porch

Instagram is easily my favorite social media.

I enjoy it as a creator and as a consumer.

Micro blogging, beautiful photos, and a quick connection are all things I value right now.

I’m well aware that instagram is simply one tiny curated, filtered glimpse.

That’s one of the things I like about it…

Besides following my real life friends, I follow people whose instagram photos and words I find beautiful and encouraging or inspiring. Honestly, I don’t want my feed filled with ugly, poorly lit photos taken by people I’ve never met. I’m picky about what I want to see on instagram and I’m not ashamed to admit that I use it selfishly, unless I know you in real life, I’ll expect you to inspire me, encourage me or entertain me–otherwise, there’s really no reason for me to follow you.

None of us have time to follow people out of guilt.

None of us have time to follow people who make us feel bad.

use instagram with purpose

 

It’s okay to be selfish on social media, and I assume others are social-media-selfish too.

I’ve talked about it more here.

So I’m picky and intentional about what I share on instagram. I post on purpose with purpose so I can hopefully build an authentic community that I can influence and encourage–one tiny square photo at a time.

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I purposely want to have pretty photos that encourage and inspire. Even when I take a picture of the imperfect, there’s something about just catching one glance of a three inch square photo that never can tell the entire story or the whole truth, it’s the nature of this charming beast…

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Like this photo that I took yesterday. I don’t really use filters but I always, always brighten.

And it’s crazy how serene a random photo of our side porch can look. I’m always surprised at how the imperfections seem to fade away.

I mean, the porch is filthy. I’m testing out the big umbrella to see if I want to use four of them at the picnic tables at the barn, the fan is filthy and warped, the flowers are dead, everything needs a good pressure washing and there are piles of stuff we need to put away…

dirty porch

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instagram

But because I’m only sharing one photo, and because I’m not sure people want to see a close-up of my dead flowers (because that’s not what I want to see on instagram)–this is what I choose to share. I didn’t change anything on the porch, I simply focused on the perspective and the lighting. And I snapped a picture from right where I was–which happened to be in the hammock.

Sometimes instagram is a struggle for me because I’m an imperfectionist.

My goal is to find the beauty within the imperfection, to embrace it and see the value in it.

I wrote the book on it. Literally.

But I realize in a way, that’s exactly what instagram is doing. It’s allowing me to see the beauty within the mess.

It helps me get the right perspective and shine a pretty light on the good instead of focusing on all the unfinished, imperfect and undone.

So on instagram I share this…

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But if I turn my camera to the left or right we’d all see this…

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It’s not the whole story. But it is an important part.

I’d love for you to follow me on instagram for pretty and encouraging glimpses of our home and life, but I also hope you stay in touch here (subscribe to Nesting Place in your inbox!) so you can hear the rest of the broken story.

Because I believe they are both encouraging and important.

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