#sundaybluesedit by Rebecca C.
This is a story about how Instagram helped make me, and thousands of others, happy. I am not a scientist and I’m not going to try to prove a theory. This story is based on my experiences in life and my observations with my Sunday tag.
To start I have to get personal. I’ve waged a full-out war against depression since I was 19 years old. I’m now 43. I’ve won some battles, and have been badly beaten by others. I’ve watched members of my family struggle. I’ve read books. I’ve listened to and worked with psychiatrists and therapists. I’ve downed dozens of medications and medication cocktails. In 25 years I’ve learned not how to win the war, but how to cope with its existence by carrying better ammunition and wearing better armor. I know now that I can tolerate it as merely background noise.
At 19, I was also beginning to take my love of art more seriously. I went to college and majored in painting. The work kept me focused and grounded. There were assignments to complete and deadlines to meet. Feedback, common interest, social interactions, and sometimes praise were all motivators for continuing to work. I didn’t know this at the time but I do now: art saved my life.
Photo Credit: @redlilith
Statistics show that art viewing and art creating can improve many aspects of existence, especially those associated with mood. I recently heard a story on NPR about Alzheimer patients taking field trips to a museum with young kids. Just looking at works of art and being in a social group helped the patients speak and interact more. They came to life viewing and discussing works of art.
The creation of art is used in all kinds of therapy, from abused children to people with Down syndrome. It’s used in the therapy of children in war torn countries suffering from posttraumatic stress and patients with terminal illnesses. Basically, the making of art can be used to help almost anyone improve physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. So even in a layman’s world, that tells me that art is good for us.
Photo Credit: @mineowneye, Jamie Stewart
Although I had some concept of this, it wasn’t until I joined Instagram and started sharing my newfound passion with others that I realized how powerful this was.
I’ve had the blues on Sunday ever since I can remember. These blues were compounded by a feeling of guilt that it was the weekend and I should be happy and doing things that were not work. It’s also a day when I have felt lonely, regardless of the fact that I have 3 daughters, and don’t spend much time alone. Sundays filled me with dread and a feeling of hollowness I tried hard to shake. Over the years, I developed some Sunday coping skills, but for whatever reason, Sundays have always seemed harder than other days.
Photo Credit: @lou_askew, Laura Jennings
On one of these Sundays 15 weeks ago, after being on Instagram for 30 some odd weeks, I started a tag. For those unfamiliar with tags, in the Instagram world, if you add a # in front of a word it will drop your photo into a group of like tagged images. People use tags to have their work seen by others or to keep their own images together, to join groups or participate in various challenges. By this time I had a tag to join for every day of the week: Monday is #Decim8nday (a day to decim8 one of your images from your past 12), Tuesday is #Texastuesday, Wednesday is #blackandwhitegrunge, and on through the week. These tags helped me stay motivated and inspired even when my creativity was low.
At some point I decided I wanted to create a tag of my own. My biggest fear was that no one would participate. I dreaded my tag being a flop. I noticed a lack of weekend tags, which, in hindsight, makes some sense. Lots of artists take “breaks” on the weekends or have other routines. I, however, had already been posting to #bluesunday or #sundayblues, both tags which had already been created by someone else and didn’t appear to have any organization.
I noticed that when I would post a blue image to Instagram on Sundays, I would get support as well as empathetic comments from my followers. I wasn’t alone. There were others out there who were blue on Sunday too, and we were finding each other. It was then that the #sundaybluesedit tag was born.
Photo Credit: @elvisandme, Izzy
By creating the tag, I stumbled upon a sort of Sunday fix; only the fix wasn’t just for me. So many of the artists who participate in the tag say they “look forward to Sunday;” they feel supported and embraced by their fellow blue artists. They feel they can express themselves in a nurturing and understanding environment. Sundays were starting to look up.
I’m not going to pretend I had any idea what I was creating at the time. I was being selfish. I didn’t want to spend Sundays alone with my emotions. What I discovered then—and continue to find every Sunday—is that blues and creativity many times go hand in hand.
Do creative people feel more intensely than others? Is creativity just an outlet for emotion? I don’t know for sure. Is the moody artist just a stereotype? For hundreds of years the question of the link between creativity and the blues has been theorized. The speculation was so frequent that the idea has become a cliché. It’s true that humans make unreliable test subjects when it comes to subjective things like feelings and emotions so we may never have conclusive studies.
