Hello! My name is Cherie and I'm the owner and founder of Well Edited Co. While I've been posting blogs pretty consistently here and sharing on Pinterest, I haven't been on any other social media channels (specifically IG) since May so this blog is dedicated mostly to that. To start off, decluttering and organizing professionals are far from perfect and clutter affects more than our physical spaces. We all need to declutter and for me, mental and social media needed a declutter. I do digital detoxes often, I actually wrote about one here. While I know social media is a great tool for business, for me it's always been a struggle both personally and professionally - the black hole of scrolling, comparing and wondering if you're doing life the right way, etc. (you catch my drift).
I've met my best accountability buddies on IG and I love seeing what they're doing, so there's no doubt community can be built using IG. But I've always had a hard time posting and sharing consistently with confidence. All of this in addition to one of the most challenging years for basically everyone in the world, it's been hard to find my voice. What did I want to prioritize and speak up on when I was barely pulling myself out of bed and taking care of my kid? How privileged was I to even have that option some days?
Feeling the pull to have this almost too aspirational grid of gorgeous photos with a perfectly lit home and client projects with beautiful closets and storage spaces left me feeling overwhelmed. Please don't get me wrong, I'm a lover of all these things but at times it's tough to get it together, share and most of all be in front of the camera. While I was feeling all of these things, I couldn't help but wonder if others were feeling the same way? I know with a business there's a sense of imposter syndrome but what about in life and in our homes? When decluttering, organizing and creating a functional space, do others feel like their space isn't good enough or will never look like what they see in these almost too aspirational spaces online? I (again) had to rethink of how I wanted to serve others and it came down to this:
Well Edited Co. started with my personal journey. First, I love to help people declutter and then an organize, if needed after all of the decluttering is done. Second, I'm someone that makes you feel like your space is enough and can make it functional regardless of whether someone feels it's IG worthy. Most of all I'm someone who knows the inner work it takes to declutter both your belongings, physical space and all areas of life, which can be a really long, ongoing process.
Again don't get me wrong, I love projects with bright space and shelving and closets that are both beautiful and functional. But at the same time, this isn't my reality or many others right now and what matters most is a space that feels good and calm, a space where you know where everything is and a home that works for you and your family.
With all of that said, I want to share a couple of great articles that really helped me during this time and are related to sharing content on social media and how I want to run Well Edited. I hope you find them valuable as well.
First this article on Camille Styles by Kelly Krause on, "6 Questions I Ak Myself Before Posting on Social Media." Kelly shares a post by Nick Murphy where he talks about "keeping at least one or two things that he's proud of offline." She goes on to share that before she was going to embark on a month-long social media detox, she realized that's not what she needed, in her words what she needed was:
"...a reset on how I choose to use and engage on the platform. I see so much good that comes from social media — new friends, projects, education, inspiration, and movements — and that’s the space I’ll continue to engage in and be a part of."
My personal takeaways from Kelly's article as I think about how I want to share more consistently, build community, learn and be inspired are: 1) I want to make sure I'm contributing thoughtfully with valuable content 2) I'm not seeking likes or kudos (especially if I haven't given them to myself first and 3) I want to make sure I keep things for myself and in the moment.
The second article from Domino magazine about organizing isn't "not being about the Instagram" really resonated with me. The author, Julie Vandal talks about the trends we see in this way:
"if we’re being honest, it’s just not realistic to have every single item in your house spark joy (do nail clippers make anyone giddy?), and not all bookshelves can be Instagram-worthy. But that doesn’t mean your home isn’t put-together. Tidying up your house will require more than cute containers and under-the-bed storage—it’ll involve a holistic look at your life."
(INSERT AN AMEN HERE)
Julie then quotes NYC-based organizer, Faith Roberson with these words of wisdom:
"So don’t worry if you haven’t labeled your spices with cursive script stickers. Let me tell you, it is not about the Instagram. Organization has become about staging, which steers people away from a space that’s authentic.” Instead, she says, "it’s all about creating a functional space that also feels good. And that’s something that, for better or worse, can’t be captured in a social media post".
(INSERT ANOTHER AMEN HERE)
My takeaways from this article that were a double-click on my approach to editing and organizing: 1) this process is an inside out approach that will look different for everyone 2) creating a functional space that is true to you can't always be captured on a social media post 3) again while we all love a good before and after, pretty labels, and bins (and that's what sells), that's not what it's not all about and 4) you can approach it as a one day temporary fix OR a holistic journey that takes time. You may fall off at times but being equipped with the tools to pick yourself back up is what matters.
So with all that said thank you for allowing me to spill out all my feelings and the clarity I've needed to keep moving forward - both on how I want to share Well Edited on social media and more importantly, how I want to approach the work I do with my amazing clients and future clients.
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