Life Lessons: Changing My Mind Pt. 1

That time I Quit Instagram (Then Came Back Anyway)

Jun 23, 2025

Welcome to the first Life Lessons post. These are a little more personal, a peek into the inner workings of my brain. They’ll be a bit reflective and possibly a little all-over-the-place. I hope you learn something — or at the very least feel entertained as you silently judge me for putting all these half-thoughts out into the internet.

P.S. If you’d like to be a paid subscriber, ummm THANK YOU. Right now, paid subscriptions are 50% off forever — meaning you can get access to Taking Notes for $2.50/month or $25/year. Truly, thank you if you support me.

Okay, let’s chat, reflect, and reevaluate — shall we?

The Mid-Year Reset Spiral

The rebrand. The glow-up. The dopamine diet. The digital detox. Call it what you want…I’ve done this over and over and over and over again. Honestly, I’m getting annoyed at myself.

I’ve been trying to understand what causes me to always reinvent myself, and yet at the same time, I’m not sure I care that much? It’s not that serious. It’s fun to create a personal brand online, I love a good rebrand.

I’m a Libra, so maybe this internal back-and-forth is just me striving for balance. Or maybe I’m just a little chaotic. Either way, here are the things I’ve changed my mind on this year so far...

The Digital Detox (Instagram edition)

Not long ago, I wrote a whole post about containing all my digital activity to the “computer room.” (90s style, baby.) I even considered ditching my iPhone completely. Spoiler it’s really really hard to go back to the 90s. While I really gave it a try (ditching instagram for a solid 8 months) I found myself getting a bit of FOMO.

So how did I get to the point of wanting to walk away from the grid completely anyway? If I’m being honest, insecurity, comparison and wasting too much time scrolling. I’d been spiraling over things that truly don’t matter that much. How to show up online. How I’ll be perceived. I sort of lost the plot of having fun and was trying to show up online as someone who has everything figured out. I wanted every post to be perfect. I’d overthink every detail until I get confused, exhausted, and end up giving up completely.

Okay okay, rant over. Let’s talk about changing my mind. Again. And hopping back on the social media bandwagon.

Turns out I miss Instagram.

I miss Instagram. For a few reasons.

It’s a communication tool, for friends, family and work
I could be missing out on potential clients for my photography business by not posting there
I use it for my job to search for talent to work with on projects
It’s not bad to be up to date on current social trends (especially working in a creative industry)
I miss sharing my wins, taking photos of the mundane and romanticizing the little things

As for my business, I’d really like to get some eyes on my product photography and (hopefully soon) book my first client. (No, I still haven’t booked any work, but we’ll talk about that in another Life Lessons post.)

So yeah...for now I’m back on the grid. And I know that makes me a complete hypocrite by going back on my computer room rules. I would still like to have some boundaries around screen time but maybe it doesn’t make sense to contain it all to one room.

So where am I at now…

In April, around the same time I launched Taking Notes — I quietly reactivated an old Instagram account where I didn’t really have any followers. I started posting a few photos, casually re-following some favorite creators and brands, and linking back to my Substack. I loved the idea of living algorithm-free, but it also makes sense to be sharing work where people can find it. As long as I don’t fall back into endless scrolling, I’m okay with that tradeoff.

Here’s how I’m handling it:

My old account is staying private — more of a “friends and fam” space.
This new/old account (@caytlyncoletolliver) is mostly for Substack related stuff and creative work I want to share publicly.
And I’ve started sharing my photography projects on this account, which we’re going to chat about in the next life lessons post.

If you want to follow along, I’d love to see you there. But if you're staying off social for your own mental peace, I get it — no peer pressure from me.

The Substack Restructure

Okay. Time to talk about this space.

I’m known to hyper-fixate on new ideas, get super excited, plan everything out, and then...move on to the next shiny thought. I could feel that starting to happen here with Substack.

I was so pumped about my original theme and weekly schedule — but then I hit a wall.

Do I like writing that much? Actually yes, but that leads me to…
Do I really have enough to say to justify a paywall?
The answer was maybe. And I’m still not totally sure.

I started comparing my posts to other creators who seem to have full-on editorial calendars with interviews, essays, and constant value. And that left me wondering: Do I provide enough value?

Side note, I’m a bit insecure about my writing actually I’m not much of a writer at all and in fact I asked chatgpt to grade one of my newsletters and it said I write at at the level of high school senior/college freshman which really had me thinking, should I even be writing here at all?

I don’t want to overpromise and underdeliver. This is a side project for me, a space to get my creative thoughts flowing, and hopefully evolve into a better writer, at the same time, it’s not that serious. It’s meant to be fun.

So I started to think about what I can do here with this newsletter and here’s where I landed:

Class Is Now in Session (Quarterly)

I’ll still be sharing a weekly newsletter so nothing changing there, it’s more about the cadence and structure. Starting in September, I’m shifting Taking Notes to a quarterly structure. Think of it like a creative syllabus. Each quarter will start with a moodboard post that sets the tone, and the following three months will be guided by that theme.

This gives me space to:

Explore ideas more deeply over the course of a quarter
Avoid burnout of rushing through a mood/theme within 4 weeks
Stay excited about sharing all the things

Previously, I had four posts per month: a moodboard, two themed (short) essays, and a report card (monthly favorites). But I realized...two essays isn’t enough time to fully explore a theme. And a monthly favorites is way too quick because honestly my tried and true faves don’t really change that much. Like I said, I’ll still be sharing a newsletter every single week (maybe sometimes more) but by stretching the overall theme from the mood board over a quarter, I can really dig in and not feel rushed. Allowing time to explore the field trip posts, explore the theme as it could apply to a photoshoot or self portrait (for photo club) or art project, and more. Two newsletters following a monthly theme just felt like I didn’t have time fully immerse myself in that world. So what’s coming up after June?

We're treating this like a creative school year and after June’s R.E.P.O.R.T. Card goes out that can only mean one thing…School's out for summer. So I’m giving myself a break from the normal schedule, and testing this new rhythm in the fall. This summer I’ll still be sharing on a weekly schedule but you can expect more of a summer camp vibe, think art projects, extra curricular activities, such as joining my local parks and rec tennis group, and more.

If you want more details, I’ve updated my About page and outlined the post types I’ll be sharing here.

To end off the lesson:

So that’s where I’m at — rejoining Instagram, rethinking how I show up online, and restructuring Taking Notes to feel more sustainable and creatively fun. I’m giving myself a permission slip to change my mind, experiment, and let this space evolve with me.

Thanks for reading this first Life Lessons post. I’ll be back soon with part two, where I’ll share more about the journey of rebranding my photography studio and reflecting on accepting a new 9–5 job after swearing off office life for good, talk about a major mindset shift!

Until then, enjoy your summer break. School’s out, but summer camp is just getting started.

xo,
Caytlyn