An article by Jonah Lehr in Wired magazine discusses this widely controversial issue. Lehr looks at the scientific literature that suggests depression not only gives us the blues, but also makes us more creative and may even help with focus. In his article, he writes about the research of a social psychologist at the University of New South Wales in Australia, Joe Forgas.
Photo Credit: @savagemoon, Luna
Forgas’ research centers on the benefits of negative moods. He believes sadness makes us more attentive to detail and more focused on our tasks, and that angst and negative moods promote “information-processing strategies best suited to dealing with more-demanding situations.” In his research, Forgas’ test subjects were better at “judging the accuracy of rumors and recalling past events; stereotyping strangers and made fewer arithmetic mistakes.”
So, according to some research, not only do creative types appear to have more of the blues, but also creativity can help ease the suffering that comes with it. Perhaps it’s this ability to focus and stay persistent in a task that allows people with the blues to be more creative? We know that statistically, underprivileged youth who have training and access to the arts have a much higher success rate staying and finishing school. We know that all kinds of art therapies help thousands of people express and recover from traumatic situations. For me, the mere act of focusing on the task of creating can ease the feelings of the blues.
I’ve been an artist for the better part of 25 years. I’ve made tons of art on Sundays and the focus and work did help some, but I was still basically alone, in a creative vacuum of sorts. Enter social media…the Sunday tag was the convergence of all the elements that were required to help move me through the bluest of Sundays… I was now spending my Sundays with artists, with or without the blues, from around the world. Of interest to me was that a majority of these artists were women.
Photo Credit: Deena F., @deena21
I don’t know the gender make up of the sundaybluedit tag following, but I do know that the most emotionally expressive in my tag tend to be women. And it is women who thrive under this umbrella of social media.
At the risk of stereotyping, many women spend lots of hours without other adult interaction, least of all with other creative people. This was my situation for many years raising small children. Now, with the invention of cell phones, 3G and Wi-Fi, social media can be carried around in your pocket or purse. You can shoot and edit pictures almost any time or anywhere. And you can “connect” 24 hours a day with other artist.
Instagram, and other photo-sharing sites that are likely to attract artists, allow the user to participate in social media in a way that shares ideas and emotion through image and not words. The user is not “checking in” or posting a “status” like on Facebook but with an image that speaks to how you are feeling or what you are creating. What better way to spend your blue Sunday than carrying around a pocketful of friends willing to listen, comment, and support anytime this creativity strikes?
Photo Credit: @jenntofriends, Jennifer Reeves
It is estimated that less than 1% of academic papers written on the subject of psychology deal with the creative process, but recently there seems to be more interest and studies on the topic. Although these studies still appear to have a ways to go before conclusions can be drawn to a link between depression and increased creativity, I have seen the surprising popularity of my tag on Sundays. I’ve also seen the support that social media elicits to people who are struggling with these issues allowing them to share ideas, images, and inspiration.
To say that Instagram has cured my depression would be an overstatement, but when I’m shooting and editing photos, I am fully engaged. There is no thinking. The little world in my pocket has brought me and many others true friendship, the return of my lost creativity, and a cure for my Sunday blues—pretty incredible for an iphone and an app.
Photo Credit: @antitheist82, Wade
Editors note:
Here are a few photos from #sundaybluesedit. Join in on this creative movement.
[instapress tag=”sundaybluesedit” piccount=”15″ size=”90″ effect=”fancybox” paging=”1″]
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Really well done, Rebecca. Great read and the images, of course, are wonderful and thought provoking as well. <3
Thanks Jen!
What a proud moment reading about this wonderful tag that you created Rebecca – I love the work that I see each Sunday – truely inspirational.
This is really something! An place to feel unity and inspiration. I have only recently found this tag, and love how open you have left the interpretation of “blues”. This provides for such a fantastic varied forum. Thanks for letting us into your life.
It has become an amazing community. Thank you for joining and letting us into your life,
Thank you for sharing, very well done, Rebecca. Love the tag with the growing community of blues. <3
Thank you Linda and always for your incredible support. Sundays wouldnt be the same without you!
My comment was blank. What I want to say is well done, Rebecca. I identify with you on so many levels. Your candor is refreshing and I am one of those that now looks forward to Sundays because of your tag, it’s therapeutic to create a visual of the blues I feel. Thanks for everything. You’re a great artist and writer. <3
A wonderful group of like minded souls has gathered around your beacon of a tag. I look forward to Sundays not only as a day to express my bluer emotions but as a day to find other inspiring creative people. Thank you Rebecca for giving us a such a delightful meeting place.
