A Pinterest Comparison

It’s a lazy afternoon, you’ve done everything you could possibly do around the house, you just made yourself some tea or hot coffee, so you fill your favorite mug and plop right down on the couch. Your phone is in your hand, and naturally you open Pinterest.

You scroll through your feed, pin a few items that catch your eye. You then start to search for specific things, like maybe recipes or home improvement. Before you know it you get lost in a Pinterest coma.

It’s been an hour and you have somehow convinced yourself that you need to find an old coffee table to cover with chalk paint, you must try that chicken dip recipe, you need a home cleaning binder, and that at home date idea is just perfect for you and your other half. You have also successfully created four new Pinterest boards pertaining to why you should start journaling, how to get a flatter stomach in two weeks, hosting that nonexistent weekend party, and different hair styles that you know you can’t actually do yourself.

You exit out of your Pinterest coma feeling like your life is now dictated by Pinterest boards and pins, and you now must find a way to magically make those boards become reality. All of the sudden what started out as a fun way to fill your time, has now become what controls your life.

You go about your day determined to be just like each pin you saved. It takes over your mind and everything you run into throughout the course of your day you find yourself comparing to a simple pin from Pinterest!

I can make this into that, right?

I can be like that, right?

I can do this, right?

But, by the end of the day, you didn’t make that coffee table. You weren’t able to try out that recipe, those “free” printable for that binder turned out not be so free after all, and that date was a total bust.

You’re discouraged, and pretty much feel like you fail at that Pinterest life. Yes, you read that correctly. “Pinterest life”. We compare our lives to Pinterest and feel like a failure when we didn’t quite fulfill something to that Pinterest standard.

When did this become okay? When did Pinterest become that control freak in our lives?

I will be the first to say that I let Pinterest do this to my life.

Lately I have been letting Pinterest convince me that the way I study my Bible isn’t good enough. I kept finding all of these pins and boards with different methods and tips, boards about what is “wrong” and what is “right” when spending time with God, and I got so wrapped up in it all.

I found myself doubting my previous notes and wishing I hadn’t spent those last few study times taking notes the way I did. I was so concerned with the neatness of my handwriting and the amount of details I was writing. I became obsessed with each idea and just had to make it a part of my time.

Before I knew it I was using six different methods. It got to the point that I was focusing more on how I was studying it and less on what I was getting out of my studying.

I let Pinterest control something that shouldn’t even matter! The way I study my bible, take notes, and spend time with God is up to me not Pinterest! And there is just no way to use every single method you find. You pick one and stick with it! The neatness and organization of your handwriting and notes doesn’t matter. It’s okay if it is sloppier than what that pin said it should be.

I need to embrace how I study!

I need to love my sloppiness!

I need to use whatever method fits who I am!

Because, it doesn’t matter how my notes look, it only matters what I am gaining from taking notes! It only matters what knowledge and wisdom God is giving me. I don’t need Pinterest to tell me how to spend time with the Lord. And the same is true for everything else on Pinterest.

You don’t need Pinterest to tell you how to wear your hair.

You don’t need Pinterest to tell you the right way to organize your life.

You don’t need Pinterest to tell you why wearing those shoes is wrong.

You don’t need to compare your life to a Pinterest Board.

You don’t need a Pinterest lifestyle.

And, if you don’t have Pinterest, you don’t need another person’s life either. You need to do life your own way!

Be the unique and creative person God created you to be, not the one your best friend or Pinterest convinced you to be.

Now, I am not saying having Pinterest is bad.

No, I love Pinterest.

Am I going to keep pinning? Yes.

Am I going to keep getting lost in that Pinterest coma? Yes.

I am just not going to let it dictate my life.

I am going to take ideas and make boards with a mindset of “this would be fun to try sometime!” or “I think this is a great idea!” instead of “I have to do this to make my life complete”.

I am no longer going to let it convince me that I am doing something wrong or missing out on something either.

Can I learn a thing or two from Pinterest? Yes of course!

Can I be inspired by pins? Always!

But I do not to base my whole life around it.

Why should I need Pinterest’s approval on my life when I already have approval from God?

Galatians 6:4 reads

“Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else.”

Don’t worry about what others are doing. Don’t worry if you aren’t fulfilling that Pinterest board you saved a few weeks ago. Worry about yourself and where you are at in your life currently. Look at your actions and make sure they are reflecting a life of someone who lives for God and not the world. Let Him be the one to tell you “well done!”, not a friend or a completed Pinterest idea! He is who determines your worth and your accomplishments, and you are worth way more than your pins!

So, if you are hung up over a DIY you just haven’t been able to complete or a recipe that you just can’t perfect. Let it go.

Don’t let it determine your worth today.

Don’t let it be a comparison.

Don’t let it cause you to be hard on yourself.

Just let it go and move on to something else.

Continue doing things the way you do them and try again another time!

Learn from it. Get ideas. Be inspired, but don’t be discouraged. Because, your lifestyle for God is way better than the one you’ve got going on through your Pinterest boards.

There is just NO comparison.

Let’s live a life that isn’t based around boards we’ve made, but the Lord we serve!

Happy Monday!

X O X O

MKG