The Biggest Danger In Social Media

We put on an act.

An act that makes us appear as though we’re perfect.

We act as though we have these perfect lives where we’re always “living our best lives.” An act where we have perfect skin with zero acne and zero scars. An act where we have every hair perfectly in place. An act where we don’t have any fat on our bodies. An act where we’re always laughing and having a perfect time.

Perfect.

I’m just as guilty of it.

I used to wish that there was a tool in real life that was similar to Photoshop. A tool where I can remove blemishes just as easily as I can in Photoshop. A tool where I can easily trim ten pounds off my body. A tool where I can hide the dark circles underneath my eyes. A tool where I can whiten my teeth in seconds, rather than in days.

But the more I wished that, the more I found why I kept wishing that.

Social media.

We pose as having these “perfect lives” on Instagram, on Facebook, wherever we can. We edit so we look perfect. Then, we’re envious of others when they do the same.

It’s an endless cycle.

And I caught myself awhile back.

I was editing out the blemishes on my face, and asked myself why. Why was I doing that? Who was I doing that for? What good was that doing?!

No one in person was seeing me that way.

The reality is we don’t have those tools in real life, so why so often do we utilize them for photographs?

In person, I have the furthest from perfect skin, I have scars on my face from when I had chicken pox as a teenager, and I have fat on my body.

So I stopped posing. I stopped pretending.

I strive to live my best life daily. I think we all should. But the truth is friends, that’s not real life. We’re not going to be “doing great” every day. We’re not going to have our life together every day. We’re not going to be on vacations every day. We’re not going to be living a perfect life with a pina coloda in our hands every day.

We’re going to be a mess some days. We’re going to lose loved ones. We’re going to be disappointed. We’re going to disappoint others. Things aren’t going to go according to our plan. We will have trials.

I vowed awhile back to stop. Stop pretending to have perfect skin, stop pretending to act like I have my life perfectly together, stop pretending to have a perfect body shape.

Because friends, we don’t get a filter.

We hide behind these filters on our screens, but where’s our filter in real life?

We don’t have one.

We’re forced to be real in person, and that’s how it should be through our screens too.

So let’s stop hiding behind filters. Friend, you are loved because you are YOU. Not because you are living with a constant filter over who you want to be.

Embrace every part of you. You are so loved for it.

xoxo