How Instagram Tried to Silence My Authenticity

In the last week of September, my Instagram account got restricted after I made a nice comment on somebody’s post. I’m not sure why my comment was flagged, but I immediately got restricted from commenting on other people’s posts for the following twenty-four hours.

Once my ban was up, I continued to use Instagram, not really sure what I had done wrong. I was literally just complimenting the girl really enthusiastically. In other words… I was just being myself.

However, once I made another really nice comment on someone else’s post, I immediately got restricted again. This time the ban was for three days. You see, this presents a problem for me. As someone who works on social media and works with influencers and content creators, half of my job is interacting with others online. I need to be able to comment on people’s posts.

All of this really made me question Instagram. They kept saying that my comments went against community guidelines, but I didn’t do anything wrong. They didn’t even give me an opportunity to file an appeal against the decision. Again, I was questioning Instagram and their “community guidelines”, which were clearly made to silence the voices of those who just want to be themselves. This reinforces my theory that the world wants us to be perfect. Perfect is acceptable. Perfect is an aspiration. If we’re all perfect, we are all acting a certain way. And who dictates what counts as being perfect? The people in charge.

Bearing all of this in mind, and noting that my account was probably now being targeted, I decided to do the unthinkable — start over.

You see, my old account, happily mander, had been my personal account first. It was converted into a business account. That means that it’s been active for over ten years. Yes, I had gone through and archived most of the old posts, but it was still bogged down by all of the baggage from the past. I was only at about 300 followers, and it took me forever to get there as is. A new account would be a totally clean slate, with nothing on my record. A chance to start over is always very tempting to me, so I took it.

It was someone very close to me who suggested that I start over, because I was probably flagged on this account, and I would just keep getting restricted (or worse). I didn’t want to lose that account and all of the memories that I had on it. So I just decided to start fresh. The same person who talked to me about this also gave me some other advice, which made me think really hard and realize something. They told me that at the end of the day, I could work for someone else and be unhappy, or I could work for myself and be broke, stressed, AND unhappy. But I don’t agree with this opinion… like at all.

Here’s what I think:

When I work for myself, I’m not unhappy. Actually, no other career in my life has ever made me feel as fulfilled as I do now. Yeah, I’m unhappy at times, but that’s probably just because I’m broke and stressed! I feel like I’m meant to be someone who inspires and influences people. I feel like I’ve finally found a topic that I really love to talk about AND I’m actually qualified to talk about it. No way I’m giving up now… are you kidding me?

I’m loving running Happily Mander now more than ever.

This is nothing against this person or their opinion. They are absolutely entitled to say and think whatever they want to think. But I’m not taking their statement seriously. Because I know that I can be on top one day. If it’s not Happily Mander, it’ll be something else.

The challenge of trying to change the world is a very tough one to take on, but I’m thinking that maybe all of this was the kick I needed to start over. I learned a lesson about choosing to do the thing that resonates with YOU and feels most authentic to YOU, because honestly, I couldn't imagine living the rest of my life in that mindset. I'm actually excited to take on the task of a brand new start.

In the words of Beyoncé: A winner don’t quit on themselves.

You can find me on Instagram now under the username @theamandainfluence