We live in a world saturated with filtered selfies, social media, and reality TV. We see everyone’s edited reel of their life. We see the highlights of their so-called “picture-perfect life”. From filters to staged TikTok videos, we are often left feeling like something in our life is missing, comparing our own reality with what we see. We often think to ourselves, “I wish my life was more exciting” or “I wish I looked like that” and the thoughts continue. Doesn’t sound all that positive, does it?
I always like to get personal with you guys for transparency. This past year has been of the hardest times in my life. My world basically fell apart last year. I went through a bad divorce with a child involved and it left me feeling so empty. As a woman, I constantly questioned myself. I felt so bad about myself. All of my failures were suddenly coming back to haunt me. If any of you have ever been through the family court system, you know the impact it can have on your mental health.
Back to social media. Every time I scrolled through Instagram or Facebook, it made me feel even more like a failure. I would scroll through countless reels that portrayed perfect moms or the perfect family and it left me feeling so bad about myself, not only as a person but definitely as a woman. I found myself having to take breaks from social media because it made me feel so bad. I know that I couldn’t be the only one who felt this way.
It was only when I began to change my way of thinking that I started to feel better. First of all, comparison is the thief of joy. We all do it at some point. I also realized that I was being a little envious of other people’s lives. Wishing my life was picture perfect like that when in reality that doesn’t even exist.
Don’t get caught up in the illusion of being perfect. We are all perfect in our own way. Don’t get caught up in the edited reel of people’s lives. There are always things that go on behind the scenes that we don’t see. Things that aren’t so perfect. And just a bit of advice, cut down on social media. Be present in your life. That’s what matters.
