The Dangers of Pinterest

Don’t let intentions hijack your dreams!

“May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.” — Nelson Mandela

Are you a dream chaser or a dream pinner? A few years ago, I found myself spending a lot of time on Pinterest. My life had become pretty dull — it was all work and no play, which we know makes anyone a dull girl.

I had lost all the time in my life for doing things that brought me joy and pleasure. I found myself getting depressed from the overburden of work and stress and also from the fact that I couldn’t pursue things that made me happy.

I had no time to garden, no time to vacation, no time to just be still, to read books or write and journal and do the things that were my passion as well as what made me feel alive. I realized I was living a stale and stress-filled life that I didn’t see any way out of at the time — I’ll get to that part soon!

Pinterest as an escape plan

I found that Pinterest was an escape for me — a fantasy world where I could dream and plan the life I really wanted to live. I created a Camping board where I would escape to the woods and a simpler way of living. I had the obligatory Bucket List board where I pinned dreamy destinations to Italy and wine country in California that I would visit “someday.”

I even created a Pinterest board titled The Way I Want to Live — little did I know I was indeed planting seeds for the way I wanted to live, but without water and sunlight seeds will remain dormant forever. It’s the nurturing of seeds that brings them to life! I was a dream pinner and for a while this sustained me, but I wasn’t taking any action to coax those dreams to life.

Over time I became angry and depressed when I would seek out my Pinterest fix. It dawned on me that I wasn’t truly living! I was just peeking into other people’s lives as they lived full and rewarding lifestyles pursuing their passions and dreams.

I was looking at pictures of others as they rested on covered porches, harvested organic fruit from their gardens, kayaked on still lakes, and ate pizza at the bistros in Tuscany. I was longing for a lifestyle where other people lived in a spacious place of quiet with gardens in bloom and fruit trees dropping abundance from their branches, while I dealt with daily stress and fatigue.

And then it hit me that they were living and I was watching. A bystander on the sidelines of life.

Public Service Announcement: living vicariously through Pinterest doesn’t work!

Pinteresting is not truly living. Procrastinating is not living. All that scrolling and posting and all I was becoming was a dream pinner, not a dream chaser.

One day the realization that I could do this for the rest of my life and die with a Pinterest board full of thousands of wonderful dreams and ideas but never really live a full life smacked me in the face.

I remembered a line from one of my favorite movies, The Shawshank Redemption. Andy says to Red “Get busy living or get busy dying.” Here is a little background in case you haven’t seen the movie.

Andy was in prison serving a life sentence for a crime he didn’t commit. Red was his friend who had become “institutionalized” — meaning he had been in prison so long he no longer dreamed of or wanted to leave because he had forgotten how to live like a free man.

He came up for parole time and time again but never really cared if it was granted. He secretly knew he didn’t want to be set free. Andy had a secret plan to escape from prison and the unjust sentence he had been given. He was talking with Red about hope.

Red became angry and told Andy to stop hoping because that was a dangerous thing in prison. That’s when Andy said to Red, “Get busy living or get busy dying.” That was a profound turning point in the movie, in Red’s life, and a foreshadowing of what was to come.

As I was perusing my escape Pinterest boards, looking at dreamy Bucket List ideas, fantasizing about living a lifestyle of rest and freedom in my The Way I Want to Live board, I saw it! I was as trapped inside my self-imposed limitations as Red had been.

I was daydreaming about living. And dreams are nothing unless you take action on them. That was a pivotal moment for me. I began to take action and that’s when I started to gain a sense of urgency of what I needed to do to pursue my dreams and create a life that I wanted, a life that would fulfill me.

There were dreams that I wanted to pursue and dreams I knew I needed to pursue and the first step in my plan was to get my husband on board. We talked about the stress in our lives and acknowledged that I needed to leave my job soon. In order to do that we determined we would have to downsize. We also committed to something we had been talking about for years: moving from Ohio to a warmer climate.

Just take the first step toward your dreams

Amazing things start to happen when you begin to live true to yourself and incredible things started to happen as we stepped out in faith. I’ll give you the Cliffs Notes version because each event, in and of itself, could be a story, but I want to fast forward so we can get to the part where I can encourage YOU to stop being a dream pinner and become a dream chaser. Life is short — and it gets shorter every day — so don’t waste it!

I began painting and fixing up the house to get it on the market while my husband approached his company to see about any potential opportunities in warmer states. My directive: Arizona or Texas. I sensed we were to move Southwest and both those states appealed to me.

As I painted, I listened to upbeat worship music and prayed that God would guide us every step of the way. My arms burned and my shoulders ached but I was a woman propelled by an energy that comes from finally taking action.

There was a perfect position open that my husband interviewed for and within a few months, he boarded a plane from Cincinnati, Ohio to Austin, Texas to lay the groundwork for our new life.

I contracted the bathroom remodeler, the handyman for the fence and decking repairs, orchestrated the staging of the house, held garage sales, and hauled boxes of donations to the thrift store. He drove around our new city looking for our “ranchette” or farm where we could breathe and rest and live like we were camping every day of our lives.

