found on Pinterest, by thekitchn
So much talk about “inspiration” these days. SO MUCH.
I guess it makes sense. What with blogs, Pinterest, and just internet in general shoving all of these beautiful things in our faces constantly. All at once. Beautiful things bombarding us.
I’ve been thinking about it all a lot lately. About the pressure to live a “beautiful life,” about how curation has seemingly replaced creation, and about finding identity in the things you collect, (all ideas I hope to write about soon), but I’ve really been thinking about “inspiration.” About how that term has been twisted a bit lately. About how weird it is that we collect these images of things that are meant to inspire us, but that instead, leave us feeling depressed.
Seeing beautiful, wonderful things can motivate us to create other beautiful, wonderful things. That’s the whole meaning of “inspiration.” Like the other day, when it was about 70 degrees here in Philly. The sky was this brilliant blue and the leaves were rustling softly, and I was sitting at the open window with my boy on my lap. I was inspired. It was so perfect and peaceful that something welled up inside of me in a desire to capture this moment, to share the loveliness of what I was experiencing, to create something that evoked similar overwhelming feelings of contentment. That’s inspiration. It’s wonderful.
And yet, when I talk to friends about blogs and pinboards and other means of modern inspiration, the most common thought expressed is that they “depress me.” Seeing all of these pictures of beautiful things seem to have the opposite effect. Rather than “inspiring” us to create something beautiful in response, instead of motivating us, they leave us feeling defeated. They convince us that this thing of beauty is something I can never achieve, so my life is less valuable as a result.
As I contemplate how my reading patterns and internet consumption has changed, I realize that a large part of avoiding those icky feelings involves being realistic in my compiling of inspiration. I guess sometimes I gather things that are unrealistic and are pretty to look at in a strictly, “this could never happen, but isn’t it NICE?” sort of sense (hullo, gorgeous million-dollar gown). But the majority of the stuff I glean and read and save is stuff I think I could someday aspire to in reality.
As murky as the water always is when we discuss body image, I think that’s the easiest example of what I mean. If you check out my “workout inspiration board” there are women of one specific type. Not because I think these women are wholly more attractive than the thinner or more muscular women floating all over Pinterest. But more specifically, because they are inspiration for me- and while, inspiration (meaning “I’m not there yet”), also attainable for me. Sure, those thin or muscular ladies I mentioned may be just as lovely, but saving images of them wouldn’t be inspiring in the sense of motivating me- not realistically. Because there’s a really slim (ha!) chance that I’ll be able to attain that goal. These ladies, though, are inspiring. They’re gorgeous, and motivate me by convincing me that I can be gorgeous, too.
In sort of the same way, I guess I could save images of lovely, stark white and bare kitchens. They are really nice. But the truth is, my kitchen is small and sort of cramped. (…I meeeean “cozy.”) It’s a little more realistic for me to be inspired by kitchens that are equally tiny, with piles of clutter that are organized neatly and attractively. It’s still inspiration. But it’s much more within my realm of possibility.
I guess my point is that we can argue about media portraying one standard of unrealistic beauty (and we should, because they do), but we should be careful in doing the same to ourselves. And I mean in any arena- not just with our bodies, but also our houses, our clothing, and everything else. I guess I think that there are several varieties of “beautiful,” and when we grow discontent because of beautiful things, perhaps it’s because we’re assigning one very narrow definition. Maybe being realistic with ourselves about what sort of loveliness is possible in our own lives can help us to better consume “inspiration” without negative effect.
What do you think?
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Oct 16, 2012 11:14 am
Is it weird that Pinterest doesn’t depress me that way? I mean, it sort of depresses me when I search “tiny homes” and find 3,000 log mansion things that someone wants to call a cabin but it really just isn’t one. It probable doesn’t help much that if I were to try to Pinterest up our house, Forrest would probably divorce me. (However, he discovered the Pinterest food boards the other day. Pinned enough greasy goodness to give us heart attacks just thinking about it….)
