Skip to main content

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.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Man

  Last week, this song "The Man" by Taylor Swift, played as I walked into office. It felt like a great way to start my work as I marched into my floor and inside my cabin. Pumped, I start my daily routine at work and as I get through the day, I realize I enjoy my work and that I am good at it. Would I be at a different level if I were a man? Maybe. But I would rather go through my journey my way because we cannot keep regretting what we cannot change. However, I do lend that hand to a younger woman and guide her so she learns from my mistakes too and can work smarter. I make sure I am the person representing my girl-tribe in moments where their skills are sought for.  This also reminds me of Cher's interview where she says that instead of marrying a rich man, she was the Rich Man !  I'm so sick of running as fast as I can Wondering if I'd get there quicker If I was a man And I'm so sick of them coming at me again 'Cause if I was a man Then I'd be the m...

June - Doctor/Hospital month??? Is this the start of a trend?

 June 12th 2014, I went for a regular scan to my Gynec - 37 weeks into my pregnancy and was asked to go for an immediate scan, that followed a suggestion to get admitted right away, and then surgery was scheduled the next day. 28 years on earth and I had never been admitted at a hospital for anything, not even typhoid or chicken pox! And here I was hospitalized for 11 days, 1 pre-surgery, 10 post until my son recovered from jaundice ! And that's the end, I thought !  June 4th, 2022, I was out shopping with my son. My previous blog posts detail the ordeal and how i was again hospitalized for a week for concussion and surgery to my face for bruises. A plastic surgery that didn't change my "beauty".  Cut to June 16th 2023, a couple of days ago, woke up with a sharp, shooting pain, like contractions non-stop and ended up getting admitted, drips and pain killers not being effective, to rushing to a scan that helped find the root cause - Hemorrhage of cyst in ovary. Sounds ...

Good morning, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night.

Some days when you don't want to start on some new show and you don't want to watch something without knowing the ending, you'd go back to shows or movies that you have loved as a child. Yesterday was one such day. I went on to watch Jim Carrey's "The Truman Show". When I watched it as a younger person, I liked it for Jim's acting and the entire storyline seemed outrageous and yet heartbreaking. How can one person's life be in front of camera all the time and how can one be living a lie !  Present age, in 2024, when I watched this, I saw it in a different light. With social media being rampant, with everyone having access to cameras on their phone to instantly capture a video, no one can escape being a "Truman". Any instance of your life can be captured by someone and you could end up being ridiculed or hailed a superstar overnight. The superstardom can fall overnight too, but the ridicule remains long after it subsides too. We also live a li...