Thinking of quitting Instagram and social media in general? Wondering if that’s crazy as a business owner, if you’d regret it? Let me help you make the decision by sharing why I quit Instagram a few months ago, how it felt and what happened since then.
Listen to the episode or read the transcript below:
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Show Notes:
- What happened after I unfollowed everyone last year
- The moment I decided to just stop using Instagram
- The first changes I experienced once that happened
- How my creativity exploded
- Where else I grew my reach once I stopped posting on IG
- What happens when you listen more to others than to yourself
- The success habit I replaced social media with
- How we find more peace in daily life outside of Instagram
- Being dependant on social media, and taking your power back
Mentioned:
- Why I’m Unfollowing Everyone on Instagram
- Social Media is Draining Me. Here’s What I’m Focusing on Instead
- Pinterest Boost [masterclass]
Transcript
A few months ago I published an episode where I shared why I unfollowed everyone on Instagram. I was looking for ways to simplify my business and life, be more mindful with social media, let go of comparing my business journey to those of others (especially those who make it seem so easy and effortless and make the rest feel like they’re doing something wrong).
I also did it to let go of people’s opinion and be able to create content that feels aligned, without wondering what someone who knows me in real life would think about that or who in my audience might be bothered.
That means I also stopped people pleasing and only created the content that felt right. I wasn’t chasing likes or anything else. And I knew I’d only attract genuine followers from then on.
That decision definitely made things better. I could still chat with anyone I wanted to, although that’s literally one person now. Communication in my business doesn’t really happen there.
I still follow updates from a few people that affect my life in a positive way and who I’m learning a lot from. But I don’t need to follow their accounts for that. I can just go whenever I want to see what they are up to or hear about their latest training or piece of content.
That’s part of using socials consciously. Only opening the app with intention and leaving right after getting the thing done.
So, unfollowing everyone definitely made things better for me.
A few months ago I also released another episode talking about how social media is draining me and what I’m focusing on instead.
I discussed what changed about Instagram in the last years, what type of business owners scale thanks to IG, how to see if that platform is actually working for your business or not, the price we pay for endless scrolling, and a lot more.
I’m bringing this up to show that I haven’t been feeling good about social media, and especially Instagram, for a long time now and I’ve been looking for ways to set more and more boundaries.
After taking all that action, things still didn’t feel right. The energy on IG wasn’t good, it was affecting my creativity negatively.
I could feel the comparison and perfectionism and the fake standards some business owners have set there and how many other entrepreneurs were struggling because of that.
Also, I didn’t really see much or any engagement there so it simply wasn’t worth my time. I had lost my passion about it and it wasn’t for me anymore.
3 months ago I decided to just quit Instagram.
To stop publishing any content, both posts and Stories. To stop thinking about it. To only open the app to see an update from those few mentors I mentioned as they really raise my vibes and make my day better, not to mention how much I learn from them all the time.
I quit Instagram and with that, I basically quit social media. Some might think that’s crazy as everything is happening there for business owners, but that’s not the case.
It was costing me more than it was giving me. Maybe one day it will make sense again, and maybe it will be Instagram or another platform. But not now, and not any time soon.
If you’ve been thinking of doing the same and are wondering how it feels once you quit and what actually happens in the next months, here’s my update.
1. I felt good.
For a start, I felt really good. Relieved. With less on my mind and less to do.
Once I was not paying attention to what’s going on there anymore, I wasn’t part of the race. I didn’t have to gain more followers, create more engagement, publish more posts, beat the algorithm, learn more about its updates, see what others are doing, try a new strategy, play more with the design of my graphics, interact with people, use hashtags, or anything else.
The need for all that disappeared and that gave me more time and made room for better things.
2. I became more creative.
The next amazing thing that happened after I quit Instagram is that my creativity exploded.
As I wasn’t spending most of my day wondering what to post on IG to create engagement, whether I should create a new strategy and post Stories all the time, or replicate what someone else is doing that seems to be working, that energy could be focused on other things.
What happened soon after quitting Instagram is that my creativity came back, and soon exploded. I was now writing blog posts again, recording podcast episodes, creating a new masterclass, graphics for Pinterest, and newsletters.
I started interviewing successful business owners again and sharing their stories on my blog. I started publishing income reports again every now and then. I felt more connected to my email list and served them better.
3. I increased my Pinterest views.
With IG behind me, I could focus more on Pinterest.
As you might know, it’s not a social media platform, it’s a search engine and it can bring a lot of traffic to new and old content on your website. Now most of my time in Canva is spent creating Pinterest images, adding them to blog posts and pinning them. Soon I grew my reach there again.
I even created a masterclass about it called Pinterest Boost where I share the latest updates on the platform, how to make the most of it as a blogger, how to create a simple manual pinning strategy, and more. Once you enroll, you also get access to 35 Canva Pin templates that you can start using right away to pin your content.
I neglected Pinterest for a long time prior to this and was focused on designing graphics for IG, but that simply wasn’t worth the effort as it didn’t lead to anything.
4. I could hear my intuition again.
Here’s the next amazing thing that happened once I quit Instagram.
