It seems like every time I pick up my phone, my first instinct is to click on Instagram and mindlessly scroll through my feed while liking a few pictures here and there, all while admiring these things from the comfort of my bed.
There have been a few times after my Instagram lurking where I find myself in a worse mood than I started in. My fun experience turned into FOMO and jealousy.
Look at all those vacations I cannot afford. Look at all those makeup skills I don’t have. Look at all those clothes that would never look right on me.
I wish I was there. I wish I could do that. I wish my body looked like that. I wish that was me.
This whole experience made me ask myself a question. Why does looking at beautiful people and beautiful places so often lead to putting myself and my life down?
I obviously know that people put their best self forward on social media and their life isn’t this perfect existence for me to obsess over, but sometimes I slip into that spiral.
That being said, I found an interesting quote on Pinterest the other day that I thought was worth sharing.
“Admire someone else's beauty without questioning your own.”
This is something that I really should print out and hang on my wall immediately, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.
It is like taking a nice little step back and accepting that you are amazing in your own ways separate from the rest of the world.
As someone who will sit in front of my mirror and take 100 selfies before deciding none of them are good enough to post, I know how much effort goes into finding an awesome photo. I also know how great it feels getting positive reactions to a photo.
But I do not specifically post my photos to make other people jealous. This is the kind of mindset I wish we could avoid all together.
People put work into looking amazing, and it is great that there is such a great platform for sharing beautiful things with the world. These photos are things I should admire, not criticize myself for.
I am done wishing to be more like someone else. I don’t want to wish; I want to be. Be me -- unapologetically me -- every day.
