Avoiding the Potemkin Village
Happy Monday loves!
I know it has been AGES since I’ve posted a blog.. But I am finally at a place where I have a pretty regular schedule and routine. So you can expect to be seeing a whole lot of new content from now on!
Today I wanted to discuss something that has been extremely prevalent in my daily life and something that I’m sure you have seen in your own. To start off, I want to tell you the story of the Potemkin Village..
In the late 18th century, Catherine the Great of Russia announced that she would tour the southern part of her empire, accompanied by several foreign ambassadors. The governor of the area, Grigory Potemkin, desperately wanted to impress these visitors. And so he went to remarkable lengths to showcase the country’s accomplishments.
For part of the journey, Catherine floated down the Dnieper River, proudly pointing out to the ambassadors the thriving hamlets along the shore, filled with industrious and happy townspeople. There was only one problem: it was all for show. It is said that Potemkin had assembled pasteboard facades of shops and homes. He had even positioned busy-looking peasants to create the impression of a prosperous economy. Once the party disappeared around the bend of the river, Potemkin’s men packed up the fake village and rushed it downstream in preparation for Catherine’s next pass.
When I heard this story, the first thing I thought about was social media. I see posts and discussions about being authentic everyday. We all want to be real, but sometimes we feel the pressure to pass ourselves off as better than we are so that we can keep up with the world. “fake it til’ you make it” right? Sometimes we forget that keeping up with what we see on social media is impossible since a majority of what we see and post on social media are life’s highlights. It’s easy to look at a small grid of perfectly posed squares and think a person’s life is just that. Perfect.
We all have days that we feel unmotivated, uninspired and just down in the dumps. AND THAT’S OKAY. Those days happen to us all, and we have to keep that in perspective when we are posting and when we are reading what other people post. Being authentic on social media means posting things that are truly you and not posts that portray someone that you never are. We may post our highlights and our best moments, and that’s not a bad thing! Those moments can inspire others and help uplift people with positive messages. We may post things from our bad days too and that might help someone just as much. But we should never try and structure our photos to put up those pasteboard walls and create our own Potemkin Village.
It’s difficult to squeeze your authentic everyday-self into a tiny little square because as I said before, it’s just a glimpse into life. So for me, I post on social media when it excites me and when I think that I can inspire others to be their best selves. For me, social media platforms have given me an outlet to share, connect, learn and grow through tiny squares and posts. When I post, I feel that things I say and do can help other people improve their wellness and become more whole and for me that’s what its all about.
Social media is powerful and It’s all about how you use it, how you view it and how you shape it to be your own.
So much love for all you and thank you for your continued support! See you back here again next Monday!
Xoxo
Bree
