this. So lovely to connect with you my love x
So relatable. I feel as I could have written some of this post myself. I’ve been completely off social media for almost a month and I honestly have not been happier in years. Removing it has stripped a veil that was over my eyes and I feel like I can see and feel the world a whole lot more now. I built my business on there so it was a big call, but worth it for the sake of my children and husband. It consumed me for many, many years. It feels so amazing to be free of it all now. I feel lighter and more present with my family than I ever have been. Best decision.
"Worth it for the sake of my children and husband" - god I hear you there. Also for the sake of ourselves and our mental health. It can be so all consuming especially if your business is somewhat dependent on it. I look forward to letting it go and feeling that lightness. Mhm. Thank you for reading honey x
Mhm yes it seems to be for so many. Sorry to have missed your comment by the way lovely. I finally feel ready now to take plunge and as of 11/11 I shall be off all other socials and bring all my energy here to Substack which I am beyond excited about. I will write about my experience since I’ve enjoyed reading about others that have done it and what they gained from a short, long or indefinite period away from the major platforms ❤️ thank you for being here beautiful!
Love this so much!! I so enjoy the deeper heart felt content over social media. I think there is a way to embrace both with boundary and intention (and will say that about this space as well). We have to do what feels right to us above all else.
I think so many of us just deeply desire the quite, simplicity of life these days due to the realities of our world. So wherever we can cut out the noise and find peace, then that is what we must do for our mental health and the well-being of our children.
Exactly, so beautifully put Jennifer. I think over the years I've been refining over and over what it means to me to live a truly connected, fulfilling and intentional life and social media just isn't part of it. I don't think it ever was to be honest but once I moved overseas and started building a businesses there was always this pressure of you have to have a presence on those apps in order to make it professionally, which simply isn't true. I love that you also put boundaries around all this lovely. Celebrating you xx
Yess, we are fed a lie that we have to be on it and it never worked for me either it always felt forced, and I always would end up leaving and deleting accounts! Still attempting the boundaries and what works and what doesn’t for all of this, but it’s clear that Instagram is not my place to be. It seems many of us feel this way!
l o v e
Thank you Elena x
Gorgeous. I left social media in 2019. Even here, it feels the same, to be honest on Substack. Maybe that's because they are all either from Elon Muks companies or FB if you look at the leadership But I love your post, your beautiful voice, your soulful, gentle way of putting into words that which lives in you and in so many.
Thank you so much Alicia. And well done for leaving it. I applaud you. I'd love to hear how it has impacted you and what has changed for you in the past 4 years of not using social media and why you decided to leave it in the first place? Sending love x
Well...like the people you quoted, I used to love it. I had a thriving international and local community. Why I left was sort of it's own spiral. This is such a big conversation and hard to share it in this forum because it is so deep and nuanced. In the end, I found that I paid dearly for being on and I was neither able to give what I wanted to give nor was I able to receive what I wanted to receive. As for my life "after," it was both a birth and an incubator from which I am just beginning to emerge. During 2020-2021 I became very present to the three or four blocks where I live. My views are not the same as most people here but I have always believed in being a bridge without sacrificing authenticity and the pandemic opened people up to want to conncect genuinely. I've been out in the open about being a bit of the crazy lady who talks about spirituality and quantum physics and who you'd expect to be a bit of a theorist. So I was able to spread kindness and humor and love. When the cases went down but the coercive measures went up, that was a low point for me. A real struggle to watch people behave completely irrationally and find that I could not join them. I was very lonely. But I grew closer to my family, worked through lots of my own stuff and I guess kind of went through a bit of an ego death where I no longer cared if anyone knew I existed or if I ever was able to bring forward more public offerings in my work. I continued my prayers for the whole and spreading kindness where I could. This summer I started to feel like poking my head out and saying hi to the world again. I felt that more peoples hearts were open to the kind of person I am, and what I bring into the room. It's been wonderful! I have a lot of lit conversations with strangers. I talk to those who come to get me to vote about what I don't and how I believe we need people on the inside and the outside who are committed to genuine love and integrity. I started writing a substack, and of course, it's getting no views outside of anyone who directly goes to it.
Alicia- I feel this as well here! I love the long form content, and try to just enjoy and comment on those I truly resonate with! All of these platforms are of the same in the end so it is just about us setting our own boundaries in how to use them for ourselves and our growth in our writing/business (personally still trying to figure this out!).
Yes, I love the long form content too, and it can take a little time to find the people with whom you resonate, but I agree, it's how we relate to technology (as well as who is in charge of it) that makes the difference. Have you looked up Substack's leadership?
No I haven’t! You have me all curious now!
