10 Instagrammers Getting Me Through the Pandemic

Social media is a tricky, tricky thing. For more than a decade, we've been posting, sharing, liking, friending, blocking, trolling, streaming, gaming, flaming, shaming, doxxing, bullying, bonding, hooking up, ghosting, YouTubing, Facebooking, TikTokking, Zooming, Skyping, Facetiming, Pinning, Tweeting, vlogging, blogging, Instagramming, and god only knows what else. We've been suffering from FOMO (except, perhaps, for the first three months of the pandemic) and we've been comparing ourselves to the "best lives" and wit and pictures and statuses that we see through the various social media outlets to which we're addicted. We know it can get ugly, and toxic.

And yet. And yet. 

I can't speak for anyone but myself when I say, this last year has been made all the more bearable through social media. It's helped me to keep far more connected with people than I would otherwise have been; it's been a comfort and even an inspiration. Except when it hasn't been. 

I'm looking at you, here, Facebook. Last summer, when (especially) America was at its (then) most racist and anti-masking, and I maybe got into more than one scrap online that ended with people threatening me, I decided it was time to step away. I didn't deactivate my profile or anything, but I uninstalled the app from my phone, which sharply reduced my habitual access to that particular outlet. 

Well, nature abhors a vacuum, and during the middle of a pandemic, so do I. Before much time at all passed, I found myself scrolling more through Instagram, looking and saving and liking and basically being the creeper that I am. Food and travel and hobbies and seasons and animals and home decor, as well as the quotidian minutiae of everyday life, all of it represented in my Instagram feed; all of it beckoning and beguiling and inspiring and tempting and sometimes even encouraging me to live a better, or even best, life. I could look, and watch, and dream, and oh! it was a visual feast. 

Here are 10 of my favorite Instagrammers at present; they share highlights of their lives and creations, and I can't help but to feel a little bit inspired when I look at them.

Planning and Planners: 

Planning With Bumble creates fun and gorgeous Happy Planner layouts, shares snipits of her life, and provides little doodling tutorials; her results are invariably fun and pretty.

Sarahboparah is a bullet journaler based out of Yorkshire, England. Every time I look at her impeccably tidy, orderly handwriting, I feel a little calmer and even a little inspired. Like, maybe we can bring order into our own lives if we just write neatly?

Home Decor

offbeat.vintage.girl, based out of Canada, posts pictures of her abode, in which she somehow pulls together Victorian, Craftsman, and Art Nouveau vibes, along with a subtle edge of boho funk. The result is a home that somehow projects a carefully controlled, discreetly colourful chaos and dignified fun.  

On the other end of the home decor spectrum is mycambridgefairytale, whose home is cosy country shabby chic. Weirdly, this is not at all my style, but golly, I do find this a soothing and inspiring Instagrammer to creep on. 

Miniatures

Wildwood_miniatures was probably the first miniature account that began to suck me in, late last summer. At first, I thought I was looking at pictures of "real life" scenes, AKA not miniature. That's how realistic these creations are. 

Cheries_mini likewise showcases a lot of realistic miniature setups. Someone needs to tell this Instagrammer they should have pursued a career in interior design. 

Art/Creativity

2020 and 2021 have been the year of hobbies, haven't they? I certainly haven't been immune to this. I find mandala artwork to be particularly soothing and fun

_inkreations provides both videos of their drawing process, as well as tutorials. I love it when craftspeople share their knowledge, don't you?

Sanafloral's mandala and zentangle creations are a bit more freehand and informal, and therefore a bit less intimidating for those aspiring creatives who might be a bit timid.

Food

2020 and 2021 have also been the years for home cooks to really come into their own. Thank god for the Internet and these wonderful folks, jocooks and saltandlavender, who are so generous when it comes to sharing their delicious recipes.