Oct 16, 2012 11:23 am
Not weird! That’s what I’m writing about. It doesn’t depress me, but I think it might be because I’m selective about what I ingest.
Oct 16, 2012 11:15 am
I think I’m using Pinterest differently than most people. I rarely ever pin anything I deem purely “inspiration.” Instead, I think of my pins as records for research. Most of my boards are narrowly defined. They aren’t just things I like to look at, but things that I specifically want to recreate, use in blog posts, or are a collection of historical garments meant to help me or others learn about a time period.
So I don’t know if this means I’m doing something wrong (using Pinterest not for its intended use) or doing something right. I have never gotten depressed because of it or felt that I’m not living up. I don’t save the stuff that doesn’t have some sort of practical use in my life.
Oct 16, 2012 11:52 am
I also feel like I’m using Pinterest differently/weirdly! I use it almost like a bookmarks service. 90% of what I pin is either gift ideas or recipes. I do have a “home ideas” board that was kind of inspirational, but I sort of lost interest in it once I came to terms with the fact that we’re not moving anytime soon. (Hard to renovate a rental, especially when the landlords are violently attached to their beige-on-beige color scheme.)
Oct 16, 2012 12:14 pm
I think it was Tamera? Maybe? That I was talking to about the idea that some people use Pinterest as a place to just bookmark stuff to use later, and other people use it as sort of a representation of themselves, their aesthetic, etc. A huge piece of social networking is representing yourself to everyone, and on Pinterest, that means representing yourself through “things I like” (something I’m writing a bit about next week or the week after).
But I think there’s probably a third way to use it. I think (for me, at least), it’s a magpie thing of just gathering a collection of shiny bits and putting them all in one place to admire. Because I don’t plan to ever wear that million dollar dress, but I also don’t pin it thinking, “Now my friends will know more about me because they know I like this dress,” but instead of both of those, just a simple, “OOH PRETTY. SAVE PLEASE,” and then maybe, possibly hoping it starts a conversation with friends (social network aspect).
Oct 16, 2012 12:51 pm
I have never understood that idea of using Pinterest to represent myself. I represent myself through the things I produce and wear, not things I like. That’s so foreign to my thinking.
If I could, I’d make all my Pinterest boards private. It’s solely for me to use as a reference system.
Oct 16, 2012 12:54 pm
That’s what I was just saying to someone! Private pinboards. But I guess those are bookmarks?
And, yeah, I’m really fascinated by the idea of defining yourself by something other than you do. But it’s very much a piece of our culture right now.
Oct 16, 2012 1:08 pm
The reason I like Pinterest is because it’s made up of visual bookmarks. Instead of reading a bunch of link titles to find the 1890s dress I need for research, I have a picture of it to take me back to the Met’s website.
I guess the whole idea of making pinboards private defeats the idea of social media. And that’s probably the crux of it — I don’t use Pinterest as a social media platform.
Oct 16, 2012 1:39 pm
I second everything you’ve just said. I see Pinterest as a visual repository for yummy foods and Christmas gift ideas, not as a place to make new friends or to create an online persona. I don’t really have a good justification for why that is, except that maybe my social-media desires are already being met on other sites and I feel like Pinterest is uniquely useful in this other, non-social media way.
Oct 16, 2012 12:49 pm
Yes, bookmarks. That’s exactly how I use Pinterest.
