Why I’m Unfollowing Everyone on Instagram

Welcome to a shorter and spontaneous podcast episode on something I finally decided and started doing the other day – unfollowing everyone on Instagram.

It’s been on my mind many times, I knew the benefits, I knew why, and that it would make my life and business easier. And yet, I didn’t get to it until now. So here we go. 10 reasons why I’m unfollowing everyone.

Transcript

Unfollowing everyone is quite a controversial topic but I wanted to share my reasons why.

If this resonates with you and if it’s something that you’ve been feeling too, then you might consider doing the same. If not, that’s totally fine.

The same applies to any social platform, not just Instagram. It’s just where I’ve been spending time in the last years and sharing my content, so that’s where I had to make changes too. 

Here are the reasons:

1. Less is more.

I’m all about simplifying every aspect of my life and business. Following people wasn’t contributing to my life in any way. We gotta be careful with the content we consume online.

2. More mindful social media use.

I already had mindfulness practices in place when it comes to social media such as: 

  • opening the app with intention
  • creating more than consuming
  • only posting when I have something valuable to say
  • not mindlessly scrolling
  • not spending too much time there
  • not doing it first thing in the morning or in bed

And more.

And yet, there were still moments when I ended up checking out content that led to negative feelings, comparing myself to others and taking business decisions from that place. I was feeling the need to post more because others were posting, yet I didn’t feel like it.

Unfollowing people solves most of that and is a great way to optimize my daily life.

Read also: Social Media is Draining Me. Here’s What I’m Focusing on Instead

3. The comparison trap.

No matter how much we heal, how conscious we are and how successful we are, we still end up comparing ourselves to others on IG. 

Even the best of the best do it. My mentors in business share openly that they too struggle with this sometimes.

There are many people on the app who are really good at making their life look ideal, their business look successful and making money look easy. And they are good at making us feel like we are doing something wrong, that their way is the right way.

We end up feeling lack. That can only repel anything you desire. Unfollowing everyone helps with this.

4. I can finally stop explaining myself.

If you know me in real life, you might know I often mention I don’t mix personal life with business, that I’m not using IG for friends and family, that I don’t want people to follow me, etc.

People get offended and it can affect negatively potential connections with new people I meet. 

If we’d follow each other with someone over the years, I followed back out of politeness. That’s the wrong reason for doing it.

Unfollowing everyone solved that problem. Now I can show the profile if they ask, without feeling guilty or having to explain myself. When they see that I’m not following anyone, they won’t expect to be followed too.

5. I let go of people’s opinion.

Obviously, I cared too much about people’s opinion. If I see some people’s posts or their new story pops up, that would be enough to make me want to check it, think of them and be triggered, and change my mind about how I wanna show up online because they might see.

Now that’s over thanks to unfollowing everyone and I feel liberated and have more creative freedom.

6. I can still keep in touch with the people I want.

Sometimes we get attached to following certain people and can’t let go of that because we think we’ll never hear from them again or will never see their updates. That’s not correct. 

I’ve seen people who navigate that so well that it inspired me to let go of that limitation.

I will still use IG as a place for inspiration and check out updates from my business and spiritual mentors. I’ll still reach out to people I’ve formed connections with over the years thanks to my business. But this time it will be a conscious choice, not because their story just popped up.

7. IG gives me a feeling of comfort but in an unhealthy way. 

There’s this illusion that you’re more social when you spend some time on the app. That a lot is happening once you check a few stores and learn some things. 

Things move fast, content is short-form. It disappears soon after so you wanna catch it before it’s gone. And people want your attention so they make sure they post a lot. There’s fear of missing out too. 

I don’t want that anymore. IG can feel more lonely once I unfollow anyone, sure, but only in the beginning. It can even trigger an abandonment wound, who knows. But I know I will take my power back and become more resilient thanks to this little act.

8. I can stop the people pleasing.

Knowing someone is watching, especially specific people, makes you say or not say certain things. It changes the way you show up. That’s not the right mindset and behavior for a creator.

Instead, I’ll now feel like no one is watching and that will help me express myself freely, share what I want to share the moment I wanna share it, and be more authentic.

9. I stop chasing likes.

Unfollowing everyone means I stop checking who liked a post, I’m okay with no engagement, I don’t play by the algorithm’s rules. I don’t need attention.

This is empowering. That’s the state I wanna create content from.

10. I will attract genuine followers.

Whoever keeps following me from here on or the new people who decide to follow me will do it for the best reason ever – because they wanna be in my energy and see my content. 

Anyone that follows people just so they can follow them back won’t even try approaching me. I will only surround myself with real people there.

Final words

This is not me playing the tough girl act, acting cool, saying I don’t need anyone. 

This is me coming from an empowered place, doing something for the right reasons, following my intuition, and letting go of something that was only having a negative effect on my mindset.

If you’ve been following me on Instagram, thank you for being around.

If you decide to unfollow, I totally understand and think it’s the right thing to do.

If you decided to stick around, great, I can’t wait to serve you more.

If you’re triggered by this, ask yourself ‘What is this showing me about the way I use this platform? What’s the real cause of that negative feeling? What is this trying to teach me? What have I not healed?’

I’ll slowly unfollow everyone over the next couple of days or in the next 2 weeks, but thought it’s best to inform you in advance. Keeping it real.

If this is something you are considering too, I highly recommend it.

Thanks for listening and I’ll catch you next time.

About The Author

Lidiya Kesarovska

I'm a blogger, author, course creator and the founder of Let's Reach Success and it's my mission to share my knowledge in lifestyle design, blogging, business and personal development with you so you can manifest all your desires and serve your purpose as a business owner.
I've been named one of the top 10 course creators and experts to watch in 2021 by Yahoo! Finance, have written for TIME magazine, have been featured on Thrive Global, Disrupt Magazine, and more, and quoted on publications like Entrepreneur, Fit Small Business and Fundera.
After turning my blog into a full-time online business, I now teach others how to do the same because financial freedom doesn’t need to be just a dream.
Want support on your blogging journey?? Check out our membership and community for bloggers.

You may also like...