Feeling Invisible on Social Media
— A Workshop —

A mindful guide to claiming your power back.

A roadmap to heal the emotional triggers of not feeling seen, or feeling small, on social media.

The breakdown on why we feel this way.

  • Recently, I have heard from countless illustrators, artists, independent makers and entrepreneurs about the dissatisfaction with Instagram’s algorithm. It can feel very frustrating to not be able to connect with an audience we have built over the years, and to feel forced to produce content we don’t feel aligned with. Aside from impacting metrics, the amount of work opportunities we receive and the performance of our businesses, there is one very real, but perhaps less thought of, consequence to this phenomenon: we feel invisible.

  • We are feeling triggered, because we feel invisible. This can be directly linked to inner child wounds, or in other words, imprinting that happened during our childhood or adolescence through painful exchanges (or witnessing painful exchanges) with family, peers, and/or society.

  • Having the attention of our audience — feeling seen — is also synonymous with feeling safe. If the impact on our social media visibility also affects our finances and resources, our safety will feel even more triggered. We may feel stuck, and without options. Social media algorithms are at the whim of the big businesses that run them. What we create on their platforms is never truly ours.

  • It’s important to find the root of these triggers, reprogram them, and take action steps to seek our validation and opportunities elsewhere, namely, within ourselves.

The process: how to mindfully claim your power back.

  • ✧ What is making you feel invisible in this situation or dynamic? For example, the number of views or likes, the loss of a sense of connection and belonging with your audience, etc.

    ✧ How does this make you feel? Trust the raw, childish feelings coming up. For example, for me it was ‘I’m not good enough’, ‘No one cares about my work’, ‘No one ever picks me’, ‘I am stuck’, ‘I have no other options’, etc.

    ✧ What do you feel is lacking within you through this dynamic? What does this interaction tell you that you need? (Eg. acceptance, appreciation, love, security, safety, being seen, being heard, etc.)

    ✧ When did you most need this, and from whom? (Eg. childhood, teens, early twenties)

    ✧ Is there a specific memory where this was very painful and apparent? For example, I felt very invisible and emotionally neglected during my parents’ separation when I was 12.

    ✧ What does validation (press, social media popularity, representation, opportunities, etc.) mean to you? What will it give you that you don’t already have? Why do you want it?

    ✧ Are you waiting for a big following or more engagement so you can have permission to do what you want or be who you want to be? Are you giving your power away? Why?

    ✧ What would life look like if there wasn’t the same pressure to perform on social media?

    Exercise adapted from ToBeMagnetic’s Reprogramming Prompts.

  • The most important step is to reprogram the limiting beliefs (Eg. ’Not good enough’, ‘No one ever chooses me’, ‘I have no options’) that you absorbed when you were young for the opposite, positive beliefs (Eg. ‘I am good enough’, ‘I choose myself now’, ‘I have options’). There are a few different ways to do this:

    ✧ Subconscious reprogramming with the meditation below. Find a quiet, comfortable place to listen with your headphones, and trust whatever thoughts come up. I like covering my eyes when I do this. This meditation will help reprogram limiting beliefs straight through your subconscious, building new neural pathways to help you realign with a state of peace and fulfilment. It’s important to do it after journalling, so your subsconscious is primed.

    ✧ Journal and/or record yourself daily for 30 days about how you are feeling, assessing your fears and goals, and what external validation means to you. Practice owning your goals and desires, looking for ways to give those things to yourself, and not continuously thinking of what you need from other people. Notice what clarity comes up for you and end the entry or voice note with a high self-worth belief about yourself. Example: I am ready to be seen.

    ✧ You can also talk to a therapist or coach to process deeper issues.

  • ✧ Did you identify ways in which you are waiting to have permission to do what you want or be who you are? If so, what are the ways in which you can show up for yourself, regardless of social media?

    ✧ Seek self-fulfilment and validation through other forms of interactions or creative work that bring you joy and that are truly authentic to you. For example, working with your hands, going on a hike or walk or trip, trying something new, taking a class, spending time with people that align with your purpose and energy, etc.

    ✧ Cultivate a daily meditation/mindfulness practice. This helps us detach from the stories in our mind, and with time, begin to see ourselves with clarity. It is also the single most powerful thing we can do to develop resilience.

    These tools will aid in reframing and detaching from getting our validation from metrics (likes, views, etc). We can then view social media simply as a tool and platform to showcase work and content that is authentic to us, no matter the response.

  • ✧ Understand the game: Instagram, Twitter and TikTok are forms of ‘micro content’, with a very brief longevity span (21h-48h for Instagram, 20 mins for Twitter. TikTok is still a mystery). So we can focus our attention on publishing our work on other platforms that are considered ‘macro content’, like portfolio websites, Behance, blog posts, newsletters, Substack, even Pinterest and YouTube have more longevity. [Source]

    ✧ Get in touch with your contacts list (previous clients and commissioners, leads, people you want to work with). Send them a work update or simply let them know you have availability and would love to help out with any projects. Even with representation, it’s best not to rely solely on them for opportunities.

    ✧ Update your portfolio. Create one outside of social media platforms, if you don’t have one yet. Best not to rely solely on social media to display your work.

    ✧ It can also be helpful to hide the number of likes on your posts, as it instantly takes away the very human instinct of comparison. You can still check the metrics in your account insights. However, ‘out of sight, out of mind’ is mostly true in this scenario.

Subconscious work:
Reprogramming Limiting Beliefs

Find a quiet, comfortable place to listen with your headphones, and trust whatever thoughts come up. I like covering my eyes when I do this. This meditation will help reprogram limiting beliefs straight through your subconscious, which is much quicker than daily conscious affirmations, and builds new neural pathways to help you realign with a state of peace and fulfilment. Note: It’s important to do the meditation after journalling, so your subsconscious is primed.

It’s crucial for us to assess how much of our validation comes from external sources. True fulfilment comes when we learn to find that validation within ourselves, and understand that it has been there all along. We don’t need to wait for permission from that validation to show up as who we are, and we don’t need to ‘fix’ ourselves in order to be validated or loved; rather, we are already worthy and loveable for being ourselves, just as we are.

Take this workshop as many times as you need to clear old limiting beliefs and install new high self-worth ones.

Other Resources

The Creative Map course

Designed to help find your path to a powerful creative career and make a living from your art. A self-paced, four-week virtual course full of practical resources to help you:

  • Become a thriving self–employed professional;

  • Find clients, create passive income, network and be seen;

  • Learn the art of negotiation and deal confidently with clients;

  • Attract agent & gallery representation;

  • Discover mindful practices rooted on self–confidence and self–worth;

  • Drive your creative career and yourself to new and exciting heights.

Human Design

I’ve only truly started understanding my unique creative gifts, intuitive guidance and energy when I discovered my Human Design energy type and profile (I’m a 1/3 Emotional Generator). It has completely transformed the way I operate within my own practice and in the world with others, and continually aids in my journey of self-discovery. You can find out your info, and what it means, with Jenna Zoe’s MyHumanDesign mobile app.