I remember a friend telling me once that she felt like she was living a lie on Instagram. She admitted that she wasn’t nearly as happy as she looked and that the people she posted pictures with all the time were more acquaintances than actual friends.
So then why, I wondered, did she care so much? Why was she trying so hard to maintain this persona online when she knew it wasn’t who she was? Why did she care so much about the amount of “likes” she was receiving on her pictures? Why did it matter in the first place?
I have been trying really hard to get away from social media for a number of reasons.
Firstly, I want to be present in my own life, but in doing so I feel like I’m also losing touch with a lot of people that I genuinely care about.
Social media is a really great way to stay connected but it also perpetuates some really unrealistic standards of living.
Most people only post the highlights of their lives, so all those perfect people you always see on your feed posting about their perfect little lives probably aren’t as perfect as they seem, but it’s easy to forget that.
Your happiness and self-worth should never derive from how you are being perceived by someone else. It’s unhealthy and it’s unproductive.
I owe it to myself to stop making comparisons and to start living my life for myself.
And so do you.