DOING IT FOR THE GRAM...

“Doing it for the ‘gram” what a funny little term that is.

 Now, don’t get me wrong I have fallen victim to a doing it for the ‘gram post perhaps a few times too many, but what does it actually mean?

Essentially, it’s posting an unrealistic, perhaps over joyous interpretation of what you are actually doing, in order to show off to your peers, get likes on a post or to just to gain attention.  This has become an overused term amongst our generation but it got me thinking this is actually really damaging.

It goes without saying that our culture now is a world in which we are glued to our phones. Social interaction with strangers has become unheard of and weird and we use our phone in order to prevent making eye contact with anyone. We have become obsessed with who is having the best time on holiday, night out or festival, to who is wearing the nicest clothes or has the best makeup. So much so, it’s come to attention recently that even holiday providers and those which host 18-30’s holidays have noticed a huge dip in demand. No one wants to go away on a messy week away to Shagaluf when you can go to Marbella and post all your bikini clad Ocean Beach pictures up on Instagram for all your friends to see.

This brings me to the point of this post, what exactly has happened to just living in the moment. Without a phone, camera, social app in sight and just making an actual memory for yourself instead of however many followers you have; who, may I add, might not even see it (bloody Instagram algorithms!)

I’ve noticed over the last few years that on top of working full-time in PR, commuting 4 hours a day, keeping fit and going to the gym, trying to sustain a love life as well as seeing my friends, I rarely, if ever, took time for myself to just live in the moment. I was constantly running from thing to another, without taking any time to slow down a little.

We live in SUCH a fast-paced world and especially with all of the competition on social media, it’s no wonder why we’re the biggest known generation to suffer so badly from anxiety. Taking a moment to just think about what you are grateful for is considerably underrated. Just taking a few moments each day to take a few breathes, put things into perspective and think about what you’re thankful for can be extremely beneficial in terms of your long-term mental health.

From suffering with anxiety pretty severely a couple of years ago, I make it an essential part of my day or week to take time out and look at objectively. Even just switching off for 15 minutes, coming off the phone to read, play with my dog or cat, make a nice meal or go for a run. Doing something that has a positive effect on my outlook has had a snowball effect into how I feel overall about myself. Before I did this, I used to worry about the next day, what might happen next week or next year even. By doing this it’s made me more aware of how to live in the moment and the Power of Now. I sit there and think is there actually anything horrific happening to me in this exact second? No? Well, then why am I worrying about it? It’s pointless to worry about something that hasn’t even happened yet! And this is something I have been drumming into my brain (sometimes an uphill battle) over the past couple of years.

So here are a few tips to stop just doing it for the gram and actually live in the real world, right here and now:

1.       Put the phone down (at least for half an hour)

2.       Read a chapter of a book

3.       Do some yoga or any of your preferred exercise

4.       Write down 3 things you are grateful for

5.       Talk to your family or call a friend

6.       Get a recipe book out and cook a nice meal

7.       Switch your phone off and watch a film

8.       Just do nothing for around 5 minutes…. genuinely just sit there with your own thoughts and breathe and notice the world around you