How do I say this other than to just say it? We live in a society where the perception of who we are is more important than the reality of what really lies behind that picture we post or the status we conjoin with it. Spending more time posting the perfect picture, because it took 64 tries to get the one you were happy with. Posting the indescribable joy that you experienced on your latest adventure with your friends, family and loved ones. It has become a competition of who can outdo the other in their lives; We compare our lives with their "highlight reels". Why? Like someone is actually going to stop in the middle of an argument with their friends, family or significant other and say, "hold up, I need to snap a selfie of this so I can let the entire social media world know how crappy my life is going right now!" Of course we don't! That would mean we are actually human and that's not the face we want everyone to see.

Then, we swing our pendulum in the other direction and there are those that hold NOTHING back. You are literally experiencing everything in their lives whether you want to or not. You know about their horrible relationships, friendships, thoughts on politics and their "shout outs" to the people they hate. Their dirty laundry is exposed for the world to see, and let's face it, we don't really want to read it but were sucked in like a tidal wave. We find ourselves calling other people asking if they read what this "girl/guy" wrote. Getting their "opinion" on the matter, coming up with our own scenarios of the situation and before you know it, we've become part of the problem. That problem is minding our own business and it's something that we all struggle with.

Offense is the best defense. I have never in my life seen so many people offended by others post, opinions, and life in general. Everyone has an opinion, comment, and response to something. There is such a thing as scrolling past a post. Nowhere is there a "social media handbook" that dictates that you are under some obligation to add your opinion. I'm not saying, you don't have the "right", I'm saying that it's not a rule. What happened to "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all"? Apparently, that went out of style the minute social media became a live diary. Somehow, sitting behind your phone and keyboard gives you super human powers to trash, criticize, belittle and dehumanize someone without having to suffer any consequences. But it's perfectly okay, especially if you're verbal reprimand has gotten you a few likes or comments.

We don't take into consideration other people's feelings, we post our entire life - good, bad and indifferent. We open ourselves up to people that wouldn't squirt water on us if we were on fire, and our "popularity" is based on a fricken "thumbs up," or a little heart on Facebook. We literally toss up the most intimate details of our lives, for what? We post the happiest moments of our "true loves" while people hashtag "relationship goals", "fav couple", "y'all are so perfect together". What they don't realize is your life is far from perfect. Why is this so important? Is it to make sure that people feel inadequate compared to the perfection that we've allowed them to see? It's time to take the masks off. You should be transparent to everyone but translucent to very few. Meaning show your true self, but for the love of all that's good, there is no sense in sharing everything with everyone.

There is nothing wrong with posting your opinions, favorite pictures, and happy moments, that's NOT what I'm saying. Yes, there is "free speech" and social media is a platform to post your opinions, thoughts, life, etc... I get it. But remember, no one's life is perfect. No one has it all together and we need to stop comparing ourselves and getting our self-worth from a number of people that acknowledge us. We need to stop attacking people because their opinions are different than ours, we need to quit posting a million filtered selfies that look nothing like us in person. There is nothing wrong with the person YOU ARE, and if other people don't like it or accept you, guess what? It is okay. Be different, be spectacular in everything you do, but most importantly - be YOU!