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Like Be the first one who likes this post!Pinterest is women-driven. And although most people (men) would think that men are the competitive sex, I’m going to suggest it’s actually women. Women want to do everything well all the time. Or at least we want to make it look that way. The fact that Pinterest is actually a vision board is quite telling. This isn’t real. This is a fantasy. Take a deep breath and remember that you are already good enough. You don’t need to have rockhard abs while whipping up 37 different varieties of cheesecake in order to feel good about yourself.
Just be you.
– Stephanie O’Dea, Huffington Post (http://pinterest.com/stephanieodea)
I couldn’t agree more. Sometimes, I feel like Pinterest has made many of us women revert back to the immaculate house frau mentality of the fifties, trying to please everyone, keep up with everyone, impress everyone, stun ourselves with what we can produce for the home, for our families, for our dinner tables. That’s not altogether a bad thing, though, is it?
Pinterest has become a bona fide addiction across America, worse than Facebook could ever be because, while even the world population is finite, imagination and ideas, products and possibilities are infinite. Soon, there will be a demographic comprised of tens of thousands of women labeled “old pinsters” who will blame Pinterest for failing relationships or lack thereof, who found themselves with no prospects only because they were constantly pinning or discussing boards with one another, and doing countless projects instead of out socializing to meet a good man. Again, will that be a bad thing? lol
I have used numerous ideas from the site with great results, and it has definitely improved my home life and creativity, but its influence must stop there. There could never be enough time to try them all. It can leave one feeling inadequate at times. (Could those struggling animals in my recent dreams represent Pinterest projects that fell by the wayside? Nahhhh…or I might be onto something.)
Our beloved Pinterest is indeed the world’s best catalog of all good things. That’s what makes it so darned difficult to stop perusing after a reasonable amount of time. There will never be an end to seeing all the beautiful things in the world, and we will never be able to try them all out. It is like putting an unlimited number of People and Us Weekly magazines in front of most women.
Still, all that is fine as long as Pinterest doesn’t become a competition, especially with oneself, and as long as it doesn’t leave us feeling like a failure because we cannot get to all the projects that we wish we could, cannot possess all that we find beautiful, cannot create or imagine what others do. When one’s Pinterest goes from reducing stress to inducing stress, from being a pleasant experience to becoming an obsession that speeds up the hour hand, it’s time to turn off the Internet and call it a night, ladies. It is the nights after the kids are in bed that are hardest for most of us to end our pinning, right?
Just a question — did anyone give up Pinterest for Lent? lol NO, I doubt it, because there are too many great Easter ideas! ;)
While you’re at it, follow me — LegosnEggos on Pinterest — but only within reasonable hours and as long as Pinterest is still just a fun pastime, of course.