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Life on Social Media vs Reality

I am just a normal human being. I am not immune to being envious of the wonderful vacation posts and couple photos of my acquaintances on Facebook. I can hardly manage to take one photo with my better half. And even in those rare photos, I am not happy with the angle in which the photo was shot. It always makes me look fat! Well, I am 5 feet 4 inches and weigh in between 60 to 63 kilos. Not too bad you might think, but I am not like my friends who look hot even after having kids and look younger with each passing year. SIGH!  I hardly have any vacation that involves beaches without running behind a toddler and worrying about his fear of water. The rest of the vacations involve at least an instance of the toddler throwing up or just the fear of him doing it sometime during the journey. How to parents take their kids to such fancy places and have so much fun?

 I do know that if I took photos of only the smiles and posted on any social media channel, there would be others who would think just like me. There are very few friends whose photos make me genuinely happy. I must admit that. The rest of you, I will assure you that I am filled with envy.
Will that envy make me miserable? No. Will I want to be in your shoes? No, not always.
I know the struggles of many people who have relationship issues with their partner or work pressures or do not get along with their parents. If I only believed their FB posts, they have the most loving partner or have the coolest job and have the best parents in the whole world.

Why do we portray ourselves as perfect and happy on social media? Well, to start with, no one wants to hear about your knee injury or your sleepless nights or even your depression. As much as social media helps in certain ways, it should be kept out of personal life updates.  Take everything on social media with a pinch of salt. Stay motivated to be fit when you see workout or gym photos. Stay motivated to take a vacation even if it means a car drive to a local park. Stay motivated to try out new dishes irrespective of how it turns out. Stay motivated to love your family and give them quality time instead of hoping for a perfect romance, house, job or car. Stay happy, irrespective of whether others are happy.  Keep social media at a distance, if possible. Use it wisely and you will be at peace.



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