Pinterest Princess
The Website That Feeds Into the Princess Complex
Pinterest can be an incredible way to organize Christmas wish lists, new sofa options, and slow cooker recipes. It’s a visually pleasing platform where you can create your own inspiration boards and follow other people’s. It’s a self-improvement mecca that is utilized by almost every female I know.
We keep pinning and saving every useful tidbit of information. And it’s fun and you feel productive.
10 Clever Ways to Use a Waffle Iron
25 Clever Waffle Toppings
How to DIY a Belgian Waffle Brunch
Baby Shower Brunch Ideas
Baby Shower Brunch Ideas (little boy themed)
Best Paint Colors for a Little Boy’s Bedroom.
Post-baby Workout.
Workout Designed for the Commercial Breaks of American Idol.
If you’re anything like me, you start to amass thousands of pins like: The Best DIY Wedding Favors, even though you’re twenty years old, single, and have always scoffed at the idea of a traditional celebration. That’s when self improvement gets frantic. When sites like Pinterest feed your “princess complex” and you start pinning articles like Prince Harry’s Favorite Hangouts or Kate Middleton’s Strategy for Success.
I have to splash cold water on my face and look critically at what I spend all these hours doing. You’ve probably heard of the “princess complex.” Girls who’ve grown up watching Disney movies who see themselves as princesses waiting to be swept away by charming and brave men. Girls who wait around in their towers doing crunches with coconut oil in their hair so that when their perfect dude arrives, they are ready.
All your energy goes into becoming the best version of yourself. If you master Perfectly Plumped Lips and Finding the Best Jeans for your Body Shape, a man will pluck you up like the perfect flower you are and give you the life of your dreams. Somehow, you will unlock all the tools necessary. Your curated page of tips and tricks and exercise plans that you never even look at will act as an incantation.
Stressed about my upcoming college graduation, I pin with panic. I need to know The 36 Things Crucial to a Perfect Bikini Wax and How to Send Engagement Party Thank You Cards. I’m on this website, palms sweating, trying to memorize the list of Jennifer Lopez’s Favorite Drugstore Makeup because it seems like the key to everything good and wonderful, and Jennifer’s life is incredible and if my butt looked like Kylie’s I’d also be living the good life in a big house with a bunch of small dogs.
And out of nowhere (or the repressed rational side of my brain) comes this insane realization.
What if none of this works?
What if to have Kylie’s life, I have to pay more attention in class, and spend twice as much time on my writing and hustle and network and struggle until I learn to sell a script and that’s my ticket to owning five small dogs and vacations with my besties in Paris?
This workout plan may not be the only path to a life worth living?
OH, THANK GOD.
I don’t need to be Instagram famous or master the art of mojitos to be cool and happy? What I have to do is focus less on being a pretty perfect princess of a girl and instead be studious and brave. Kind of like boys have to do?
PHEW. Why didn’t you tell me that sooner? Oh, you tried to? I couldn’t hear you because I was ear candling. What if my nonexistent boyfriend was nibbling on my ear and noticed I had wax buildup?!
Listen, there’s nothing wrong with self-improvement. I just worry when I see how many times this has been saved:
And I worry even more when I consider saving that to my “Inspiration” board.
Pinterest is an odd place that can make women confused about their worth. It’s sort of a relief when you remind yourself that you are so much more than a beautiful flower who can write The Best Thank You Notes for Every Occasion.
Now go read a book, work on your screenplay, or debug some computer code. You can figure out your optimal kitchen layout later.
