before your instagram was 'pretty'

‘we get so worried about being pretty. let’s be pretty kind. pretty funny. pretty smart. pretty strong’.

I just have to mention how much I loved this outfit. I wore this look to the Chloe Digital conference in LA and I truly felt like it represented me in so many ways. I love a fun, feminine dress and pairing it with an oversized denim jacket was just so so good (cue the two hands in the air emoji). I took French in school and I love rock music so this jacket was literally too good to be true! I found it last year at Forever 21 in the clearance and couldn’t say no! have you ever found something that you swear was made for you?!

‘i loved you before your instagram was pretty’

this quote is funny right? but seriously tho. thinking about it, I’m like, ‘yeah, there are some people I’ve followed since the beginning when I first made my IG account, the ones that posted pictures of their food, selfies and pictures that didn’t have a cohesive look’. I actually LOVED the time of life when instagram felt a little more easy, and you posted when you wanted and you could post whatever you wanted, and people followed you for whatever reason.

fast forward to now.

instagram has become the biggest game. there is like this unspoken pressure of making sure that each picture is totally unique, captivating, fun, sexy, etc. it’s a tough cookie to crumble. and then on top of making sure the photo is great, you’ve got to figure out what time your audience is most likely going to see it. because IG changed the way your posts are viewed, if it’s not popular in the first hour your pictures aren’t being shown to everyone that follows you. it gets depressing fast and takes the fun out of posting.

literally I can’t believe how much time I spend talking about it, looking at it, planning my posts, interacting with people on it. that app has consumed a lot of my time. and it is so much fun. but also causes a lot of stress. which is SO silly. it is an APP. a place to post beautiful pictures, witty captions, quotes, document and share moments that become memories. it’s also a huge part of my blogging business. and it’s a blessing that I’m able to make money for my family because of it.

I feel so passionately that if you are following someone you -should- be supporting them. liking their posts, interacting with their questions/videos/etc. I know I do. I try as much as I can to comment and like the people that I follow. I genuinely LOVE what they’re doing, what they’re sharing. so I want to let them know that I like what they’re doing. honestly if someone doesn’t double tap my photo, or click that little heart and they just scroll on by my name – they have no need to follow me. I want people who genuinely care and want to like my stuff to be following me. I want them engaging with my content.

and maybe that means I need to produce content that is more intriguing or pictures that are more eye catching, but at the end of the day, I’m doing what I love and what makes me happy so the likes don’t matter – but in the same breath … they do. they matter to brands, and it doesn’t hurt to see that a lot of people are also enjoying what you’re putting out into the world. so my words of advice on this are … go support and like and interact with those you follow. it feels good as a blogger to know others care. a lot of thought and effort goes into these posts and believe me, captions take forever to write sometimes – so please ‘like’ those you follow!

I shared this before but I have definitely been caught up in the awful downward spiral of comparison and thinking my blog/my life/my efforts aren’t good enough and it’s put me in some rotten moods. so as fun as instagram is, it’s also a daily action to not be distracted or misled by images you see on a screen. those fragments of someone’s day are literally that. tiny pieces of a moment. you don’t see the back story, you don’t see the effort that went into that shot. the time it took to edit that photo. it all looks so easy, like someone has ‘the perfect life’. but you don’t know. you never know.

it’s so good to interact, and create friendships, and how amazing is it that we are able to connect with people from all over the world. people who can relate to us. people who can appreciate what we are putting out there. this kind of technology was only dreamt about and we are living it. it’s so incredible! so don’t let it bring you down.

I’ve put a lot of time and energy the past 6 months to revamp my ‘vibe’ on instagram. to switch up my look. I cared about what I posted on instagram but I didn’t really have the most cohesive color palette or anything and I really wanted to do that. I wanted it for me. now that I’ve been playing around with editing on lightroom and with the colors. I truly feel like I’ve found my style.

I can appreciate the feeds that are basically all white with pops of neutrals and the ones that are so full of color, the ones that are dark and moody, the ones that are ootd’s everyday. but those just aren’t me. you don’t have to conform. I love greenery, I love white space, I love flowers, I love color. so I do what I like. it makes me happy. I’m at a place where I TRULY love my pictures and what I’m sharing with the world.

a trick I have for getting your instagram feed to be ‘your dream feed‘ is …

to post what you LOVE!

you know how on instagram, there is the ‘save’ section??? it’s kind of like pinterest, it becomes a long feed of all the pictures you’ve saved. my advice is to create your own personal instagram feed to have the same colors/vibe/energy as the pictures you’re saving. because obviously if that’s what you’re saving – it’s what you like! now I’m not saying to straight up copy those outfits, or the backgrounds, or the poses, but draw inspiration from them. once you start sharing what makes you happiest, you won’t care what others are doing – because you’re doing what you want to 🙂 no need for comparison.

there isn’t a right or wrong way to document what you love. so go ahead and share the 50+ pictures of your adorable baby, all the cute videos of your puppy and take all the selfies your heart desires because those who care about you will care about what you’re sharing 🙂

ps. I’d double tap the heart for you and remember you are MORE than your instagram. it is after all just an app! shameless plug 🙂 you can find me @jensynjeppsen

Rachel Parcell dress, not available anymore // Forever 21 jacket // Valentino heels