I feel exactly the same!! Thank you for sharing your Sunday’s with me.
Thanks Rebecca, for your honesty and integrity. You are a true artist who brings so much to the table day after day. You are inspiring and a damn good writer as well as artist. Although I don’t always participate in your tag, I really love it and enjoy seeing the work that others contribute to your Blue Sundays.
Thank you for your kind words. You’ve been an inspiration to me since my early weeks on IG. Thank you for helping me to see what is possible.
Rebecca, this is a wonderfully expressive and thoughtful article. Am very proud to have contributed a snap too. Long live #sundaybluesedit….
Thank you Jamie! I’m always happy to see your amazing images. We are kindred in our blues. I’m thankful to you for all of it.
This made me cry. Mainly because I relate and am so glad to have found this community. I love the Sunday Blues tag. Thank-you for your courageous sharing.
Jenn- this is how I feel every Sunday! I can’t believe how many amazing artist show up each week not just for the blues but the understanding that seems to come with the tag. I’m happy we’ve all found a place
What a wonderful essay–and thanks for including one of my own images! I am so glad I stumbled upon your Instagram feed and the SundayBluesEdit. Well done.
–Doctorjazz
Thank you David! I’m thrilled to have your create images show up for the blues! However you found us, I’m certainly glad you did!
Oh darling lady I love you so much. What a beautiful expressed article. I don’t know how many times in the last 10 weeks I’ve gone to your tag and just wandered around. I don’t always participate but i am always moved. You are a beautiful struggle and thank you for sharing with us so openly. Much love darling.
Anna you are a lovely and welcoming soul. Thank you for embracing me, us , the tag! I adore you!
You are an inspiration ❤ … Thank you for sharing your sundayblues with us all – its a brilliant tag & i always adore your image editing therapy … Remarkable Rebecca…
Thank you Guilia. I always love your totally unique insight! You bring a ton of fun and light to the table! I’m always happy to ‘see’ you!
Great article Rebecca – thanks for sharing. You should be proud of the worldwide community you have created.
Thanks Jason! I am proud but also amazed and greatful. It’s been a gift to me.
Great article mama. I’m so proud of you. Your art never ceases to amaze me. And on top of it, you’re an excellent writer. I love you to death. Keep up the good work, and always know that I love you and am so proud to have you as my mother.
xoxo
Emma (your oldest baby)
Thank you sweet girl! I am so proud of you! Thanks for the encouragement. My writing would be a shambles without you!!
xxxxoooxoxo
You have been an inspiration to me since the beginning Jenn. I have spent many a lonely insomniac night with your images and you. We have so much in common. I’m happy to have found you in this amazing virtual world
Rebecca, thanks for sharing your personal story so courageously. As you know, ‘m a huge admirer of your work, & it’s wonderful to have some insight niw about the soul behind it.
Was it an accident that I discovered IG just weeks before my love left me? & a coincidence that I found your tag almost immediately after? I don’t know … But I’ve been trying to explain my IG obsession to friends, & you describe it perfectly I’m this article. Like you, Sundays have always been a bit rough for me, & they became nearly intolerable after my breakup. With your tag, I feel invited to be self-expressed in a way that no relationship has ever offered me or withstood. As a result, I am absolutely processing this transition & grief in a productive & creative way … & it is indeed both a distraction that requires my undivided attention, as well as a forum that rings into my life compassionate, like-minded artists.
Much gratitude to you for the amazing images you & others share on #sundaybluesedit, & also for the healing it provides.
Ruthie
Thanks Ruthie. I look forward to your images every week. I’m happy you found us however it happened. I had the blues tag well running by the time I had my breakup. It’s been a life saver and a Sunday source of comfort.
Thank you for sharing your story Rebecca. My life has changed dramatically since finding IG. My blues have definitely been lifted by having an outlet for sharing, support and inspiration. Your presence on IG is profound, uplifting literally thousands with your creativity and encouragement. Thank you, thank you.
Great article Rebecca. Certainly the blues has given me a weekly mood outlet
Rebecca your are not ‘only’ an amazing artist but a gifted writer as well. And all that coming from the beautiful and wonderful woman that you are! This article is so beautiful, it moved me to tears while reading it. I admire your openness and your courage to share about what is really going on.
