Living Life with #NoFilter

 

 

I was scrolling through my Facebook feed the other day when I saw it.

A pregnancy announcement.

Again.

Lately it seems that all of our friends and acquaintances are moving on to that "next" phase in life. The baby phase. The phase that seems to move you from the plateau of "just married" to "you've finally arrived".

Or so it seems.

The funny thing about social media is that it makes you care about things you never cared about before. Jealousy and insecurity creep in through the posts of someone else's highlight reel. Doubt lingers as you compare your life to theirs.

"Am I where I'm supposed to be?"

"Should I be doing what they're doing?"

"How do I get from here to there?"

Vacation photos become aspirations. Self portraits become thieves of confidence. Job announcements become goals to attain.

In the margins between my screen and my life, I begin to write new goals. New dreams. New aspirations... because mine just don't seem to be "enough".

Life is summarized by pictures that are perfect and words that are poised, and - if we don't look hard enough - we'll fall for the façade.

We'll believe that our lives are significantly less. We'll begin measuring our day to day lives with the posts we see on Facebook and Instagram. We'll compare our ordinary and mundane with the highlights of someone else's life.

And we'll convince ourselves that that is what life is really like.

The highlights.

Life doesn't consist of just the highlights, though. It's full of highs, sure. But it's also full of lows and in-betweens. It's messy and scary and sometimes it falls short of our expectations.

Life cannot be summarized in a Facebook post. Life cannot be represented by a picture on Instagram. Life is meant to be lived. Authentically. Truthfully. Unfiltered.

Is social media bad? Not necessarily. It keeps us connected to friends and loved ones positioned all around the world. It allows us to celebrate the highs of life and come together for the lows. It inspires us. It propels us to move forward and do good things. It helps us spread our messages of hope.

When used correctly, it can become a beautiful avenue for living life authentically.

It's all in how you use it.

The problem with social media is not with social media itself. The problem is with us and how we receive what we see and what we read. Jealousy and discontentment are not byproducts of social media; they are byproducts of ourselves. They are the overflow of our doubts and insecurities, projected onto someone else.

When we learn to accept our lives for what they are, our perspectives will change. We won't be so focused on what everyone else is doing. Our value won't be determined by the milestones of somebody else. Our worth won't be tied to where we're positioned in the rat race of life.

And in that moment, it won't matter what anyone else is doing. It won't matter that your life hasn't turned out like everyone in your age group or graduation class. It won't matter that you're married or unmarried, with kids or without kids. It won't matter that you don't own a house or take vacations twice a year.

None of that will matter because you know that you are right where you are supposed to be.

Here.

Now.

Today.

And even an Earlybird filtered photo can't change that.