I’ve spent some time recently going through my Instagram following. Over time, I’d amassed a huge amount of people that I followed because I liked one of their pictures one time so decided to follow them, or the aesthetic of the account fit what I liked at the time. This meant I was following almost 3000 people, but thanks to Instagram’s awesome algorithm – #sarcasm – I was only seeing posts from about 1% of these people, everything else was just lost in the noise. I won’t start ranting too much about the Insta algorithm, but basically I stopped using the homepage feed because I was seeing the same people over and over, sometimes posts up to a week old, and no one new.
So I decided to go back through the people I follow, and to unfollow inactive accounts, ones I’m not really sure why I followed in the first place, or ones I followed with photos that don’t fit with what I like now – it sounds cruel, but I was following countless people that I wasn’t ever interacting with and would never actually see photos from.
In doing this, I had to look over all the accounts I follow, which pulled up a few old faves that I never see any more. And it also whittled down my feed so, hopefully, I’ll start seeing more of people that I’m actually interested in and the majority of everyone’s posts rather than just the select few Instagram decides I should see.
It also means that my feed is now how I want it to look. It’s filled with inspirational, aspirational but also real life photos. I like to have a mixture of things I can be inspired by as well as a glimpse into the everyday life of people like me. I want to be able to scroll through my feed and feel inspired.
So I’m rounding up 10 of my current favourite aspirational Instagram accounts in a few categories of my life. These aren’t necessarily huge accounts, but rather ones that I feel an everyday Instagrammer can aspire to. What are your faves?
For Travel
RusticBones has Mountains, lakes, cabins in the woods, brilliant photography and a few beautiful outfits thrown into the mix.
For inspirational minimalism in a way that is exactly the opposite of white and unclutteredness, while travelling the world, check out Tiny House Footprint.
For Sewing
I used to follow Megan from Briar Rose Cosplay on her blog which she no longer runs, but she’s now turned her hand to sewing gorgeous, whimsical cosplay costumes. While I’m not a cosplayer, I love seeing her process of sewing and the wonderful finished pieces.
For Yoga
Erica Tenggara Yoga was one of the first yoga Instagrams I came across and I was obsessed. I scrolled waaaay down through her posts amazed at what she could do, but also by her story of how she could barely touch her toes (like me!) when she started.
I love Yoga with Bethany for her more realistic photos of yoga for someone like me. Erica above is more aspirational, and while Bethany is definitely an aspirational one for me too, her pictures are taken in her house and garden. I also love her comparison posts showing where she was a year ago because it shows what can be achievable with a bit of work.
For Style
I’ve followed Rebecca at A Clothes Horse for years on her blog – she was one of the reasons I started my blog. Her tagline “finding quiet in the wild” really fits with my goals in life, and her outfits are so gorgeous – she has a style I definitely want to emulate.
Elanor Dawn‘s Instagram is a mix between cute, retro and fun style with sun, sea and travel photography. That screams almost every Instagrammable girl out there, but there’s just something about hers that is a little more relatable to me.
For Flat Lays & Photography
Elvira’s Story is a seasonally beautiful photography focused Instagram account, currently filled with autumnal flatlays, flowers, leaves, beautiful architecture and country views.
Feather & Flint is a new discovery for me that’s filled with gorgeous photography and colour.
For Disney
What would Instagram be without a bit of Disney? Perks of a Park Hopper Princess is my fave right now with her cute and colourful Disney inspired outfits.
