Yanika
  • Home
  • About
  • Visual Arts
    • Drawings & Paintings
    • Digital & Mixed Media
    • Sketchbook
  • Performance
    • Dance
    • Acting
    • Modeling
  • Yoga
  • Video
  • Journal
  • Contact

To Instagram or not to Instagram...

2/29/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
I’ve been so lazy and unmotivated to post on Instagram, overwhelmed by the infinite photos of others and even of those in my own phone. However, while running into some emotional battles with 5-year-old Geo as we adjust to our new family dynamic with Baby Delphi (he totally loves her but is dealing with the fact that he’s no longer the center of our attention), I went into my feed and scrolled all the way to the bottom, back when my little Geo was a baby.

In tears I looked through all the photos and videos and read my captions. There was so much positivity and soulfulness in them. Why have I lost the motivation to literally take five minutes to write a few sentences and share a memorable photo? Have five years of my adult life in my thirties made me jaded? I used to even include hashtags, but stopped when I began reading about child trafficking... that’s when it started to change.

Not like I was oblivious to the darkness in the world before, but the things I’ve discovered about the exploitation and abuse of children shattered what faith I had in humanity’s inherent goodness; more so than the atrocities of war or poverty, of which I was painfully aware since my own childhood.

Despite my reluctance to include the vulnerable and private colors of my life on the internet canvas, if I hadn’t posted all those photos of Geo as a baby and toddler, I wouldn’t have those accessible snippets of memories now - comforting me in a moment of panic because my once-tiny-baby is now a grown boy with big feelings... still just as much in need of affection, security, reassurance, playtime, being seen and heard, positively disciplined (when I don't succumb to the urge to yell), cuddled, held, etc. Sure the photos are in my digital backup files and some I’ve printed, gifted, framed, etc, and I did make a photo book of Geo’s first year that we’ll always treasure - but the Instagram feed that those words and images comprise is something I treasure as well.
Picture
Let’s see if this instinct sticks and I start posting more often. It’s so great to interact with friends too, and keeping my account private helps my paranoia about internet predators.

Our children are so precious and divine. Of course we want to share their milestones and magical everyday moments. There’s so much of the past few years with Geo that I haven’t shared, and while it’s not about sharing it to prove it happened, it is about documenting a unique and special journey, and inviting people I care about to witness it.

A new positivity and soulfulness needs to rise within me, it cannot be reclaimed from the past. I’ll start with gratitude for two healthy pregnancies and births of my children, a wonderful man who loves us, our families who support us, and the gorgeous and relatively safe location where we live. Uncountable blessings despite various struggles. Perspective. Empathy. And visualizing a safer and healthier world for us all to share...
Picture
Give my often-ignored but perhaps making-a-comback Instagram a follow: https://www.instagram.com/nikagram/
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    "Our world is in crisis because of the absence of consciousness. And so to whatever degree any one of us, can bring back a small piece of the picture and contribute it to the building of the new paradigm, then we participate in the redemption of the human spirit, and that after all is what it's really all about."
    - Terence McKenna


      Subscribe to be notified of new journal entries!

    Submit

    Elsewhere:

    Instagram
    Soundcloud
    Last.fm Music Profile
     My short-lived 
    Wordpress blog
     Alex Chemer Photography (my father)
    Vera Rey Fine Art 
    (my mother)

    Categories

    All
    Ancient Eyes
    Art
    Beauty
    Celebration
    Chakras
    Connectedness
    Dance
    Doodles
    Drawing
    Emotion
    Energy
    Essence
    Evolving
    Experiments
    Family
    Gratitude
    Growth
    Home
    Honoring
    Identity
    Love
    Meditation
    Moments
    Mood
    Motherhood
    My Babies
    Mystery
    Odessa
    Origins
    Performing Arts
    Poetry
    Prayer
    Purpose
    Reflections
    Sensitivity
    Sketches
    Spirituality
    The Sea
    Third Eye
    Travel
    Underwater
    Visual Art
    Website
    World
    Writing


    Archives

    February 2022
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2020
    January 2020
    September 2016
    July 2016
    April 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    September 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    February 2013
    September 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012


Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • About
  • Visual Arts
    • Drawings & Paintings
    • Digital & Mixed Media
    • Sketchbook
  • Performance
    • Dance
    • Acting
    • Modeling
  • Yoga
  • Video
  • Journal
  • Contact