Envisioning Digital Platforms & the Internet as Portals and Energetic Worlds

Diving into the concept of world-building has been, without a doubt, the most powerful, magical and fulfilling thing I have ever done.

As a child I loved all things creative and whimsical. I loved emerging myself in different worlds in storybooks and loved to apply those lenses of viewing things to the real world.

So it was only unavoidable, that I started making sense of the digital world in whimsical ways too. Especially as I found myself struggling to find balance in the internet-world and wondering why specific platforms made my nervous system scream ‘‘RUN, HIDE OR HUSTLE’’ and others made my brain, body and soul feel quiet and at peace.

Worldbuilding started for me when I first put my energy into creating my website. I felt such immense joy being creative, creating different sites, adding visuals and making it all pretty. It felt like decorating. It felt like I was building a world. A world that was entirely mine with very few restrictions. The energy felt calming and peaceful, unlike the energy I had always felt when I entered apps such as Instagram and TikTok. It was then, that I first truly became conscious of the difference. But like many other people, I dismissed my intuitive antenna for misaligned energy and tried to push through. I kept posting on Instagram and ignored the immense rush of urgency I felt whenever I was on it. I left feeling overly-inspired (to the point of doing nothing and burning out), constantly comparing myself and feeling anxious after knowing what every one of my followers did on their day through stories. The energy felt off to me every time I was on it, yet it took me years and a slow and intentional return to slower media to truly see this clearly.

After creating my own website and seeing it as the peaceful and calming representation of my soul that it was, I noticed more and more how opening my website each time, felt like entering a portal. My entire energy changed, my mind became quieter and I felt no sense of urgency. My overwhelm? Poof. My inspiration and actual capacity to create? Skyrocketed.

It was one random morning that I started asking myself: ‘‘How do different platforms that I use on the daily, actually make me feel?’’.

So I went through the list and thought about it. If you create a list like this for yourself (which I highly recommend), this will be entirely unique to you, tune within, there’s no one you can trust as much as your own energy, intuition and bodies sensations. Your body is very likely already communicating to you how it feels about specific things, we have just been taught to ignore and dismiss, because it makes no logical sense.

Instagram made me feel overwhelmed and genuinely made me believe I was constantly being chased by a tiger. And that comes from someone who used Instagram as a main platform for 7+ years. My shoulders tightened and my breath became shallow, which I only became conscious of later on. So this bodily reaction went on for years, without me even noticing. TikTok gave me similar reactions, although less severe ones than the ones I got on Instagram. The energy simply wasn’t aligned and it felt like my creative work was dismissed there. Fast paced platforms resemble fast-food places in my opinion (coincidence that it’s almost the same word?).

I wanted to create work that felt like it could potentially be a part of my legacy and would be truly honored if people found it one day. TikTok and Reels often made me feel like I was there to push out content for short-term gratification and entertainment that would be forgotten in 2 minutes.

I believe we find ourselves in an energetic time right now (2020-2025 and ongoing), and it’s only going to get stronger, where all that’s unaligned must go. Light is being shone onto this planet like never before, so therefor shadows are revealed as well. If you notice yourself feeling more burnt-out, drained, overwhelmed, overstimulated and anxious because of social media apps or other things at the moment, the feeling was probably there before, it’s now just being heightened so you finally hear your intuition clearly and make a change.

This happened for me. At a specific point it became impossible for me to ignore how terrible I felt when I entered the portals of Instagram and Tiktok. Once brought into consciousness, I was unable to ignore it. But at the same time, I became more aware of other portals as well.

When I analyzed my list of platforms and how they made my body feel (and again, this is different for every person), Pinterest was right there on top of my favorite platforms of all time. Pinterest, although it not being perfect and still harboring a lot of content, always left me feeling peacefully inspired and calm. It didn’t imbalance my entire energy like the other apps did and it always felt like my cup was a little bit fuller after I was on it. I noticed the same reactions with other platforms and tools such as Newsletters, Podcasts and partially also Substack and YouTube. The latter two received mixed reactions from me, because some aspects feel nourishing and slow and some of them feel exhausting and overstimulating, so I just know that keeping a balance there is important for me.

So now I wonder, what is your list?

If you imagine yourself stepping into websites, accounts, platforms or even your entire business/brand/career like a portal and into their world, how do you feel once you’re in? It’s usually a full physical + spiritual experience, even if we think it’s not that deep. Even if we sit in front of a computer, our mind body and emotions are very much present in that world and experience it as true.

I know some people that feel intuitive alignment when being on Instagram and feel off on other platforms that I might classify as peaceful. That’s why it’s always so important to connect to your own intuition compass that you always carry within. If we didn’t get disconnected from our intuition power so early on, we would all struggle less in this world full of information.

Of course, writing a list like this is great and important, but what makes the knowledge so powerful is actually applying it to your life. As soon as you know which platforms feel good to you and your intuition, steer more towards them and steer away from the ones that don’t serve you. This is especially important for people that use social media platforms to grow their business. You might have similar feelings like I do towards Instagram, yet still dismiss your intuition by posting daily. There might be a tiny whisper to turn towards slower media or to post on Substack, YouTube, Podcast or to create your own website, but this is often swiftly ignored due to everyone nowadays saying that Instagram is in it’s ‘‘golden age’’ and promises lots of sales, clients and fame (I personally actually disagree, the golden age of Instagram is long gone in my opinion).

Returning to the analogy of worlds and portals, I love to use this lens not just for digital platforms, but also for anything else I might come across. Apartments, friendships, restaurants, communities, jobs, hobbies….the list goes on…and on…and on. When you experience something, direct your focus on it or are present, you step into an energetic world. How do things make you feel? Do you leave feeling calm, inspired and like your cup is more filled? Or do you find yourself leaving exhausted and drained most of the time? How does your body react one you’re immersed in the energy of that world? Truly observe it. Do you unknowingly tense up your shoulders? Does your stomach feel tight and has your breath become shallow? These are all physical expressions of the inner intuitive compass that is your soul.

And ultimately, this way of seeing the world will not only help you strengthen your intuition, make your digital usage hopefully a bit more aligned and your life more whimsical, but will also lead you to ask yourself:

What kind of world do I want to create?

(more about that in other posts) ☽✧

Sending you love, Amelie ♡