8.13.2014

Very Pinteresting...








Shorts and Blazer: Lotus (they did not come together, but I decided to wear them together. I call this my shorts tuxedo look.) go to Lotus and get 15% off anything you buy online with code: MODA, Shoes: Jessica Simpson, Bag: Aldo, Shirt: Vestique, Bracelets: Alex & Ani

I love Pinterest. 

I'll be the first to admit it.
 


I have the app on my phone and late at night, when the rest of the world sleeps… I scroll the shit out of it. I pin outfits, recipes, workouts, photography ideas, and home décor pictures. (... "these are a few of my favorite things"...) 

I like to be inspired by all the ideas out there, and I am convinced that at some point all the time I have spent pinning will be worth it... because I will actually go back into Pinterest and incorporate said pins into my real life. 

Problem… 

That has never happened. 

Not once. 

I don’t think I have ever done anything in real life that I got from Pinterest. Maybe I’ve subconsciously put an outfit together similar to one I’ve seen online, but that is about it. Perhaps you are different? Maybe you actually do all of the workouts you pin... cook the recipes you have saved... make homemade wreaths for your front door out of burlap and miscellaneous supplies from Michaels. And if you are that person… good for you. You are using Pinterest for what it was intended. You are getting ideas together, gathering inspiration, and then (and here’s the kicker) DOING something cool/creative/fun.

Cooking food, working out, redecorating your Master bedroom, and/or making toxic free play-doh for your kids is all awesome stuff that contributes to your life. However, here is the problem. Sometimes, it is easy to feel like “pinning” equates to doing. It’s like our brain gets confused as to what is real and what has simply been consumed visually. 

Especially when it comes to health and fitness. Don’t tell me you’ve never got on a kick... started pinned a bunch of workouts, and then somehow felt like you actually worked out. I mean… if I  just spent one whole hour looking at other women’s tan, toned abs in sports bras… reading about how to workout at home without any gym equipment, AND I pinned the "5 best moves to tone your butt". I kind of expect for my glutes to be sore after all of that. I mean… all that has got to count for something. Pinning is basically the same as doing. Right??? Sometimes I think to myself… if I used the 30 minutes I just spent pinning and got my ass on the floor and did the workouts I saved, I’d probably actually be able to go back to sleep. Or at least, I’d be doing more of a service to my mind/body. 

These are the boards that really kill me though... the countless wedding inspiration boards (authored by those of us who aren’t even engaged) with names like "One Day" or "Some Day My Prince Will Come". Boards with dozens of engagement rings on them. As if you really need a board on your computer to remind you what kind of engagement ring you love. Or, for that matter, as if any man is going to be smart enough to go into your Pinterest account to figure out that you want a round solitaire with baguettes, or a cushion cut with a pave band. Oh, and how about the boards for nurseries and baby names. By women who aren’t even preggers. If you want a baby, maybe you should get off of Pinterest and… ugh, you know… get busy.  Gathering inspiration is great, but the whole point is that you are gathering it for the life you are actually living. Want a baby? Stop pinning, and go have sex with your husband. Or whatever.   

I mean, I get “why” we create future boards… it’s fun.  I just think we need to be conscious of the amount of time we spend thinking about parts of our lives that are not real right now and maybe start spending more time truly living the parts of our lives that are not imaginary. I mean… you are pregnant for 9 months. You’ll have PLENTY of time to pin when you can’t get comfortable at 4 AM and are wide awake. Or a wedding. Chances are you’ll have that time known as the “engagement” when you can pin to your heart’s desire and not be considered cuckoo (for cocoa puffs) for doing so.

Although… that being said… the imaginary nursery that my imaginary baby will have… is going to be THE BOMB.

I think keeping a place of organized inspiration for when those monumental things do happen in your life is cool. I’m just saying that I think it is weird that a lot of people have more interesting Pinterest boards than they do real lives. It's as if  looking at the things other people are doing, wearing, making, and creating somehow fills the void for us. I know that my time would be much better spent going through my own closet and putting together outfits, versus pinning pictures of clothing on people I've never met (and whose body type I do not, let me repeat... do NOT have). How about you?

Pin a recipe? Great. Make it. Then invite someone over for dinner for some real life conversation. See a workout that looks interesting? Get your ass on the floor and do it. Or, call a girlfriend up and make a date to go to her house to do the last 5 workouts you have pinned on your board. Even if you don’t leave with 6-pack abs, you’ve probably burned plenty of calories from laughing. And… you’ll feel a hell of a lot better for doing so. Pinning 1,000 different haircuts. Go get one. Live a little. That shht will grow back if you don’t love it. Goodness. 

I think this is a "note to self" more than anything. I totally have pins that include almost everything I have mentioned above, and it hit me the other day... it's kind of ridiculous to sit around "pinning' pictures of things I like. It would make a lot more sense to use my time actually doing things I like, or becoming more of what I like. Pinning is NOT the same as DOING. 

Trust me. If it were... I'd have a killer body, with toned abs, and a rock solid ass. I'd be a gourmet vegan chef, and live in a perfectly decorated, spotless home that looked like it came out of the pages of a magazine. It would be spotless becasue I would clean it with organic, non toxic, DIY cleaning solutions made from essential oils and vinegar. My closet would be organized (shoes included). My hair would be curled into perfect beachy waves every day, and I'd have something like zucchini Parmesan "chips" cooking in the oven. They would be baking while my homemade, gluten free cookies cooled off on a cooling rack on the counter. A cooling rack that was once a discarded wooden palette, but I found that shit, sanded it, and then spray painted gold. It looks perfect there in the all white, marble countertopped kitchen of my dreams.

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