I’ve felt so lost in this (9 to 5) world for the bigger part of my life. It looked like it was almost impossible to be me and be out there at the same time. And then, thank goodness I finally bought an iPhone and went on IG. It only has been 4 months now, but it already changed the world for me! Suddenly I found myself in this ‘place’ with so many like minded people. I truly feel like I finally found home! 🙂 And in this house, the sundaybluesedit is like a big treasure room. It feels save and inspiring to be there. It makes me feel a lot less lonely and it helps me to get over my shyness and insecurity and get my work out there. Something that even diploma’s in the arts and grants for promising artists couldn’t help me do. I’m truly grateful for have met you and all those other wonderful artists and people. Thank you. With love.
I can’t fully express how happy this article makes me. Articulated, packed with information, honest, authentic…there’s a lot of us struggling with depression and other conditions, it’s often overwhelming, toxic, blinding, but eventually we learn we can make it through, until the next fall. Creative output, creative expression, of any kind, has an incredible power and you expose all its intricate ramifications with today’s forms of communication just perfectly. You’ve opened the doors to a moving, embracing,inspiring community.
Rebecca,
Thank you so much for sharing. I’ve never heard anyone else mention the guilt associated with fighting depression. I’ve been fighting since my mid-teens. Now I have a beautiful life and three amazing children, yet I’m still depressed often. I get so frustrated with myself that even with those cheerful faces waiting for me, I don’t even want to get out of bed most days.
Thank you for the tag. I do look forward to it. And, though many of my entires are joyful, there is a hidden sadness in each one.
@margaretcarmela
Well said and done, Rebecca. Sunday is one of my fav days on IG now because of this #. it’s all around beautiful and engaging. Thank you for this. xx
Very touching and uplifting. A wonderful read and even more individual too; hats off, Rebecca!
– mudsock
What a wonderful article and great selection of photos. Of course, I also love the the blues Sunday. I actually look forward to seeing what people will post.
After your article, Rebecca, #Sundaybluesedit takes on a new meaning. There is a compelling story behind this coming together of artists on Sundays. I command you for bringing the topic of depression to the table since so many of us know of its pervasive nature but would rather sweep it under the rug. Likewise, I thank you for focusing on the “creative” and art iphoneographers. Thank you!
your creativity, wisdom, and understanding blow me away every day of the week rebecca…but since meeting you and your tag Sunday’s have become something truly unique – thanks and congrats, this is an important topic that is all too easily left untouched.
bill
nicely done!
YOU are amazing!!! Can you believe how strong you are suffering depression and now to have people draw from your strength and win battles of there own….. Thankyou for sharing you light and love. Always.
I’m so glad I came and read this article to find out what #sundaybluesedit is all about. You write so well, openly and honestly and it’s really inspired me. I believe depression serves a purpose, it draws your attention to something being wrong on a deeper level. Like many I have felt those blues and have found that it is only by being myself truly, fully and authentically that it melts away. Art does save people, it opens people up to themselves and each other and that is what is so beautiful about what you’ve created here. Long may it continue and thanks for sharing with us!
Beautifully revealing Rebecca. Thx for reminding me about why I picked up a camera and started shooting.
All I can say is, you got yourself a new member in this movement/tag! Thanks for sharing your thoughts…. Sending you lotsa <3 from Malaysia
We said. Really liked the article about the work of skip jones last weekend. Hope to hear more of him.
Really inspriing and heartening article. You’re right, for whatever people say about Instagram, it’s brought a lot of people together. And thanks to it and all the mobile photography apps, it has released a lot of creativity amongst people.
A lovely read, and so true 🙂
Oh this is the first time I read about the origins of my favorite tag, sundaybluesedit. it all makes so much sense to me and why i am so drawn to this group. I appreciate all that you have written here, and it is so right on. thank you.
of course Kathee!!!
This was great to read Rebecca. I can relate in many ways.
Its nice to see people still getting something from this! thank you Rachel
Well done, I love sundaybluesedit. I wish you well, John,
Thankyou for the wonderful article and heartfelt sharing of your story Rebecca. Ive been an advocate of art replenishing the soul for all of my teaching career and feel so blessed to have been able to work with teenagers from all walks of life and watch them grow through the production and appreciation of art.
Ive always loved your images, loved your stories and am honored to have met you through our pocket world! Jen (ikebana_jen) xx
You are an amazingly multi-talented artist. Your writing skills rival your visual masterpieces. I’m grateful to hold you in my “pocketful of friends”.