There are some moments of life which are easy to ignore and drive past, but when you actually stop to read the signs, your attitude can completely change to fit the situation. Those are the moments which allow people to mature and take on a new approach in life.

While scrolling through Facebook the other day, I noticed a post which had a picture of the back of a van where the driver had posted a sign saying, “Learning stick sorry for any delay.” The woman who posted this on Facebook said “Knowing this information, I was very patient with their slow shifting…Would I have been just as patient if the sign hadn’t been there? I can definitely say no.” People do not always have signs to say what they are going through.

No one is going to write out a post saying, “Going through a divorce”, “claimed bankruptcy”, “Going through depression”, “Diagnosed with cancer”. Now stop and think for a moment, if they did express the things happening in their lives out loud, would you act differently towards them? Would you understand why they may act the way they do? Would there be moments where you stop to really appreciate your own life?

This society is so media filled and driven that we expect a screen to embody and take place of a human. We all have someone on social media who posts every single element of their day and hate to break it to them, but no one cares about seeing what they eat for lunch, so why do they post it? There is a sigh of confidence which overwhelms many people who post on social media where the more views or likes generated, the higher you fit in the tier, creating this fake interpretation of a glamorous lifestyle. Not to say everyone is like this but more often than not people will post happy representations to receive positive reciprocation and typically leave out anything which can tamper with this harness of safety they strap themselves into.

Now journalists are accused of tampering with the big picture and creating “fake news”. Fake is a word which has been thrown around so much that there really isn’t a clear definition anymore. If it happened but doesn’t rely all the information, is it fake? If it is misinterpreted and discussed, is it fake? And along those lines who is to say who has the correct interpretation? Of course, when hearing it on the news it is easy to point fingers, but what if it is happening before your eyes and no one is the wiser.

Say Sally just got engaged to the love of her life, 5 years after her third divorce, does that make her love fake? Say Jimmy just donated $500,000 to a single mother living below poverty level, when he initially scammed that mother to steal all her money in the first place, does that make him a fake hero? What do we call fake when there is never a complete picture of what is going on in that instance? Social media basically creates a portal where people can control what is seen about them, and in more cases than not they will show what makes them look good, even if this may not be the entire story.

Everyone is going through something no matter what their financial, physical, or mental state is, and as unfair as it may be, there will always be someone in a better position than you and someone in a worse position than you. If this all makes sense and is all true to a point, then why is it so easy to be quick to judge or push someone when they’re down, even if you don’t know the full story.

It is easy to pity yourself by always being pessimistic towards life events. We always think we have it the worst and see all these achievements of others without even thinking of how tough it must have been for them to reach the point they have come to.

“Single mother juggles three jobs and daycare schedule”, “Teenager survives heartbreak”, “Parents mourn the loss of newborn baby”. These are moments which don’t typically make the headlines because nobody wants to bring up the negativity and hardships of life. That’s exactly what is being missed in all this commotion. It is the understanding that while everyone wants to believe they have it the worst; whether it be a teenage girl with a bad hair day or a parent finding out their child is in the hospital, there is a reason for the attitudes we naturally portray and there is more to the story than what meets the eye.

Nothing in life will be easy, that’s the beauty of growing while balancing all the inanity surrounding you. There are people who will find any small reason to stress and work themselves up about the smallest things, it isn’t healthy but it is a demand from the society we live in today. Just paid off student loans? Time to pay off credit card balances. Just got promoted at work? Time to lose out on being home for your family. There is always going to be something new which pops up to blockade this ideal world you have pictured in your head and it is because of the way society is designed.

My sister told me the other day that she was sad for no reason and when I asked her what that meant she just looked at me as if I should have known. Right after that conversation with her, I knew exactly what she meant. It is that feeling of not knowing what to feel but when it takes over, you turn blank. Not happy, mad, or sad, but our outer surface will appear differently to anyone around us because no one will know what we are going through or have gone through.

Perception of the mind is a tricky game and is played with too often where the only loser ends up being yourself. There will always be something bigger and better, someone stronger and weaker. We are not built and manufactured to obtain the same interior or exterior development so why is it that we judge others and are quick to jump to conclusions without the clear understanding of why people are the way they are. We love to say life will be better next year, in five years, a decade, or even fifty years. Just saying it will happen doesn’t make anything happen, and by changing the attitude which you display towards others you will begin to really see all the signs, even when they are not physically there.