Making Reels Isn’t All About Views

Not to be dramatic, but I think I might be a genius.

An editing genius.

Marvel universe needs me as head of their special effects department.

Because I’ve been making Reels on Instagram lately and can make myself magically change my clothes on camera with the simple toss of a shirt or jump in the air. MAGIC I TELL YOU. Someone hire me already.

When Reels came out on Insta, I went straight into ultimate Shanny the Granny mode. What is this TikityTok business that’s taking over my 2012 beloved app that taught me about filters such as Valencia and Clarendon? VIDEO?? Hah! Hard-pressed to get me to watch anything that requires sound. Instagram stories on silent all day every day. If you don’t caption your stories, I’m out. Silence is golden. That’s been my #1 rule on all things social media.

But then I accidentally clicked on a Reel and my sound was accidentally on and then I forgot to make dinner. Rabbit hole central, I tell you! So I began to watch. And watch. And watch. There are a lottttt of funny people out there—watch out, Fallon! Take a back seat, Tina Fey! JK JK JK. But like…wow. Even lip-syncing moms were capturing my attention.

Now I’m funny enough when writing or telling a story over wine and cheese, but I am not delusional enough to think I have the chops to make sketch comedy videos on the worldwide web. Still, after a month of watching random moms make me laugh with clever captions to put a twist on song lyrics, I was like…wait a minute. I love writing captions. I love creativity. Maybe I could do this…?

Listen. I have no big plans of going viral or becoming Insta-famous—which is a good thing because that definitely hasn’t happened. But I decided to not worry if people thought I was awkward or weird (I fully am both of those things so I couldn’t blame anyone for thinking that, anyway) and just see if I would enjoy the process. I’ve had no creative spark to write since publishing my book last year and thought—hmm, maybe this will get my juices flowing!

I went for it and I’m so glad I did! I don’t know how long I’ll keep it up, but for now, I have so much fun on Thursday mornings while Warren is asleep and the toddlers are at school. It takes about an hour to make 4-5 Reels. Just 60 minutes and voila! I have a whole bunch of fun content for the week that was really entertaining to make. Might sound silly, but even the small amount of creativity that comes with forming an idea for a certain audio clip or editing transitions has been really fulfilling for me.

I’ve always been a creative in some form. Be it a professional vocalist, editing video and developing unscripted shows, or authoring a book. Not to mention keeping up with this decade-old blog! So it kind of makes sense that I’d enjoy making Reels as it combines editing and words—my two favorite things—in very short snippets that I can manage in the limited window of me-time I get each week as a mother of three.

I guess I’m writing this post not just to be like, “Hey look! I’m doing this!” and more because I’m still wrapping my head around the fact that I am. It feels SO embarrassing. But everything feels embarrassing to some extent for most creatives. I don’t care if you’re Picasso or James Patterson or Beyonce—putting yourself out there in any form of artistic creation feels super vulnerable. People will judge. I mean, they might judge me harder than they judge Beyonce because me lip-syncing on Reels is minorly less impressive than her 28 Grammys, but STILL. I’m impressed that my thin-skinned self is choosing fun and creative satisfaction over opinions. That’s no small feat for someone like me.

So I say go for it. If something is fun for you—do it. Maybe my blog will never get a million readers and maybe my book won’t make the New York Times Bestseller list and maybe my Reels will cap out at 11k views. But boyyyy do those ventures make me happy. They’ve been such fun ways to spend my time, made a few people laugh or think along the way, and give me a reason to not be bogged down with what’s for dinner or if we’re out of diapers or why UPS keeps delivering the wrong packages to our house.

And if you’re here, thanks for reading or watching or even judging—because even though I’d still be doing all of this for myself if you weren’t around, it’s definitely super encouraging to know you’re here for the ride! Xoxo!