The old saying, “Comparison is the thief of joy” rings true in so many ways. With social media being the main form of communication these days it is so easy to get caught up in what is seen, second hand. The images you are bombarded with on social media by those that you follow, are snapshots of their lives, and seconds of a day that has twenty-four hours in it.

Social media is all about putting your best foot forward and showing the parts of your life, only you want to be shared. Would you tell a stranger on the street about your awful day? Would you let a person you just met into your home when you are in your pajamas and not looking your best? No, that is why most people post selfies when they look their best and status updates when their life takes a positive turn.

The truth of it all is one thing. You are YOU. You are not the girl on your feed who gets triple digit likes, you are not your friend who just got the promotion, and the luxury vehicle. But that doesn’t correlate to your beauty, your job, or your possessions. One person’s pretty picture on the internet does not mean you aren’t stunning in your own way. One person’s promotion and riches doesn’t mean you aren’t rich in your life in your own ways. Someone furthering their career now doesn’t mean you won’t EVER get the promotion or the job you have prayed for.

I, like many others have found myself questioning my abilities, and my image of myself after seeing posts and images of others. It is easy to write about this situation with a clear head but I too have found myself in the midst of questioning my decisions and my reality, after seeing posts and pictures from others.

Stressing about others updates about their lives on social media won’t make your life better, it will only stress you out and it will make you unable to see just how blessed you are, and how much you currently have in your life right now that you should be thankful. If you aren’t thankful for what you currently have life won’t add things for you, it will only subtract. How can you be happy with more if you aren’t happy with what you currently have? Why would you receive more good into your life if you let the highlight reel on social media of the lives of others make you feel like you don’t have enough.

At the end of the day remember, there are things in your life that at one point in the past were only a prayer in the dark, and they became a reality. Was the reality of what you always wanted the fairytale job, friendship, relationship that you prayed it would be? Probably not. But you were given what you once thought might never happen, and you should be so grateful for all the things that it is and it isn’t. Don’t compare your reality with the filtered, edited, fluffed up version of the lives of others. You worked too hard to let your blessings feel insufficient because someone else’s looks “better.”