This post actually has nothing to do with Bed Bath and Beyond, and everything to do with the fact that I completely lack the ability to find decent backdrops, hence my use of a parking lot. As my blog has began to grow, the pressures to create A) good content and B) actually plan/filter/color-coordinate my Instagram has increased tremendously. I figured that if I approach social media the same way these girls do, then I too will gain followers and one day have a book published for absolutely no reason. Pshh, who cares about the resilience of  Malala when you have a white girl that dresses cute? After Instagram-stalking a multitude of bloggers, I realized that there’s a common pattern amongst many blogger’s Instagram posts. Here are some, just to list a few:

1. Brightly colored, if not white, walls
2. Food pictures (not before arranging the food in an aesthetically pleasing manner)
3. Food being held up against brightly colored, if not white, walls
4. Candid perusing around cities (i.e New York, Paris, Madrid, etc.). I call this the “walk-and-laugh.”
5. Not-so-candid bikini photos in exotic locations (i.e Bali, Bahamas, etc.)
6. Consistent color-schemes (i.e Muted white/orange warmth, muted cool-blue, vibrant pink/yellow/glitter/polka-dots/rainbow, etc.)

And so began my feeble attempt at trying to be a cool-girl, bright-wall-seeking blogger. Honestly, who the hell knew that finding hot pink walls would be so hard? In my raging attempt to be a cool-girl blogger, I spent like, $15 on a single waffle, just so I could take a photo of it. The waffle was great (totally overpriced though), but my photo sucked. During that same week, my bearded dude and I drove around for a good 30 minutes to try to find an Instagram-worthy colored wall. This followed up with me panicking because I NEED TO FIND A NICE WALL SO I CAN POST COLORFUL WALL PHOTOS ON INSTAGRAM LIKE THE OTHER BLOGGERS- and if that doesn’t say something about the world we live in, then I don’t know what else does.

As someone who advocates so much for individuality and diverting from the norms, it felt awfully hypocritical that I was trying to be more like these other girls on Instagram. And honestly, there are times where I feel this weird need to change, or conform, or whatever else- I feel like that’s something most of us young folks go through, especially in this age of social media. So how do we avoid this stress to be prettier, have more followers, etc etc? I found this quote via Google that said, “The only way to avoid stress is to not give a f*ck.” Eloquent, isn’t it? It’s true though! The only way to not give a f*ck, is to simply not give a f*ck. So wear what you want, post what you want (okay, but take that with a grain of salt), do what you want, and say what you want. Authenticity is everything, and being normal is utterly boring. Be you and don’t give a f*ck, and while you’re at it, go to Bed Bath & Beyond to take some snazzy photos (they also have great coupons, and who doesn’t love a good coupon?).

Embrace Your Misfit Soul,
xoxo Julia B.