Hey all, I've never really spoken about this to anyone but in December 2025, I decided to try my hand at Instagram again. 

I created a completely new page, separate from the handles I usually use, didn't have any friends to hype me up, but went all in. Commented on artist support threads, found a ton of mutuals to support, but the bulk of work came from spending hours every day scrolling through Instagram, editing videos and seeing what type of content would get the most engagement.

Fast forward to June, was at 26k, 2 of my Reels at 5M+, several at 100K+, but I was honestly burning out, and I didn't even know what my end goal was. I mean it would be great if I could eventually earn from my art but it honestly feels like more work than it's worth. I see the amount of work others put in and idk how you all do it 😭

I tried to keep going but at a more manageable rate, but my posts were doing worst and worst, I am not sure if this is because of the quality of my art, or because I was outputting less content, but it wasn't a good feeling. I know Instagram is just that, but it did impact my mental health a bit, I was stressing when I posted and would delete the posts that didn't get much engagement. I'm trying to approach it now with the attitude of not caring at all about likes or views but it's so hard, and everytime I post I lose a bunch of followers :/ 

Spending time on Instagram I know how the algorithm work and low engagement can 100% snowball into content not being pushed out at all. Ironically, I had a call with a Meta expert yesterday who said these things don't matter, but I also think he just wanted to sell me on using Edits (which I already do 😂).

Anyway just wanted to rant about this, I'm sure you all have similar experiences, and burnout is completely real, but feeling sad that my account was doing so well, then you step back for a bit and everything about the platform has changed, the algorithm changed, and always feeling the need to adapt to what Instagram wants 😭 I'd love to discuss anything about what you found worked in terms of managing expectations and if you do focus on growth, how you approach low points in your content.

Burning out from Instagram, 0 to 25k in 6 months and now engagement is at an all time low