You wake up, go to school, do your homework, and sleep. For months now, this basic routine hasn’t changed. With this situation in mind, it is easy to see how you would want to spice up your inevitably boring schedule, because, while you can’t control certain duties, you can control what scented candle you use.
There is a solution to your problem: simply romanticize your life. Romanticizing is the act of “dealing with something in an idealized fashion,” which means finding beauty in everyday aspects of your life. This could be jotting down a few things you’re grateful for, observing the scenic view while taking a walk, or pretending you’re the lead actor in a movie.
However, while romanticizing your life is a great way to stay motivated, many social media influencers highlight the products they buy instead of the mindset shift needed, which takes the positive meaning of this phrase into something worse. Feeds are flooded with aesthetic images of “tools for a romantic life”, such as coffee mugs, pens, candles, and home decor items (only $89.99 for a pack of one!). This implies that happiness can only be found materialistically and through the purchasing of expensive products. Instead of learning to love the things you already have, content creators push people towards unnecessary overconsumption. It is important to find what works for you, which is hard when the influencer on your screen is being paid to promote a certain brand that they apparently love. It is impossible to have a five-hour morning routine every day, but the curated plan online doesn’t tell you that.
This “trend” also creates an unhealthy cycle of comparison. Maybe your couch reading spot isn’t like the fancy loft bed you just scrolled past. Maybe your room isn’t as nicely decorated as the perfect one on your feed. But this shouldn’t matter, because once again, romanticizing your life should be about noticing the small joys already present in your day. Ultimately, the romanticizing mindset is overpowered by consumerism.