Instagram, Oatmeal, & Absurdity: My Transformation fron Cynicism to Gratitude

I’ll admit it, when it comes to social media I’m more than a little bit cynical. In fact when it comes to most things I’m more than a little bit cynical. When I heard about instagram I thought it was trivial and a bit narcissistic. My impression was that there were thousands of people out there taking pictures of their food or themselves, and that they thought there was nothing in the world more important than what they were consuming or what they looked like. I thought what an absurd world we live in where we spend our time looking at other people’s food or lives constantly through our phones.
Rather than sit on the sidelines and watch the absurdity I thought I could become a part of it. I wanted to prove how absurd the whole concept of instagram was by gaining as many followers as possible with the dullest possible topic. I decided to consistently document what could arguably be the least interesting and most monotonous part of my day. A bowl of oatmeal. A plain bowl of brown oats is not the most interesting subject in the world to photograph, but I was determined to gain an audience.
Every day I would photograph my oatmeal, add a caption, and like some pictures of oats. Slowly I began gaining popularity. People began liking (hearting?), following and anticipating my morning bowl of plain oatmeal. But gradually through this routine I began to change. I began to look at my oatmeal artistically. Having to pause and look at my meal, instead of scarfing it down without a second thought, actually led me to enjoy eating it more. I appreciated the warm meal I had. I suddenly was surrounded by a group of people who were actually excited about oatmeal, and it started making me more excited about it. Although I’m kind of a negative person in reality, I was aboundingly positive in all my instagram posts. The online persona began to influence the reality. I grew more positive, thankful, and excited for the little, mundane, the ordinary, and the consistent things in my life. And I realized a secret, that all an ordinary thing needs to become something extraordinary is to be appreciated, to be enjoyed, to be delighted in.
What had began as an act of cynicism had become an exercise of gratitude. I had originally thought it absurdly indulgent that people people would delight and document their meals. I then realized life is much better when we delight in even the most trivial or mundane aspects of our lives, because life and everything in it is a gift.

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