So let’s think back to the last time you were on Instagram. For most of you, I’m assuming it was probably just a few minutes ago. I want you to take a second and really remember what posts you saw, liked and maybe even commented on. Was it a shot of a blogger wearing a totally chic outfit that you wish you were wearing or could even afford? What about a picture of a girl in a bikini posed on a beach in Positano? Or maybe it was your typical “I’m at the airport with my luggage” photo before going on some fabulous trip? Do any of these ring a bell? I bet each and every one of you reading this can relate. I must see posts like this at least twenty times a day, every day. Sometimes you may even click over to that person’s profile page and look at their perfectly color-coordinated feed where every photo makes sense to be there. You may start to think, “Wow. She must have it all. I wish I was her. I wish I was doing that. Why can’t I be doing these things too?” After seeing this redundancy of “perfect-life”, you may actually start to look at your own as not good enough. I’ll admit, I’ve felt this way before too and it’s not a great feeling to have. You begin to compare your life to someone’s that you don’t even know. You may think you know their story and how amazing life must be, but in reality what you see is just a “Highlight Reel” of their lives, representing only the good stuff. Most of us won’t post something if we feel it isn’t Insta-worthy, and that’s just how it is in today’s society. As I sit here, I’m having a flashback to old Facebook days where you would take your digital camera on a family trip, and then upload all the photos to an album named something like “Florida 2008” for all of your friends to see. These days are pretty much over.
It’s important to understand what you may see on someone’s feed is not a representation of their actual life or what is truly going on behind the scenes. So many women (myself included) are using the social media space to try and earn a living and if they are lucky, make it a full-time career. Their Instagram feed acts as a portfolio of their best work, so they can succeed and grow their business as an entrepreneur.
Let’s think about this in a different perspective. Rewind back to that girl in the photo about to go on that fabulous trip. How do you know she isn’t going on a vacation to get over her ex, or distract herself from something she is dealing with deep down inside? You don’t. What we only see from the phone screen is the perfect life and awesome outfits every day. Each and every one of us is a human being that makes mistakes, suffers heartbreaks, takes unflattering photos, and wakes up with some random zit every now and then that came out of absolutely nowhere. We all experience these things in life, because it’s just what life is all about.
Do you know that phrase, “A picture is worth a thousand words…?” I don’t think a picture is worth anything anymore when it comes to social media. NEWSFLASH: Probably 95% of the photos we see on social media (can’t speak for all) have been edited, color-corrected, photoshopped, filtered or changed in some way from the original. Before you go pointing fingers, I 100% admit to editing each and every photo that is posted on my Instagram feed. We all do. Do I color-correct so everything is cohesive….yes. Remove blemishes…yes. Remove people from the background…most of the time. Am I always in a perfect setting where nobody is in the background?…never.
Just know that what you see isn’t what you really get when it comes to social media. Everyone has their story and you truly don’t know what that “perfect, happy girl” in the photo is feeling inside or going through. So next time when you start to feel jealous or maybe even turned off, just think that maybe she has a reason for posting that photo or going on that trip. As friends, family members and even followers, we need to be supportive and learn to lift each other up, rather than trying to break each other (or ourselves) down.
Do yourself the favor of reaching out to a friend or even someone you don’t know personally but follow, and show them some love + support. You never know when someone may be needing the extra boost of positivity and you might just make their day!
I really hope you guys enjoyed this post! It was really hard for me to open up and talk about something that has been bothering me and on my mind lately. I’d be happy knowing I changed one person’s perspective.
Thanks again for following my journey!
/ / As always, this is my personal blog. This blog post is not sponsored. Any views or opinions represented in this blog are my own and do not represent the views of any company or individual I may mention. This post may contain affiliate links where I make a small commission if you click and shop using my links. It won’t cost you a penny, but helps keep this blog running!
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