Scrapbook of my Life
It’s 1AM on a random Tuesday evening, and I’m yearningly staring at my Pinterest board titled ‘dream life’. Vacation destinations, loving families, beautiful dance studios, and colorful landscapes fill my screen as the light illuminates my face with a soft glow. As a third year college student, it’s tough to imagine ever achieving what I’m looking at. In 18 months, I’ll be graduating college and entering the real world; the intimidating world in which I’ll have to obtain a big-girl job and financial responsibility. But for now, with the fan humming and the candle flickering in the comfort of my room, I feel that I'm already building something real.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been driven by anything artistic and tasteful. Whether it were art projects or dancing around my room, my young mind constantly craved imagination…even if this meant sticking playdough into our power outlets just to see what happened. I loved being creative so much that I became a dancer, and now I’m studying dance in college. Besides dance, art, music, fashion, interior design, and photography have always inspired me, and you could say I’m partial to anything creative. I also love to romanticize my life to make the ugly parts of my life seem more aesthetically pleasing. Discovering Pinterest fed this fruitful fragment of my mind.
Whilst exploring the world wide web during 2020’s infamous lockdown, I stumbled upon Pinterest. At first, I wasn’t really sure what it was. A welcome page sharing the words “Get your next” followed by various phrases including things like “dinner recipe” and “new outfit” panned across my screen. Intrigued, I furiously created an account. Little did I know that what followed would change my life forever. I created a username, set a profile picture, and chose what I was interested in seeing on my profile by picking from a long list of words. After that, you’re all set to start making boards, pinning pictures, and even creating your own pins! I had no idea what any of this meant at the time, and it was all very overwhelming at first. After sitting with it, I was able to simplify it and fully understand how to use it.
What truly helped me was imagining a cork bulletin board. In order to add photos and memorabilia to it, you have to use a push-pin. Pinterest is as simple as that; you create different boards based on different topics or interests, and you can pin different images that correspond to those boards. The main Pinterest page shows various photos based on your previously chosen interests, and you are able to pick and choose whichever photos you want to add to your boards. Once Pinterest figures out what boards you created, it will suggest various photos to add to those boards. Now you may be wondering, why is this silly little platform so important in my life and why would this story be important to your life?
When I first created a Pinterest account, I used it for exactly what you’d imagine a 16 year old girl to use it for - looking at cute boys, saving different art project ideas, trying to find my aesthetic, and mostly just trying to make myself seem cool. Overly-saturated photos of vintage cars and rollerskates, cute puppies, embroidered Converse, and movie heartthrobs filled my Pinterest. It took me a while to figure out how to use it in a way that was truly beneficial. Back then, it was never much more to me than a digital scrapbook. Now, it is the scrapbook of my life. As a girl in her 20’s with so many desires and little knowledge as to how to achieve them, I use Pinterest as a way to inspire myself. I no longer create silly little boards that serve no purpose in my life. Instead, I create boards that motivate, influence, and excite me. I have a board that I use when I’m in a rut while crafting an outfit, a board with sayings that inspire me, a board that represents my dream career, and so many more. However, my favorite board is titled “dream life”, and it has photos of exactly what I want my future life to look like. This may seem like a pipedream, but in reality, it’s my way of manifesting my future.
Every morning, the first thing I do when I open my phone is look at my Pinterest boards. I read sayings from my board titled “to live by” to set my intention for the day. Affirmations like “Being alive IS the special occasion” and “Talk a little nicer to yourself today” fill my screen as I decide which quote sticks out to me that day. I look at my “dream life” board to encourage me to work my hardest. Overlooking these beautiful families and lovely beachscapes make me want to put the work in. I view the pictures of dancers on “my career” board to excite me for my morning ballet classes. Images of ballerinas giggling with their friends excite me for what’s to come. I make myself believe that my life is going to look exactly like those boards. It may sound corny, but all you really need in order to achieve your dreams is to believe that you will achieve them. With Pinterest, my dream life feels a lot closer in reach. Every time I open the app, I close it feeling motivated and ready to take on the day and therefore, my life. Not only does the app instigate my morning routine, but it’s also a way for me to manifest my future.
Just in case you’re unaware of the idea of manifesting, let me explain. Manifestation, also known as the “law of attraction”, is when you choose to believe that what you desire has already happened as a way to achieve what you want to achieve. One way to do this is to write down all of the things you want as if you already have them. For example, if your dream is to own a Maserati, you would write something like “I own a Maserati and I drive it every day.” My form of manifestation is Pinterest. You may think this is silly, but after doing a quick google search, I think you’d change your mind.
I couldn’t be more grateful to my 16 year old self for learning how to navigate Pinterest. Teenage Reese had absolutely no idea of the impact that this seemingly insignificant platform has made on my perspective on life. Anytime I look at the photos that I have pinned, I am subconsciously manifesting my future. Creating your dream life is a lot more simple than you may think. If you wholeheartedly believe that you will live the life that you crave, you will have no other choice than to live that life. Seeing is truly believing…I live by that, and you should too. If you’re feeling lost in this crazy world, maybe all you need to do is believe that you’re going to be just fine. Although I don’t know exactly how I’m going to achieve my dream life, I know exactly how to use Pinterest, which is one step closer to my ideal adulthood.
