To me Pinterest is my digital scrapbook that I carry with me everywhere, easily accessible and editable. While I use it recreationally you can use it in many ways, for example you can collaborate on a board with your schoolmates for your class project or use Pinterest to showcase your newest idea and present it to your boss.
Pinterest ‘boards’ are exactly like taking a cork board and pinning up images, but much less work. For one of my boards, named ‘Life’, I chose images that click with me and how I want my life to be when I’m older. It’s almost like a manifestation, and sets goals for me to achieve. Whenever I’m feeling stuck in this time of my life, I look at this collection of photos, and it brings me purpose to move forward.
In a way, Pinterest is my safe haven, a way to escape everything and just be surrounded by things that make me happy.
My favourite boards are ‘Renaissance aesthetic’ , ‘Rainy days’, and ‘Cottage core’.
I first created ‘Renaissance aesthetic’ because it reminded me of the days before lockdown when I’d go on holiday and my Mum would drag me to museums. I would whine and complain, but secretly would end up enjoying it, but didn’t want to seem uncool to my older sister. My favourite paintings, the ones that would catch my eye, were the ones painted in the Renaissance era. The complexity and elegance of these paintings amazed me, and nowadays, with how chaotic life has been, it has brought me a sense of calm and comfort to look at. I regret not taking advantage of the museums while I could, but using this app gives me an endless amount of Renaissance inspired images of paintings, dresses and jewellery all in one place.
Since I was very little, rain has always been my favourite weather. While I love the heat, getting to wear bikinis and summer shorts, rain has always held a special place in my heart. Not going out in it, I hate getting wet, but just sitting and watching the drops find their way from the top of the window to the bottom. Wiggling down and making that pitter patter noise that’s as reassuring as the sound of my own breath. Being able to sense the coldness from outside the window, while reading a book, has always been one of my top ten feelings. This was the reason for me creating my ‘rainy day’ board.
As a person who’s never been good or patient enough to enjoy making art, expressing the ideas in my mind has always been hard. Pinterest is my way of showing my creativity and ideas. While they may not be my own pictures, grouping them together in a way only my mind sees, is collaging, just using different materials.
I think everyone has a fantasy, big or small, of running away to the countryside. To live in a small, homey cottage surrounded by fields of flowers and natural lakes to swim in, go fruit picking and make organic bouquets with the flowers just outside your front door. To have a small vegetable garden to grow your own food and a stone oven to bake bread yourself. Enjoying frequent relaxing picnics, just you and a book, and watching the sunset from under a big willow tree. I find myself multiple times a day thinking about this life, how simple and rejuvenating it would be for me.
Before I go to sleep I always play some mellow music and scroll through my ‘cottage core’ board. It’s almost like daydreaming. Looking at the photos it’s almost as if I’m there feeling the grass between my toes and the wind in my flowy dress.
These boards are my dreams. But when they’re not just in my head, when I can physically see them, it makes them more real, more achievable. It’s as if they’re not just ‘dreams’, as dreams aren’t real, but possibilities that give you a reason to strive. People say ‘chase after your dreams’ but this gives the impression they’re running away from you when they are not. They’re waiting for you. You just have to take the first step.
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