#lifeofaprincess

It is the app on which the typical North American white girl documents the glamorous, perfectly poised, cute, funny, profound, sentimental moments of her life for the world to see. And “double tap” of course. We post pics of our Starbucks drinks, our devotions, cute selfies with friends and significant others, baby animals, aesthetically appealing food (especially if its healthy), wool socks and pretty nature shots. It is a game of hashtag fluency, of artistic angles, of how many “likes” one can get on a photo, and how many new followers one can acquire in the span of 24 hours.

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It is 12:22am of Wednesday, September 28th, 2016. In approximately 7 hours my alarm is going to go off and I will do one of two things; either hit the snooze button and climb back into bed in denial of the dawn, or get out of bed and start the day.
But just a few minutes ago, I deleted my Instagram account. Yes, the colourful “missmichnik” will no longer show up in your newsfeed on IG.

#sorrynotsorry

It may seem irrational to do such a drastic thing after midnight. And believe me, I hesitated to hit that “permanently delete account” button. They make it hard to find on purpose you know.
But, truth be told, IG became a source of affirmation for me. Every post had me checking frequently to see how many double-taps I had gotten, how many new followers, comments and so forth. Posting pretty selfies is always a temptation. Nothing like a good selfie for an ego/self-esteem boost. All those heart emojis and flattering comments just evoke #allthefeels.

Well. I thought it was time to free myself of an unnecessary distraction.
I am not saying IG is a bad thing. Actually it can be a great tool to encourage others, to share special moments with friends & family far away, to share the Gospel and the truth from God’s Word.
For me, it is now one less distraction. For me, it is a letting go of a source of temporary gratification. The time I would waste searching, “liking”, and commenting on IG can be put to better use. I can invest in the lives of the people who are physically around me. I can actually do homework (imagine that!?). I can read my Bible. Play piano. Even practice piano. Talk to people on the phone instead of just commenting on their photos. Go outside and see for myself God’s beautiful creation instead of just flipping through photos of it. The list could go on..

I am not saying you should delete your Instagram account. What I am saying is that my grip on the affirmation and pleasure I received from it was too tight. Time to spend that time in a more meaningful way.

Time to go back to the real Source of identity and joy.
Time to disconnect a little bit so I that I can reconnect.

#yolo
#lifeofaprincess

To be fully free, we must have the desire, the ability, and the opportunity to do what will make us happy forever. No regrets. And only Jesus, the Son of God, who died and rose for us, can make that possible.

~ John Piper ~