Oct 16, 2012 11:28 am
YES! I could not agree more. I banned myself from Pinterest (at least before my wedding) because I get such a hopeless, overwhelmed feeling from it. For years, as a full time artist, I’ve avoided reading design blogs – the ones we all know and love, the ones most people find “inspiring” – for this reason… and Pinterest is all these blogs having a big, pretty, designy, creative baby on steroids. I understand that people love these web spaces, and maybe for other people they’re inspiring, but I’ve found them to have the exact opposite effect for me. It takes hours, sometimes days, to shake the feeling I get from inevitably comparing myself, my spaces, and my work to that of others. I end up feeling like some sort of shell of my creative self. I couldn’t agree more with your idea of inspiration and how it doesn’t necessarily come from internet photos – the light hitting a corner of my shop in a gorgeous way, getting to the coffee shop way early (before the morning rush), feeling the change of seasons in the air, giving myself a deadline for a project… YES! Those are inspirations, things and feelings that actually make me want to create. Thanks for posting this! (I feel less crazy now…)
Oct 16, 2012 11:48 am
Something that I’ve realized over the course of reading posts like these is to indeed be realistic. It would be beyond wonderful for me to have an expansive, airy home in the country with ponies where I can clomp around in galoshes all day, eating home-grown veggies. But it’s just not where we are. Maybe one day, but not now. But you can bet that I’m collecting inspiration images for that day.
I’ve also noticed that trends come and go SO FAST nowadays that it’s pretty much pointless to get all worked up about it. I’ve been leaning towards investing in classics and going cheap on trends. Knowing that something won’t be so prevalent in a few months’ time is very helpful in not getting overwhelmed and feeling inadequate.
Oct 16, 2012 11:52 am
Mmmm… I have a few boards but mostly I pin food recipes that I want to (and often) try, so it is a great place for me to look for stuff. That and photos of animals and places, says the vet who likes to travel.
Other than that, I just like to look at the pictures and oh and ah over pretty things like lace gowns and the such, but they don’t really affect me.
Now for “lifestyle” blogs that’s a whole story, I had to delete a few so-called expat blogs that consisted of people travelling non-stop , wannabe fashion bloggers that show beautiful pictures of people that are happy ALL THE TIME. It is unreal… I can be described as an expat and even if I have had my fair share of travel… this blogs leave me with questions and feeling unadjusted cause this girls are usually 22-24 (I am 32) and go somewhere different every weekend, and even if you travel cheap it is not that cheap. So I stopped reading them…
Oct 16, 2012 12:12 pm
I signed up for Pinterest summer of 2011 and didn’t really “get” it so I stopped using it. Lately I’ve been thinking about starting an account again to track all the recipes I find online. But I’m seriously skeptical. I’m skeptical that it will suck up all my time. I’m skeptical that it won’t warp my thinking. I’m trying to find another way of collecting actual ideas rather than “inspiration”.
Oct 16, 2012 12:21 pm
I really like Pinterest for recipes! I think maybe because I’m a visual person- but seeing a row of pictures makes it easier to pick “what to make for dinner” versus reading a list of ingredients out of a book.
Oct 16, 2012 1:05 pm
It’s just like when there are pictures in a restaurant menu I’m much more likely to order one of the things pictured.
Oct 16, 2012 1:23 pm
Great post. I often find myself pinning some things I’ll never do or have (how to do fancy icing on cakes, amazing staircases, etc.) but for the most part, I think I pin practical things. I look to pinterest sort of as a reference, I even find sometimes I’ll search for a How To on Pinterest before I even google it. I love great ideas & silly projects and maybe I’ll do it, maybe I won’t, but it looks fun. I think like wedding blogs, etc. people get too swept up in it all & then feel like they aren’t measuring up. Screw it.
My favorite bloggers post stuff like “look at my awesome kitchen: I painted the cabinets & the counters are sparking” or “I re-did the laundry room, isn’t it amazing?” – and then you scroll down & there’s a pic of the Dining Room table with a zillion piles of crap hiding on it from the kitchen or there’s a real-life picture of how her laundry room usually looks with a legos all over, a pile of dirty cloth diapers & her husbands work clothes all over the floor. Love that!
Oct 16, 2012 3:43 pm
Inspiration is not the same thing as aspiration, so maybe, in addition to more realistic pinning, a little soul-searching about what we’re looking for is in order? I.e., I can test drive someone else’s life by admiring what they’ve done with their place, but applying their accomplishments to my life probably won’t give me the creative fulfillment I might be after (or the happiness I presume they have by virtue of living in such a gorgeous house). I’m more likely to be creatively satisfied when I use my own skills, experience and vision, limited as it may be, rather than moping about how I’ll never be able to artfully arrange thrift store knicknacks in a typesetter’s chest of drawers in my summer home on Key West.
