We can all agree that at some point we have been scrolling through social media and have seen something that makes us feel negative emotions towards ourselves. We start to compare our lives to other people’s false reality. Lately, I have realised that this happens more often than I thought I was aware of. Every time we scroll through social media we are subconsciously making assumptions, comparing ourselves and ultimately end up feeling bad about ourselves. It’s so important to be aware of how these things make you feel, even if you don’t realise it’s having an impact.
SOCIAL MEDIA VS REALITY
Scrolling through timelines and seeing what people are up to has become such a part of our daily routine, it’s no wonder the line between social media and reality becomes blurry. It is so easy to feel down about your situation when it looks like so many other people are having the time of their life. The truth is, they aren’t. We all post the best of ourselves on social media. Instagram is like a photo album, you want to look through and see lots of nice happy memories. Just because we don’t see other people’s struggles does not mean they are not there.
LIFE ALWAYS HAS UPS AND DOWNS
When you feel down about something or you are going through a difficult time you can start to ask yourself why your life isn’t like the people you see on social media. Life will always have ups and downs, nobody is happy all the time, we are human and we have emotions.
SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCE
We live in an era surrounded by social media influencers. I love that there has been a shift away from celebrities and we can now follow the lives of relatable people. When I was younger I really envied those who had beauty rooms and drawers upon drawers of makeup. I now wonder what they do with all of the makeup and expiry dates etc. The reality is we consume information from people who have been paid to influence us to buy things. Having studied their ‘perfect’ social media channels and we think if we buy these things we can be as happy as they are. You fall into a trap because there will always be something new and purchasing these things only gives you a temporary happy feeling.
There’s nothing wrong with social media itself. It has become a new form of marketing. We need to remember that sometimes we are seeing adverts rather than real lives.
LIVING WITHIN YOUR MEANS
As I have gotten older, my thoughts about money and happiness and have changed a lot. I used to aspire to have the latest things, I now realise that material items cannot make you happy. It is so easy to get caught up in the world of social media. Most of us earn about an average wage, if you aren’t living at home you have little disposable income. Why do we spend this small amount of money on things to be like those that earn way more and were most likely gifted it anyway? As the saying goes ‘don’t go broke trying to look rich’.
DO IT FOR YOURSELF – REMEMBER YOUR WHY
If I asked you ‘what do you want?’ would you have an answer? Is it something you truly want for yourself or just something that someone else has? As an example, you see someone online with a really nice car and you think I want that too. So you save to purchase this car and when you go to test drive it you realise you don’t like the seating position or how the car feels to drive. I believe you should set yourself goals, work your ass off and reward yourself for it. Make your reward something that you actually love and want for yourself. Don’t choose something just because of the perceived image or lifestyle you think it will bring you.
HAVE A THINK ABOUT THE FOLLOWING…
Be aware of your reasons for wanting/buying things. Don’t spend your hard earned money on something that it purely hyped up. Always remember that most social media platforms are a highlight reel. We want to feel good about our own portrayal, we don’t post the bad stuff. Life is not an easy road and things aren’t straightforward. Happiness comes from within, it is not based on what you have or how others perceive you.
Read more:
- 10 Signs You Should End Your Relationship
- How to get motivated
- Why you need goals
- Change your life | Law Of Attraction
- Trust the timing of your life
6 Comments
Such a great post! I haven’t been in the best place lately in my life especially mentally and I have been noticing how negative my thoughts tend to get now. I have made it a habit to continually remind myself everytime I see something on Instagram that this is not the reality and that the person posting that is probably going through their own struggles at this very moment. It actually really helps! xx
Beaulife.org
Definitely! it’s so easy to get caught up in false reality. I hope you start feeling better, I’m here if you ever need someone to talk to xx
I love this post! Social Media can make you compare yourself to other people, I’m not sure if this is a natural thing for humans to do. This post is definitely an eye opener and it’s important to thing and do things for ourselves.
Gemma | http://www.anoceanglimmer.wordpress.com
Thanks so much for reading Gemma!
I completely agree. I am envious of my parent’s generation of being able to live in a time where we didn’t know what everyone was doing 24/7.
Once you become aware of how you are feeling, you start to realise how often you are negatively impacted by things on social media, its pretty scary.
Great point, we are seeing adverts vs the real lives of some influencers. Social media does has it’s benefits such as communicating with distant friends, connecting with relatives and discovering job opportunities but when you lose sight of who you are by comparing your life to others in a negative way, it’s time to remove yourself and take a break. So glad you touch base with this topic, it’s written really nice and clear. Adore your blog btw!
Natonya | https://justnatonya.wordpress.com/
Aww thank you so much Natonya! <3 I’m very passionate about the insta vs reality topic – Evelina actually posted a really good video called ‘the sad truth about being an influencer’ – it’s so interesting to see that the people that have had so much success and seem to have it all are struggling with similar things themselves. As a consumer it feels like all we see is people living a perfect life when actually those people are feeling so much pressure to keep up this image. Have to remind yourself that nothing is as it seems xx