"Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are." – Marilyn Monroe
You go on Facebook and Instagram, and immediately you are flooded with people's accomplishments — a fun night out with friends, their latest vacation trip, and these seemingly perfect relationships. These posts get hundreds of likes within minutes. And what are you doing? Sitting on the couch alone with 5 empty twinkie wrappers, and getting sucked into a Netflix binge trap. You start to think,
"Why can't I look like so and so?"
"Why don't I ever get as many likes as them?"
"Why can't I be that happy?"
I am also guilty of feeling this way at times. However, what most of us do not understand is that the things posted on social media hardly ever shows us the entire picture. Usually, people only show the aspects of their lives that they want others to see. What we do not see are the nights that someone cried themselves to sleep, the problems they may be dealing with at home, or the huge arguments those happy couples have on a daily basis.
Your worth is not determined by the number of likes you get on a post or picture.
The internet allows people to become someone they may not have the courage to be in real life. It is the perfect escape for the lonely soul who is looking for approval and love. It allows each of us to create the picture perfect lifestyle that'll make others think we are living in complete bliss 24/7. It gives us a temporary self-esteem boost when we post a picture and mindlessly wait for the likes to come pouring in. The problem with this is that if you are not careful, you will begin to depend on those likes to make you feel good about yourself and will feel terribly when you do not receive a positive reaction from others. It is very easy to equate "likes on a picture" to self-worth.
Create a beautiful life for yourself, and do so without feeling like you have to prove how happy you are to others. Not every moment in life needs to be shared on Instagram or Facebook. Take the time to truly enjoy life with the people who genuinely care about you. Those are the moments that you will always remember, not the ones where you spent most of your time searching for the perfect angle or filter.
Next time you are scrolling through your news feed, and begin thinking "I wish I could be more like this person" remember that you are only seeing a portion of the entire picture. If given the opportunity to take a deeper look into someone else's life, you may discover that their reality is far different from what they portray on the internet.