The leadership is one of the reason Substack drew me in as well Alicia. I have faith in them much more than I ever had in Zuckerburg haha
Have you actually looked at their leadership?
Maybe not close enough if you're asking that way haha
Molly Graham - job title hanging out with my family. Look up her background
Ah yes Claud’s, can so so relate.
There have been SO many times I’ve felt the fatigue of social media over the last 10 years. I’ve done my best to not complain about it and embrace it because I’ve much preferred to show up on Instagram rather than get a job I’m not inspired by BUT over the last years - possibly since reels came out and video was prioritized? Things shifted.
I feel like 10 years on instagram creating community and content has been somewhat wasted based on my now engagement and algorithm changes and I often reflect and cringe on how much of my life was spent there.
I’m really enjoying the changes of moving to Substack primarily and though I also spend a lot of time here- it IS different.
Love your poem also- so beautiful xx
Yes yes so true. Also all the shadow-banning, the reporting and removal of content because "it goes against community guidelines" and the thousands of fake comments (lol) have been beyond frustrating and got me to a point where the desire to leave and find another medium to share my writing and photography got too strong to brush aside.
I'm the same in the sense of not wanting to complain because it has been great in so many ways however just unsure of where it's heading.
Goal is definitely to move over here primarily.
And thank you 🙏🏼 digging through so many poems lately and also filling pages after pages .. definitely a sign that creative juices are flowing here haha xx
This moved me deeply. Thankyou 💝
Thank you for being here Amanda ✨
This is beautiful 💫 You are beautiful. What a gift it is to feel the hugeness, the magnitude and the amount you love 🤍🤍 It’s one of the reasons I enjoy reading your Art so very much x
I find instagram very overwhelming and overstimulating, since my pregnancy loss in 2019 I have been in this dance of being ‘off it’ then back on. The longest I deleted the app for was 5 months and I’ve even gotten rid of all my accounts from my Isagenix days to eliminate the noise of the constant videos and reels but they always seem to slowly sneak back in. Maybe I’ll just delete it all one day and people can just connect and access me on here xxx
Rachel THANK YOU. Your comment made me teary this morning and I am just so grateful for your presence here. Thank you for you support and for seeing me.
Yes that's the goal for me as well to move over here completely. I very much feel the same sense of overwhelm and overstimulation on Instagram and it's hard not to get sucked in. After all that's what it was made for and it's hard to resist sometimes.
I mainly use it now to chat via DM's since I do still enjoy to be able send messages directly to someone, create group chats etc although I guess I could just use what's app or telegram for that .. 😂
Sending you so much love mama xx
Soo relatable.
I’m thinking the end of the year I’ll leave. Feels scary but I think it’s time
(There’s a couple of people I need contact with through there until then haha)
Substack feels like home
Beautiful spoken word also 💕💕
Marinating on it too. And how funny the fear we feel around leaving .. thanks for reading beautiful Georgia xx
There’s so much that I adore about this letter my love, thank you. I realised as I was reading your letter that for me, IG feels so “hey world, look at me”, where as SS is feeling so much more “hey me, look at me” if that makes sense 😂 sounded better in my head than typed out, but I guess I’m trying to say - everything here pulls me in further to myself (likely also due to lack of video and images), vs further ‘out there’. And as overwhelming as it can still be, it hits differently. And the community engagement and interaction feels richer and less transient too.
UHM YES! Each letter reveals so much to me, that's the beauty of putting pen to paper right. Getting to know ourselves on a more intimate level. I love how this platform has pushed me out of my comfort zone so much already and how we are able to get to know each other in a deeper, more meaningful way, investing time and energy into reading and having a conversation with each other. Yum . Thanks for reading & sharing my love xx
Beautifully written. I quit my personal instagram almost 2 years ago and I have not thought about it even once ever since. There is so much beauty to be enjoyed in the real world. I have time to paint, have conversations with family, sit still and breathe and what not. I think we live in a world where most people are running a thousand miles an hour, but we don't really know where anymore. If success ends up draining us, maybe it's time to redefine its meaning in our life.
So beautifully put Mansi. Thank you. I love how you said we don't know what we're running towards anymore and that you consciously chose not to participate in that xx
Gosh I relate so much to this and have definitely a complex relationship of many threads with IG... I take regular total breaks to reattune to myself because the noise gets loud at times!!!
I much prefer the space here and the long form writing for me is the medicine. I still find myself getting a bit frazzled with things like notes though because it’s quick and feels more demanding. But I’m being quite intentional with my boundaries!
It’s a bold statement to make but Substack has changed my life already!!!!!
