If there’s one thing that millennials know all too well, its social media. From Snapchat to Twitter to Instagram, we keep up with the lives of internet strangers, and often envy their appealing lifestyle. Unfortunately, this leads many social media users to begin to compare themselves to their favorite online influencer. There’s a potency behind the old adage “comparison is the thief of joy.”

Comparison leads many users to begin to reevaluate their own life, people begin to question if the pictures they post are ‘worthy’ enough to be displayed on Instagram, they measure their popularity by the number of likes they receive on an Instagram picture as if that is any indication of one’s self-worth.

The pictures and videos posted on social media are just a minuscule look into the lives of others. People post what they want you to see. I bet you’ve seen hundreds of posts about someone “living their best life” at the beach, but what many users fail to show are the days they stay at home crying because they’re stressed out about finals. No one’s life is perfect, and the aesthetically pleasing put together displays seen on social media are just a superficial glimpse into the lives of others.

What would be nice to see is a world where social media is used to promote positivity and mindfulness. If people were honest about who they were and what they were dealing with, be it a stressful day or a situation as simple and annoying as a flat tire, the comparisons many make between themselves and others would decrease drastically.

Trust me when I say that no one is traveling to exotic countries every other week, and not one person is happy with their body constantly. We all have days when we struggle with body positivity, and we all can’t afford luxurious vacations whenever we feel like it. Remember that next time you see someone sucking in their stomach and standing on a beach in a country you have never heard of before.

To be authentic and honest in today’s tech-driven world is not an easy feat, but it’s something that everyone should strive for. It’s okay to not always be okay. It’s okay to throw on sweatpants and lay in bed until noon, don’t feel forced to create a fabricated representation of your life just because you see others posting pictures of what you believe is their true life (news flash: it’s not). Social media should not dictate how you act, dress, or live. The best advice I can give you is this: be fearlessly authentic. Don’t feel the need to stick to the status quo and manipulate posts just to fit in with other social media users.

To summarize, stop comparing and start living because, in the end, no one is going to care about your Instagram followers or your number of Snapchat friends.