(Note: This article was originally published to JamieMcSloy.co.uk on July 26th, 2019. I’m going through an old backup of the site, which has hundreds of posts that aren’t currently uploaded. As I’m working hard on updating the site – and releasing The Vault, letting these old posts be the daily posts for a while. We’re getting very close now, so bear with me. Soon I’ll resume regular posting and then just upload these archives in one go.)
Social Media Scrapbooking For Self-Discovery
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but in this post, I’m going to recommend you sign up for a social media account.
Specifically, a girly Pinterest or Tumblr account.
Before you all report to your local legal authorities that my blog has been hacked, (no doubt the most important crime of the century,) let me explain.
Social Media Monsters…
I’ve not been hacked, and I’m certainly not a fan of social media.
To be honest, I’m not sure Tumblr or Pinterest even are social media. They’re scrapbooking sites for the most part: Unlike Instagram where you’re curating an identity based on photos, with the former two sites, you’re simply grabbing other people’s content and reposting it for the sake of browsing.
And this is what I recommend you use these profiles for: Make them anonymous if you can, and follow accounts and repost pictures that you like.
That’s it.
It can be aspirational, but doesn’t have to be. It can be inspirational, but it doesn’t have to be that either.
Just spend five to ten minutes a day, (or week,) acting like a sensory-based internet user. If you don’t know what that means, watch your girlfriend, sister or mother browse the net on their phone for an hour, and you’ll know.
Basically, scroll, like, reblog, repeat.
What’s The Story Here?
Recently, Tumblr imploded and I lost an important source of traffic to some affiliate offers. You can read about that here.
This event reminded me that I even had Tumblr accounts. I hadn’t touched them for years.
Back in 2013, I started a little scrapbooking project that was basically a “things that inspire me,” account.
I looked at that today.
And it was pretty interesting.
I only did the scrapbooking thing for a couple of months at the end of 2013 through to February 2014.
I wish I’d kept it up, to be honest.
Here’s why.
Things Change, Things Remain The Same
My inspirations and desires five to ten years ago were different to what they are now. That’s to be expected when you move from your early twenties into full adulthood.
The interesting thing though, and why I recommend you do some digital scrapbooking, is that some things change about you, and a lot don’t.
In a lot of ways, you don’t change at all; you simply add layers of the onion. Or remove layers of the onion of self-discovery – whichever metaphor you prefer.
For instance, you might decide you want a nice house. Imagine fifteen year old you: a nice house to them probably looks like something from MTV Cribs. I don’t even know if that show still runs, but if some young kids are reading this and don’t know what Grandpa McSloy is saying, MTV Cribs is/was a show where MTV visited celebrity American mansions.
So teenage you probably thinks a nice house is a tacky Cinema-Swimming Pool 8 Bedroom monstrosity with LED lights everywhere and a bunch of hangers on hanging around for parties every day.
(Jesus I hated that idea even as a teenager.)
Probably, 25 year old you still wants a nice house, but it might be more refined. The idea in your mind will be clearer.
You might want a private pool with a Jacuzzi. Or you might want a wood-panelled office with an oak desk and a 1920’s reading lamp.
And then 35 year old you might want something different or more refined.
Over time, you’ll find the refinement helpful, and you might even be able to see the trend and predict it.
On The Other Hand…
There’ll be stuff you’ll look back and cringe at.
Take my little blog; it had supercars on it.
This was surprising to present me, because, having had a car for a while, not particularly liking the act of driving, and frankly preferring anything that approaches semi-decent public transport, (so, basically a unicorn in the UK,) I can’t imagine ever wanting a supercar.
The only sort of car outside of the everyday I’d be interested in would be an expedition 4×4 so I could go to my as-of-yet non-existent cabin in the woods.
Which brings me to the final point:
You’ll get new ideas and desires.
At some point, I started writing for survival publishers. Regular readers will know that a lot of that infused itself into my general overview of life.
If I’d have kept up the scrapbooking Tumblr project, I’d be able to see where that became a conscious thing in my mind, and draw conclusions from it.
It’d also maybe give me information that I could use into the future, and fuse the ideas together.
That’s the benefit of digital scrapbooking; you want to travel, you want a cabin in the woods – hey, there’s something there.
You might like medieval architecture and VR gadgets or whatnot. Scrapbook scrolling allows you to connect those dots and give you a diary of your interests over time.