I've felt the effects of social media on my brain a lot more lately. The fantasy that everyone is happy all the time just doesn't add up. Where are the heartbreaks, the disappointments, and the just plain bad outcomes that we know happen in everyday life?
It's easy to have this illusion that other people are happier than you and enjoying life more than you. But that's just because you can't see whats in their mind like you can your own. You don't see the lack of self-confidence or the tears from their fear of judgment. Everyone feels these emotions, but on social media, it's easy to pretend that you don't.
Everyday people are not always happy.
Pretending that you need to be happy all the time makes it harder for you to deal with your emotions in a healthy way. By pretending that things don't bother you or trying to stuff things back inside to deal with later, you're hurting yourself.
Your emotions are real and they deserve your attention. Being happy all the time is not a realistic expectation to hold yourself to. You should instead focus on being intuned with your emotions and figuring out healthy ways to address them.
Don't let social media fool you into thinking you have to be happy all the time or else your life is less than ideal. The average person goes through ups and downs every day. The perfect people you see on Instagram struggle just like you do to stay positive and fight their emotions.
The really happy people are the ones who are emotionally stable, not because they're just happy, but because they know how to handle their moods with healthy tactics.
There are some easy ways to start controlling your emotions right now to become more stable. I suggest you start letting yourself feel how you want to feel. Don't talk yourself out of your feelings. They are not something you've made up; they are real.
Next, figure out why you feel that way and come up with some practical solutions to solve it, whether that means changing your behavior or changing your attitude (both are quite hard to do sometimes).
If you have to, write down how you feel so you can remember it and explore your thoughts. Just word vomit all over a journal page and then move on. Leave those emotions in the past.
Most importantly, realize that emotions are normal and healthy. Being happy all the time is not healthy, it's pretending to be something you're not. So let the tears flow or let the anger fester for a bit. But don't make any bad decisions about your behavior when you're feeling more emotional.
