“I will not lose my car in lot 100,” “I will kiss a yell leader” and “I will not Q-drop a class this semester,” are just a few of the amusing and relatable posts from “Texas A&M Affirmations” on Instagram that have helped students start the semester on a positive note and create a community based on common happenings around campus.
Started on Aug. 18 by an anonymous freshman, @tamu_affirmations has attracted over 3,800 followers. Almost daily, the account posts encouraging affirmations pertaining to Aggie culture, allowing only the “howdiest and swaggiest,” motivating students to do their best this upcoming semester. The Texas A&M Affirmations account owner said they created the account after seeing other colleges’ affirmation accounts and realizing A&M didn’t have a popular one.
“Originally, I had seen other colleges having their own affirmations pages, like Yale, U.T. and Baylor,” the owner said. “I would scroll through them because my other friends go to those colleges, and I was like, ‘Wow, these are hilarious.’ They’re so relatable, and it’s just a great way to make friends just by the relatability aspect of it.”
Since there was already a lesser-known preexisting Aggie affirmations Instagram page, the owner said they didn’t expect their account to get so popular.
“I just didn’t think it was going to blow up the way it did. I thought only a couple people would follow me, maybe just my friends,” the owner said. “But I think by the first two days or three days I had 1,000 followers, and then it just kept going from there. This is week three and now we’re at [over] 3,000.”
Seeing the requests and affirmations that their followers send in is their favorite part of running the account, the owner said. Followers can send in post ideas to the account by direct messaging @tamu_affirmations their requests, and the owner edits the request onto a related photo.
“It’s funny because some people will also send a little story about [their affirmation],” the owner said. “I love reading about people’s days, and it really does make my day whenever people will send me direct messages that are like, ‘I don’t have an affirmation, but I just wanted to say I really love your page, and it’s the thing that makes me smile each day.’ That’s so crazy.”
The owner said they learned to edit the photos on their page from a friend. The posts are often humorously edited with exaggerated filters and bling effects.
“If we had a funny picture, she would edit it and it would be hilarious and so dramatic,” the owner said. “I learned from her, and now I know it’s pretty easy to make anything look funny.”
Public health freshman Anushka Kesavalu said her favorite thing about Texas A&M Affirmations is how all Aggies can relate to their posts.
“Their posts are all universal experiences that people here [in] Aggieland have been through to some extent,” Kesavalu said. “I found the account through an Instagram search. I was aware of other college affirmation pages and wanted to see if there was an A&M one, and I did a quick search and immediately gave them a follow.”
The affirmation, “I will look hot and mysterious in the Flag Room” is her favorite post, Kesavalu said.
“I definitely think the account [creates a community] because so many Aggies can relate to these posts and it creates social connections among everybody’s peers,” Kesavalu said. “The page creates so many stories to be shared, which leads to creating friendships that you’d never think of having in the first place.”
Allied health freshman Briana Macias said they love seeing a Texas A&M Affirmation’s post for a good laugh when studying.
“No matter how funny or serious, they post [affirmations] with no judgment,” Macias said. “[My favorite] post is probably the one about the yell leaders, because it’s something people say all the time. Their page pertains to just Aggies and the Aggie culture itself.”
