Then end of 2020 was approaching, the holidays were in full swing, and I decided to make a pretty rash business decision: to delete my Instagram.

As a business owner, it was so HARD to let go of a platform that I used to share news and updates with my following. I felt like it might even kill my sales too. But, I knew that I desperately needed to purge certain social media outlets in my life, starting with the gram.

I mean, I am a photographer for golly’s sake. If anyone NEEDS to be on Instagram, it’s the photographers, right?!

This was my line of thinking for so long.

And it’s the biggest reason why I stayed for so long, even though I was completely miserable.

I kept pushing through the grind through.

Every week I’d bust out my camera, clean the house, and get myself camera-ready so I could get some fresh photos for Instagram. Being a photographer, I felt like all of the photos that I shared needed to be portfolio-worthy (which happens to be very stressful by the way).

Not all of the photos that I take are portfolio-worthy, so I would end up taking around 100 to get a week’s worth of Instagram content.

I did this for years and it slowly pulled me under.

Then Instagram rolled out stories. And then IGTV. Then on to Reels.

This once heavy photo platform was becoming a multi-media bananza that I just couldn’t and wouldn’t keep up with anymore.

So I didn’t think twice when I decided to deactivate my Instagram account.

It has been tugging at my heart for a long time and I finally just went ahead and pulled the trigger on that – and you know what happened????

Nothing bad.

I didn’t lose sales.

I am still able to connect with my audience in other ways.

I haven’t looked back.

And It feels AMAZING.

I honestly didn’t know what to expect when I deleted my Instagram, but now that I have, I am HAPPIER than ever.

Who knew that social media could have that kind of a negative hold on a person? Especially when that social media app was created to connect and bring out inspiration in others.

For me, Instagram was an awesome place to connect with my audience and share bits and pieces of my business behind the scenes.

But, it also caused a lot of negativity and darkness in my life such as…

• Always feeling the need to be camera ready when I am at home with the kids all day in my workout clothes nonetheless, and haven’t showered in days…
• Always feeling like I NEEDED to create fresh, new content photos and killer posts to go with them.
• Always feeling like I needed the next photo to be better than the previous – because I am a photographer after all.
• Always feeling like I needed to have the perfectly curated feed, which ended up driving me mad.
• Always feeling like if I didn’t check in for the day, I wasn’t being consistent and all of my hard work would go to waste.

And the icing on the cake: The thought and the feeling of being on my phone constantly while simultaneously raising children left a disgusting taste in my mouth.

Then it occurred to me..

I don’t NEED this in my life. I don’t need this in my business. I CAN purge this!

And so I did.

All the thousands of posts, stories, conversations – deactivated. GONE (for now).

And you know what???? It feels so freaking FREEING!!!!

In fact, I used this as a gateway to purge many things in my life and my business and I am just so on fire about life now, as melodramatic as it sounds. I have more energy, more joy, and have had more time to work on things that I have wanted to, but Instagram was getting in the way.

Instead of feeling overwhelmed with the things that I thought I SHOULD be doing, I am full of energy and passion with the things that I WANT to be doing (like updating this blog and working on a digital print shop).

I wanted to share this with you because maybe you could benefit from doing the same.

I am a firm believer in living with intention and making every moment of life count. When I was glued to my phone several hours a ago working on Instagram content, that was the opposite of living life with intent.

Sure, I might have been intentional with what I was sharing with my audience, but it wasn’t serving ME. And if I am going to serve others, then I need to first and foremost take care of myself. Now that I have that off of my plate, I actually have more time and creativity to serve my people in BETTER ways than ever.

Purging Instagram was the best decision for me.

I am not here to try to convince you to delete your Instagram or abandon a project you’ve been working on. I am a hardcore do or die trying kinda person. A hard-working, through grit and determination woman. But, if there is something in your life that isn’t 100% fulfilling or it’s causing you enormous amounts of stress...

…then it’s my personal wish for you that you can find the courage to purge it.

Because when we can release the negative things in our life, we are opening the doors to more creativity, joy, and intention.

That’s it.

Deleting an Instagram account might seem like a small, insignificant matter, but it’s often the smallest things that make the biggest impact in our life.

So, what about you?

If you’ve read this entire story, then it must mean something.

Either you’ve been toying with the idea of deleting your own Instagram account yourself, or you’re a friend or relative who’s more than curious about what happened to my Instagram.

If you’ve been wanting to delete your Instagram account, but haven’t, then why not?

If there’s something holding you back, let’s chat about it in the comments below.