We’re all guilty of it, myself included. Nearly every millennial girl, seems to have that one Instagram model that they constantly creep on, admiring her life from a distance. For me, it’s always been Alexis Ren. Not only is she disgustingly beautiful, she also has a life that we all can only dream of living. The girl practically lives in a world of paradise, bikinis and exotic foods, what’s not to envy?!

I can’t lie, I beat myself up ALOT about not being “as perfect and flawless as her” and I did this, regularly. Scary right? I mean, where on earth is there justification in obsessively stalking a famous girl’s Instagram? I’m embarrassed to even admit that I would actually look at her pictures and become overwhelmed with insecurities. I wanted her figure, her face, her hair, her height; everything about her made me question if I was the least bit pretty at all…It’s pathetic, I know, but there is a reason why this conversation is so important.

We talk about how perfect (insert model’s name here) is and how we wish so badly we could be them, so why can’t we talk about how this is actually the most unhealthy habit to be guilty of? I’m preaching to myself when I say this too, don’t worry. Well for one, society, accompanied by the beauty industry makes it awfully hard for us not to be insecure. We’ve been fooled into believing that anything above a size 6 is “unattractive” and that all imperfections, even the most minor should be hidden. Naturally, us girls, desperate for society’s approval, turn to things like editing apps (which I too, am guilty of) in order to distort our social media presence, and convince our audiences that we are just as perfect as those Instagram models we’re dying to be.

The reality is, these “perfect models” and their “perfect lives” aren’t what they seem, in fact, I’ll go as far as saying, they are FAR from what they seem. I realized this when I came across a shocking headline this past year: “Alexis Ren Opens Up About The Eating Disorder She Has Hidden For Years” a heavy, but sobering article title, that opened me up to a brand new perspective. In reality, your favorite Instagram model has someone she’s cyber stalking too, trying to be. Somewhere behind closed doors, she too is standing in front of her mirror finding every little thing that wishes she could change. She’s beating herself up about not being perfect, and in reality she’s probably tired of trying to appear to live a life that others envy. You have a lot more in common with an Instagram model than you thought, don’t you? Let’s face it, these girls are getting paid to make it look like they are perfect in every way. I mean, if you were getting money every time you posted a super perfect pic, in a super perfect place with a super perfect outfit, wouldn’t you be editing your photos for hours and making sure every detail was flawless too? Do yourself a favor and put your phone down. You’re not perfect and neither is she. Let’s spend less time comparing ourselves and more time loving who we were made to be.