As the outside world this year becomes a place of fear, Covid, and death, I found a lot of comfort on the internet. The biggest outcome: my love of cottagecore.

Wikipedia defines cottagecore as “an Internet aesthetic that celebrates a return to traditional skills and crafts such as foraging, baking, and pottery, and is related to similar nostalgic aesthetic movements such as grandmacore, farmcore, goblincore, and faeriecore.” Those who know me weren’t surprised when I began to talk about baking bread and wanting to live in the woods. While my life hasn’t actually changed that much, I’ve found new interests and style inspiration. I’ve passed the time with a weird niche topic that brings me a lot of joy.

So why should you jump on an internet aesthetic? Why should you shape your appearance and interests around a weird niche community on social media?

A) Community
Internet aesthetics have hours and hours of content. Whether it’s Youtube videos about your interests, Tiktoks of people living their lives full time with that label, or just random posts on Instagram, there is a community for everything. Whatever hobby you pick up, chances are that there is someone else out there doing the same thing. When I get bored or sad, I can watch women bake bread and go on picnics in a sixty-second format for literally hours.

B) Identity
As teenagers, most of us don’t have labels or identities. We’re kids who are just figuring it out. And while it might just be a phase, I’ve rarely had one word sum up anything. You’re not some combination of words that make up a description, but instead a label that makes sense.

C) Change
I find that the easiest way to deal with 2020 is change. Introducing new things to my life and not putting pressure on myself to make them perfect has truly made my year so much better. I think if you’re struggling with school or the monotony of pandemic life, change is what you need. I literally painted my room from top to bottom, went through family heirlooms, and baked more desserts than ever before in just a few months. Not only do I see that small changes are possible, but they’re much easier than I thought.

D) No One Ever Sees You
Literally, you could be wearing a freaking cape and no one on those zoom classes would know a thing. If you’re anything like me, you don’t leave your house most of the time. Online school isn’t going anywhere, so why not end out the semester in style?

From E-girls to Alternative kids to Goths to Gamers, there’s a new aesthetic somewhere out there for you. I hope you take the last few months of this crazy year, and just go find it.