We’ve all seen them on Instagram, Youtube, and TikTok. They go to the gym at 6am after only drinking a green juice. Their meals are full of vibrant colors presented on fancy plates made in a spotless white kitchen. Maybe they eat them outside when the weather is nice. Maybe they spend their afternoons journaling and reading. They get dinner at a restaurant that looks better than anything in my city, and their outfit is effortlessly put together. Who are these people? They are influencers. Their lives are a desired aesthetic.
Have you ever tried living a lifestyle like an influencer? It probably feels unrealistic and that is because for a lot of people it is. For people with kids, there is no way they can get up and have a tranquil cup of tea and journal or have a nightly skin care routine. How is someone supposed to get up and go to the gym if they work a 9-5 job and need to commute, or how can they take time in the middle of their day to do a smoothie bowl grocery shop? Buying fresh fruits and veggies and then having time to prepare it into a healthy bowl isn’t possible in a 45-minute lunch break. We see these lifestyle aesthetic daily vlogs of people whose job is to make daily vlogs. They might have the flexible schedule to take a break halfway through their day to do yoga and make protein bites. If you work 40 hours a week at a job site then come home to dishes, groceries, laundry, a family, housework, and who knows what else, you probably aren’t going to have time for an aesthetic lifestyle every day.
Influencers are still human; they face struggles and have to work hard just like everyone else. What they post on social media often only shows the trendy parts of their lives. We know behind the camera they might have a mess of clothes or are dealing with stress and pressure to keep up their lifestyle. But when it’s a hard lifestyle for them to keep it up, remember how hard it would be for someone not doing it as a living.
I still enjoy watching influencer content, in fact watching daily vlogs of people who have lives that look so put together is inspiring to me. I like making little changes that influencers suggest, like I write every night in a 5-minute gratitude journal, and I enjoy making a delicious quinoa bowl for lunch when I have time. I have made some great life changes and bought some great products thanks to the influence of influencers. But I also must remind myself that an influencer lifestyle isn’t very attainable. I am a full-time student, I get burnt out. There are days I can’t make it to the gym because of an assignment, or I don’t have time to make lunch between classes. Our lives can get busy and complicated, not everyday you are going to have time to read or meditate in the sun with a smoothie. If you can fit it into your lifestyle and it’s something you value making time for, then that’s great! But don’t beat yourself up about it if it seems overwhelming or unrealistic. It’s an unrealistic lifestyle to maintain for most people.