There’s too much noise on that platform, and on social media in general. The experts are loud, but so are the non-experts. If enough people start listening to them, you might start thinking you gotta get on that trend and feel like you’re missing out on results in your business if you don’t.
But it’s rarely something that works for you, that feels good and authentic and that gets you in the right direction.
If you spend too much time on Instagram, you might end up listening to others more than to yourself. In fact, you might lose touch with your heart and inner wisdom.
Before you know it, you’re investing in the program of someone who doesn’t really resonate with you but seems to be the best coach in the industry, posting on socials as often as someone else told you, and launching your program the way most others do as it seems exciting and profitable from where you’re standing.
If that’s the case, you won’t be satisfied with your business, something will feel off, and you won’t be doing your best work.
Eventually, you’ll end up creatively drained, losing the spark in your business and disappointing your audience by not being who you truly are.
Once I quit Instagram, I could hear my intuition again. It felt good, it felt peaceful and it felt just right.
5. I started reading a lot again.
I can’t know if quitting Instagram is directly related to this, but I think so. It’s also because I’m in a more quiet period of my life, it’s still winter over here in March, I have a lot of time and feel hungry for information on a few specific topics.
There are fears I want to get over, analyze my childhood issues and heal my inner child, redefine my adult relationships and dive more into the science of manifestation.
So I’m reading a lot of books, I’m reading them faster than usual, and I internalize and apply what I learn at a faster pace too. It feels amazing.
I was able to add two new modalities to my mental toolbox – that’s Schema therapy and Rapid Resolution Therapy. I don’t actually go to therapy and am definitely not an expert in any of this. I’m just a lifelong learner and personal growth lover, and am always looking for practices that help me heal and develop a stronger mindset.
So sometimes that gets to be a form of therapy. I would learn a bit about it and I would apply an exercise or a few.
The best is when I find a practice that works so well that I turn it into a daily habit. Then the growth is inevitable.
Over time, I combine different practices and use the knowledge from all modalities that resonate with me to create my own exercises, mental practices and spiritual rituals to create the life I want. It’s really fun.
So, I finished 2 game-changing books recently, am now going through one that might take more time as there are more exercises and it leads to more breakthroughs so that takes me longer to process. Two more are waiting in my mailbox as I record this, and they are powerful ones by an author I’m learning a lot from right now. Another two are at home already and planned for later this year, or whenever I feel like diving into the topics. And my reading lists on more than one site are getting bigger and bigger.
To someone who only hears this about me, it can easily seem like I’m just aimlessly going through books and thinking I’m transforming my life. But most of you know that there are moments in life when we are simply ready to acquire more information than usual. It’s when our brains work faster, when we have crystal clear clarity and our intuition is guiding us to the right book and the right process to achieve something.
I don’t feel overwhelmed, I feel invigorated. I also know moments like that don’t last forever.
Soon I might be in a phase where I’m all about content creation, or dive into a business program and think only about sales and marketing. After that, I might travel and spend all my time outdoors. Then, it can be time to just feel my feelings and love myself more and do self-care all day.
I’ve structured my life so I follow what inspires me and what feels right.
But back to my point here. Quitting Instagram helped all this. Almost no social media, much less time spent on my phone, no need to post anything there, and not knowing what others are up to. That gave me my power back and that same energy is invested in more pleasant things now. It feels really good.
6. I slowed down.
Another benefit of quitting social media is that you don’t get notifications anymore, there’s nothing to check every 5 minutes. The world slows down once you’re out of there.
Eventually, that brings more peace in your daily life. You are relaxed, your thoughts aren’t racing. All the novelty, fear of missing out, fake self-esteem boost, comparison, and other feelings associated with social media – all this is gone now.
You feel okay with silence again, with being by yourself without your phone, with not having to check anything in the morning and evening.
Decreased levels of anxiety and depression are actually a proven benefit from quitting social media.
Time slows down, your body relaxes, your mind is at ease, and life becomes more enjoyable.
7. I feel more resilient.
I also gotta admit I feel more resilient once I quit Instagram. More stable, more independent, more in control of my time. That could be because whenever you’re using a social app daily, you depend on it in some way.
You gotta keep up, there are messages to respond to, you gotta post a few times a week, or just show up and share updates even when you don’t feel like it.
You forget that you can exist without it, that you can do business without it. You might begin to define yourself by your results on that platform. To focus so much on growing your reach there that you leave many other things behind.
This makes you weak. It makes you dependent. Often how your day goes can be decided based on how a post performed, the lack of sales when you shared a link to your offer, cold DMs that don’t lead to anything real, or spending too much time on someone else’s feed.
When you quit, you might feel like something’s missing at first. Like you might be back soon. Like you won’t make sales in any other way.
But with every next day, the addiction element goes away. You feel better about yourself, your creativity comes back, you create content outside of social media and find different ways to have meaningful conversations with your audience.
For me, this is one of the best benefits of quitting Instagram. It also made me see even more clearly how dependent others are on it, how it dictates their decisions and actions in business, how it affects their self-esteem, and how it often makes them feel worse.
If you’re thinking of stopping social media too, I highly recommend it. I think you’ll experience these and many more benefits once you quit Instagram as everyone’s journey is unique.
I can’t wait to hear how that goes for you.
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