Don’t compare your insides to someone else’s outsides!

Hello everyone! Hope you summer has been restful! Before you know it, the children will be back in school and life will calm down……or get busier, LOL! I remember the days that my girls were in school, it seemed to be a never ending barrage of things to do and places to be.

I have been thinking a lot about todays’ topic. I keep coming back, over and over, feeling the tug to my heart about writing on this. Scrolling through social media, ie. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc., you can very easily get pulled into the rabbit hole of envy. Delicious foods, wonderful places, expensive clothes and flashy jewels. So many ‘social media influencers’ make a lot of money from sponsors by showing their amazing lifestyles.

One of the most disturbing items I recently saw online, was about the flock of people taking Instagram photos at a beautiful turquoise lake. It can be found in Siberia and the beautiful blue waters are the envy of all those looking to take envy invoking photos. What’s the downside you might ask…..it’s a toxic waste dump for a nearby electric company. The company has even posted warnings ‘You can not swim in the ash dump.’

Ralph Waldo Emerson said “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”. This quote seems to have even greater meaning when we look at the number of ‘followers’ that social media stars have. Not a lot of the internet stars have any talent other than posting amazing photographs that have been staged, produced, retouched and filtered. Hair & make up artists, wardrobe assistants, professional photographers as well as production assistants make the posts seem to be larger than life.

For those of us ‘regular‘ people, this can be disheartening! Who wouldn’t love to eat amazing meals prepared by professional chefs, quit our 9-5 and get paid to ‘post’ photos, and be sponsored by our favorite clothing line or shoe designer (and keep the items after we’ve posted our pictures!)?

When you decide to be yourself, living your life how you want, you will find that you are at peace, and happiness will follow you everywhere you go. Let go of things, start living for the people around you! Enjoy your experiences…make memories to take with you as you get older.