Oct 16, 2012 5:04 pm
It doesn’t depress me, but I think, like the conversation above, I mainly use it for bookmarks: looks I want to recreate, things I want to cook, etc. Also, because I’m very visual, it’s been a useful tool to help me figure out what my style is. The more I look back on my bookmarks, the more I realize that I *do* have a definite style, but I always forget this when I’m shopping, whether it be for myself or for my home. Pinning has curbed my impulse buys.
Oct 16, 2012 7:47 pm
I never started using Pinterest for this reason, and I’ve also stopped reading many blogs over the years because of this “feel good” confusion. It sounds a bit lame, but I’ve had to really start asking myself daily, when I’m using the Internet (while reading blogs, entering into comment threads, following conversations on Twitter) – “does this make me feel connected and energized?” or “does this make me feel panicked and guilty?” It sounds like it should be obvious, right? But this question is very necessary for me, because sometimes fraught conversations actually make me energized, and sometimes the prettiness makes me feel stuck or impatient. Also, this (x)100000 in regard to election coverage, celebrity shit, and reproduction discussions.
Love this topic, and all the comments!
Oct 16, 2012 8:12 pm
Kerry, I love this comment. Totally agree.
Oct 17, 2012 8:22 am
I think this was why I never really got into Pinterest. I have an account, and occasionally I pin something if it strikes me, or I want to be able to come back to it later, but I don’t really keep any of the boards up to date or check in on the account often. On the other hand, it never got depressing to me, I just couldn’t connect with the medium and the whole idea behind it as much as I’d expected.
Oct 17, 2012 10:09 am
It doesn’t depress me because a) I turn it off if I get overwhelmed, and b) I’m aware that these are snapshots. But I’ll confess I saw that picture and was like “damnit, Liz! If that’s your kitchen I kinda have to quit.” :)
I think it’s time for me to turn off some of the pressure.
Oct 19, 2012 1:44 am
Man, I wish I was able to keep up with my Google Reader faster. Because man, you weren’t kidding the other day when you said you had been thinking and talking about “realistic goals” a lot. I totally missed out on the convo here!
I agree with everything you wrote here. I police myself very, very carefully when it comes to outside “inspiration.” I don’t engage in a lot of magazine reading, I don’t scroll through lifestyle blogs, I don’t watch TV shows/commercials that fit a certain shallow self-improvement or self-comparison niche (“Dress better!” “Watch Kim K be jaw-droppingly rich!”). I never signed up for Pinterest — I see its value as a bookmarking tool, yes, but also see too much of a potential for jealousy, not to mention drama and rage from the horrible things other users comment and pin.
I feel like I’m hard enough on myself without the help of outside influences, you know?
It’s nice to aspire to something — how outrageous would it be if we never tried to better ourselves? But my inner old woman is shaking her cane at the incessant barrage of “aspiration” that the television and internet brings us under the guise of self-improvement.
For now, I’ll just keep my inspiration in my head, thanks.
Oct 19, 2012 11:37 am
Just came across this, from an interview with a landscape photographer. Thought it was quite apropos:
“Being able to effectively filter content is an essential skill, but even just those things that may be relevant or interesting are enough to overwhelm anyone. Personally, I feel that if I am deeply moved by something I’ve seen, and if I experience something profound and meaningful, it doesn’t really matter whether I got there by studying a single image or a thousand images. As with many other things, I start with trusted friends and artists who inspire me or point me to others who inspire them…
Our brains are limited in their capacity to closely study a large number of things with the same degree of conscious awareness and engagement as a single item. And to me, the joy of creating and studying art comes from nuances and complexities that cannot be fully appreciated without dedicating sufficient time, or in parallel with other conscious efforts.”
[Found here: http://www.naturephotographers.net/articles1012/db1012-1.html