We’ve all been there, its late at night and you go on Facebook to scroll through your feed and you see your old high school colleagues, one just got into Med School, the other already landed his dream job at one of the big 4 accounting firms, and the third is backpacking across South America helping save endangered monkeys. And there you are, eating stale potato chips off your chest, while your dog just peed on your floor. Naturally this causes you to question every decision you’ve ever made in your life. “Where did I go wrong?” “Why can’t I be as exciting or successful as they are?” “Why the fuck does this dog pee so much?”
I’d love to say that I am above this social pressure and anxiety caused by viewing the lives of my colleagues on Facebook, but to be honest with you, I’m just as guilty as you are. But here’s the thing… we need to stop and I am here to explain why.
Mark Manson, New York best-selling author said it best, people only post on social media the “good” or highlights of their life; never the lows, to give off the illusion that their life is all rainbows and Twinkie when in reality it’s not. The honest truth is that they are just as clueless as we are, and that’s okay. In reality, were all a little lost at least some of the time even though we don’t portray it on social media and THAT’S OKAY.
The trick is to live your life at your pace and not to worry about what’s going on in other people life, because one, as the old saying goes, only worry about your plate and not others. And two, because even though other people may be shinning at the moment and everything is going right for them, it doesn’t mean that your time won’t come for the same to happen. Because it will.
So the moral of the story is, even though weve all fallen in the trap of jealousy and envy of others on the internet whether they be friends or family, it is important to keep in mind that what they post on the internet is not their full life story and that even if things are going well for them, they will for you as well with time to come.
