Friday, January 4, 2013

Caution: Not as good as it looks.

Something that seems to be swirling around the internet (and world for that matter) is a sense of envy for other people's lives because they look or sound so perfect. It happens quite a lot, especially with social media & blogging.

Kelle Hampton wrote a post yesterday about someone sending her a snobby Instagram comment when she posted pictures of her girls at an orange grove saying something about her, "fake perfect life", sarcastically of course.

And just the other night I was with one of my best girl friends & she said she wants to delete all social media outlets because she finds herself "stalking" certain people and being envious of them. "Like who?", I asked. Oh, like the star college athlete's girlfriend who's beautiful and obviously so fun and so perfect.

But, she said, I know that's not true. 

She's right. It's not true.

You know how I know? Because I've kind of been that girl who people think have the perfect life. I even spoke to a girl once who I barely knew at the time and she came up to me at a party and told me she's always checking my Instagram and Twitter and she really wanted to be my best friend. And she was serious. And no, it wasn't weird at all. I took it as a huge compliment actually, and I would love to be friends with that girl.

But when she said that? I wanted to be like, and I think I was like, but my life is so imperfect!! 

I mean, yesterday, I Instagrammed a picture of my Starbucks cup at Target. You know what I didn't Instagram? My trip to my therapist.

Yesterday, I Instagrammed a picture of my perfectly made-up face. You know what I didn't instagram? The acne underneath that makeup.

Yesterday, I posted on Facebook that I'm going to be taking a workshop with this amazing photographer. You know what I didn't Facebook? That I've been wanting to do it for nearly a year and haven't had the money.

Once, someone said my outfits are always so cute & I make them feel bad about what they're wearing sometimes. uhhmmm helllooooo I only post my outfits on IG when they're cute which means four out of the seven days? I'm wearing yoga pants and a sweatshirt. But you probably won't see me postin' anything about that.

Not posting those things doesn't make me fake or mean I'm living a facade; why the hell would anyone share any of that? I try to be optimistic. But when people see those IG posts or those tweets, their minds start wandering, they start to elevate the people in those post or tweets to a level they're not at.

Listen, no one has the perfect life. no one. 

Remember when we all thought Mary Kate & Ashley were totally perfect? helloooo twenty years later & bulimia and drugs. Or what about when Lindsay Lohan starred in Parent Trap and was like the coolest thing since sliced bread?

You get my point.

So from now on, no using social media as the place you use to dream about other people's lives or be envious.

And if you feel yourself doing it? Put your phone or computer down and walk away because it's not true.

And if you're being the best you can be? Well that's all you can do & you're probably already ahead of the game.

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10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love this!

Elle Noel said...

Amen girl and so true!!!

She's a big star said...

SO true, what a great post! I totally think you should make this into a linkup... like a once a week Instagram pic of the "real" us... IDK, just a thought!

Shelly@Shelly No Belly said...

Very true! And I love Shesabigstar's idea of a "real" linkup.

Emily said...

You just got a new follower! This post is great!

Lassen & Company said...

Thank you, I so needed to read this.

Katie @ Loves of Life said...

Very well said, and something I've written about before too---this is a part of me, not all of me. And the focus of my blog (when I was writing) was typically more optimistic, I mean, heck, it's called Loves of Life, right--that's the 'voice'. Does it mean I didn't write about bad days or times or anything like that? No--but not mainly. And it doesn't mean I'm fake. So, amen, girl. Well said.

Carley Woodard said...

It's true, I'm guilty of it too. Great post, Ali!

Jennifer said...

Yeah - like a "This is what I didn't show you" linkup!

Love this post! You're so right!

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