I'll be the first to tell you, I spend too much time editing pictures to post on social media. I'm not entirely sure why either. I guess part of it is that I find photography fun and I enjoy toying with lighting and highlights and finding ways to touch up and make photos timeless. They say that pictures never change even though the people in them do, and I love the truth in that. But, another part is that I want the pictures to look good so I can post them. I want people to look at them and see that they are as good as I think they are. But you know what? Most people won't and that's okay.

Instagram is a tiny little app that takes up too much of my time. If I'm in a good mood I might put up three pictures in one day! Excessive I know, but I'm not one of those 'I can only post one picture a week or everyone will think I'm weird' people. But hey, if you are more power to you! Maybe you can teach me a little bit about self-control.

I caught myself recently thinking 'I wonder if other people will like this picture?'. And as soon as I thought it I felt sort of guilty. Why was I caring if other people liked my picture? I was the one that took it. I was the one that loved it! I was the one that thought it was a good thing to shoot and a good shot to share. Who cares if anyone else likes it, am I right?

But I'm wrong.

We so often get caught up in the 'picture perfect' lifestyle. We worry too much about what our pictures that we post display about our lives and what other people will think of them. We worry about if other people will like the picture, and if other people will think we're cool and that we've got it all together. But let's all be honest, none of us do. We post the pictures that make us look good. Be honest. I've done it too.

I see girls and women with hundreds, even thousands, of likes on a picture. I see their perfect hair, perfect teeth, perfectly decorated house, perfectly lined eyes and brows, perfect couple coordinated outfits, and perfect happy smiles. Too often we all see these things and think we have to be like that. We think that we have to do all of those things to be happy because that's what all the happy people are posting and it's working for them.

Well, that's wrong.

Think for a second what is outside of the Instagram frame. What's outside that square? They may be smiling ear to ear looking like the happiest person in the world, but they might have self-esteem issues, anxiety, or even depression. The perfectly curled hair may have taken hours, all for one person to notice that didn't even throw a sideways glance. Right outside the cute picture of a perfectly spotless, well lit, organized and oriented room shot is probably piles of laundry that need to be folded and floors that need to be mopped. Behind the lens of the camera is a person that's probably stressing about bills, tests, work, or just life in general. There is so much outside of the Instagram frame that we all seem to forget when we start to compare ourselves to others.

Life is outside of the Instagram frame. 

Don't get me wrong, I love to pose things for pictures and get that perfect shot. I love editing and framing my favorite pictures. But I don't want to get so caught up in making everything look good, that I forget the good stuff. I don't want to forget the way my husband comes home from work with a smile on his face even after a long day while I'm too busy trying to take a picture of the dog. I want to focus on the casual afternoons on the porch instead of scrolling through social media wishing my hair looked like that, or my house had that style decor, or that I could take such good photos, or that my life was as exciting, or that I was traveling, or that I had that outfit.

People post what makes them feel good. What is important to them! But always remember, there is life outside of the Instagram frame. It's hard to fit life in such a tiny square. There is more than you know going on outside of the frame, things that people often don't want displayed.

So, post what makes you feel good. Not what you think other people will like. Remember to focus on life outside of the frame and not just on the four inches that the world will see. Don't compare yourself to others based on a tiny picture. No one really has it all together, I promise.

Don't be too busy posting a picture about what you did that you forget to live it.