Our house sold in four days, and we found our dream farm the next weekend. Events continued to play out quickly and easily as we crafted our new life and pursued our dreams.

Friends and family and even strangers at the garage sale all exclaimed, “Texas! That sure is far!” Yes, my friends, but far is only a limitation you determine in your own mind.

Taking action allows you to pursue your dreams

As each step in the process unfurled, I felt giddy with joy like I hadn’t in years. I knew I was stepping toward more than just life in the country where I could be away from brutal winters and play with chickens and goats. I knew I was inching closer to a dream, a promise, that God had given me years earlier: the dream of being a writer.

I continued to say to anyone who would listen, “I want to be a writer when I grow up.” I was 50 years old — when did I think “grown-up” would be? I was Red, busy dying and letting life and my purpose pass me by.

Sadly, this story is as old as time. Jesus addressed it as he interacted with people who wistfully promised to “follow Him” and do something purposeful with their lives.

Mark 9: 59–62 in The Message

One said, “I’ll follow you but first excuse me for a couple of days, please. I have to make arrangements for my father’s funeral.” Jesus refused. “First things first. Your business is life, not death. And life is urgent: Announce God’s kingdom!”

Then another said, “I’m ready to follow you, Master, but first excuse me while I get things straightened out at home.” Jesus said, “No procrastination. No backward looks. You can’t put God’s kingdom off till tomorrow. Seize the day.”

Are you ready to get busy living instead of dying? Are you tired of being a dream pinner and desire to be a dream chaser? Have excuses and procrastination become a self-imposed prison? Are you ready to seize the day and stop looking backward at the time wasted on waiting for “someday”?

Jesus said: “Life is urgent.” Somebody needs you to pursue that dream because their dream depends on it. There is someone watching you who wants to believe in more than what they’ve been able to and they are looking to you for hope.

You are Andy to a Red in your life. Will you get busy living?

Here are some tips to help you begin to take ACTION as a dream chaser.

Address what has been holding you back and no longer allow it to become a roadblock. Is it fear? Are you afraid of the unknown? We all are, but guess what? It’s never as scary as our imagination. Do you feel inadequate? We all do, but I promise you there will be people who will step into your path to help you every time you need it. Do you worry about what other people will think? It’s time to get over that! This is YOUR life, not theirs. Don’t share your dreams with naysayers — keep your plans close to your chest until you are ready to reveal them to the world.

Create a vision board or a dream journal. Writing your dreams and desires down and putting pictures or drawings to them is a powerful way to propel you forward. (Yes, you can use Pinterest for this, but remember to be realistic and use these images to help you visualize the life you want, not a fantasy life that isn’t reflective of your dreams.) There is something magical that happens when you commit to something on paper. It becomes real, it starts to take on shape, and you can see yourself stepping into it. Pinterest is great for gathering ideas, but you must write it out and create a place where you craft your vision. You must also be willing to take action on these dreams.

Take action! No matter how small your steps are, just do something! All I knew to do was to start painting my walls. I knew I would have to do that to sell the house so I wanted to be ready. That action led to others. We didn’t know we would get a fast response about a position in Texas but we knew unless we asked we would not know if we had to seek another route. Sometimes action starts with asking. So, as my friend, Nancy always tells me, “Don’t be afraid to ask.” You never know what might become of it.

“We generate fears while we sit. We overcome them by action.” — Dr. Henry Link

Imagine the possibilities. We didn’t know exactly what our life was going to look like but I began to imagine it. I daydreamed (while I packed and painted) about having chickens, and taking walks down country roads, and laying in the back of the pickup truck staring at the stars. I had a recurring image of dusty red dirt and me kicking it around in boots. I didn’t even know what houses in Texas looked like but I envisioned a covered porch and a big country kitchen. It’s okay to daydream and pin in this step of the process because you are brainstorming about something you are taking real action to pursue.

Own the process. Obstacles and setbacks are inevitable but I refused to rely on other people to solve my problems. I fully owned that we were moving in the right direction and if a problem occurred I pulled up my big girl panties and found a solution. Snakes in the ceiling during the bathroom remodel? I called wildlife catchers. Realtors who wanted to undercut my asking price to make a quick buck? I sent them packing and found a realtor who had my best interest in mind. Remember, this is YOUR life — take control and direct it.

Never stop dreaming. We are three years into our dream life but I’ve got more dreams! I want to travel and have more flexibility in our schedules to do so. I’m working on that. But I’m living in the moment now, writing full time, and soaking in the restful, full, simple life I used to only pin about.

My Pinterest board, The Way I Want to Live is now called The Simple Way I Want to Live and it’s full of MY life and the way I am living it. I’ve watered the seeds I planted and I am harvesting joy and contentment.

I am no longer plagued with anxiety, grumpiness, apathy, or depression about my life because I am living the life I love. Pinterest is not a place I go to escape but now a place I go to be inspired and inspire others.

Be a dream chaser, not a dream pinner — take action now and pursue the life you want.

We are all wanderers on this earth. Our hearts are full of wonder, and our souls are deep with dreams. — Gypsy Proverb

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