When self-improvement is reduced to one type of routine – and shared by people with seemingly limitless resources and time – it can become a measuring stick to judge our lives against.
On more mornings than I care to admit, I’ve started my day by watching other people get ready for theirs; doing their make-up, making breakfast and chatting to the camera, all before I’ve managed to get out of bed myself.
Authenticity, the act of being real, is a neatly packaged term that’s used liberally online. But, what does it even mean to be authentic in the era of filters and push notifications reminding us to ‘be real’? Sold as a different type of content to the curated, heavily filtered tropes of the early 00s, get ready with me videos straddle the space between a true reflection of our lives and the aspirational, performative content we’ve come to expect on social media.
In Louise’s mind, while she knows that these videos are far from realistic, it’s what they represent that’s important to her: “These videos act as a drive to push me to be more conscious of how I’m living my life. Yes, I don’t have the time and I don’t have the bank account to afford the luxury of a glorious 12-step morning routine, but I can still implement some of the steps to make my morning routines feel less hectic.
“I’ve spent so much money on gadgets and ingredients only to have them rot away in over-stuffed drawers and cupboards,” she goes on to say. “When I think about the money and time I’ve wasted on trying to replicate these routines and not being one step closer to the ‘perfect’ one, it makes me so sad – and angry with myself. Let’s be honest, with the cost of living crisis, I can’t afford to splash out money on an expensive matcha set to make tea I don’t even like.
“When I think about the money and time I’ve wasted on trying to replicate these routines and not being one step closer to the ‘perfect’ routine, it makes me so sad, and angry with myself”