Love your words and perspectives always xxx
I love that you take regular breaks. Something I need to get better at .. however more leaning towards a long, perhaps permanent "break" at the moment. ✨
Long form is definitely the medicine, you're so right. And the time that's set aside intentionally to connect and nourish each other.
Thank you for being here my love xxxx
I am soooo in this with you. I have been on insta for 10 years - 8 of it intentional building. My account hit 16K and then never went over, engagement went to shit and i started a new account. I go through waves of creativity there but i wonder if im only there out of habit, and how much of my creatvitiy (that i use for reels etc) could be used here or just in my life.
YES! I had a larger account as well and started another one haha I enjoy being creative on there since I love photography and videography but I can feel myself retreating from it. I haven't posted there since loosing bub and moving over here and honestly it freed up so much space to not only make mothering and business flow better but also get into projects I never even attempted to start before.. xx
I love this Claudia, adored your poem and hearing your beautiful voice. I relate to it all so deeply, yes it is a newsletter but it is so much more. Your thoughts align with a lot of what I have been thinking about, writing in letter form to make sense of ourselves and our thoughts and placing them somewhere that they are respected and held with reverence and reflection.
I am barely on IG these days though until relatively recently it consumed a lot of my time/brain space. I don't feel that pull towards it anymore, possibly due to my annoyance about the algorithm etc.
Anyway, so happy to be here and for myself and for the beautiful people, writing and inspiration that I continue to find here xx
Thank you so much for reading and listening beautiful Lyndsay! So happy to be here also and to continuously meet inspiring and genuine people like yourself my love ✨ thank you for your support xx
What a beautiful poem!
Thank you so much lovely 🫶🏻✨
Claudia, I copied so many of your sentences, so much of this rings true for me too. 'Once we start to approve ourselves, once we love ourselves so deeply no one can fuck with us, once we dare to open our hearts and realise that above all else what matters in this life is right here, right in front of us, that’s when true success hits.' Yes to this, yes, yes, yes. I have been on this journey back to myself this past 12 months and it has been the most incredible ride. Thank you for sharing this. So lovely to connect with you my love x
Thank YOU for reading lovely xx so appreciate your presence and support!!
So relatable. I feel as I could have written some of this post myself. I’ve been completely off social media for almost a month and I honestly have not been happier in years. Removing it has stripped a veil that was over my eyes and I feel like I can see and feel the world a whole lot more now. I built my business on there so it was a big call, but worth it for the sake of my children and husband. It consumed me for many, many years. It feels so amazing to be free of it all now. I feel lighter and more present with my family than I ever have been. Best decision.
"Worth it for the sake of my children and husband" - god I hear you there. Also for the sake of ourselves and our mental health. It can be so all consuming especially if your business is somewhat dependent on it. I look forward to letting it go and feeling that lightness. Mhm. Thank you for reading honey x
Yessss this topic and conversation is so alive in me and so many of my friends ❤️
Mhm yes it seems to be for so many. Sorry to have missed your comment by the way lovely. I finally feel ready now to take plunge and as of 11/11 I shall be off all other socials and bring all my energy here to Substack which I am beyond excited about. I will write about my experience since I’ve enjoyed reading about others that have done it and what they gained from a short, long or indefinite period away from the major platforms ❤️ thank you for being here beautiful!
Mmmm beautiful darling heart
Feel ya gurl
I miss the olden days , before I had an i phone - which was 6 years ago , as I resisted it for many years .
I got all my photography jobs via word of mouth & never had a website . I’m about to go off Insta again for a big chunk ...
And just do art
Until the next wave of sharing wants to come
Feeling your freedom in your decision
Xx
Mhm celebrating you mama for all that you shared there! Here's to "just" doing art xxx
Love this so much!! I so enjoy the deeper heart felt content over social media. I think there is a way to embrace both with boundary and intention (and will say that about this space as well). We have to do what feels right to us above all else.
I think so many of us just deeply desire the quite, simplicity of life these days due to the realities of our world. So wherever we can cut out the noise and find peace, then that is what we must do for our mental health and the well-being of our children.
Exactly, so beautifully put Jennifer. I think over the years I've been refining over and over what it means to me to live a truly connected, fulfilling and intentional life and social media just isn't part of it. I don't think it ever was to be honest but once I moved overseas and started building a businesses there was always this pressure of you have to have a presence on those apps in order to make it professionally, which simply isn't true. I love that you also put boundaries around all this lovely. Celebrating you xx
Yess, we are fed a lie that we have to be on it and it never worked for me either it always felt forced, and I always would end up leaving and deleting accounts! Still attempting the boundaries and what works and what doesn’t for all of this, but it’s clear that Instagram is not my place to be. It seems many of us feel this way!