Twenty fifteen was the year that social media got demystified, that people starting using Snapchat to show a glimpse and behind the scenes experience that isn’t portrayed in a beautiful Instagram picture, when controversies started to rise about what it means to have the ultimate social media life. We are all guilty of browsing through our phones, tablets or computers looking at other people’s perfect lives and thrive to give it a shot ourselves. Raise your hand if you ever felt jealous, FOMO or wish-I-had-her/his-life.
Twenty sixteen is, by this order, the year to get real! Why? Because perfect-lives aren’t making the cut. Sure, we like to see the places people are traveling to, beauty products they are buying and clothes they are wearing, but what connection do we establish, besides the obvious one I want that? When it comes to the portrayed girl VS. the real girl, which one do we’d rather listen from?
During Christmas, a good friend of mine told me I curate too much the subjects and things I write on the blog and forget about the real part of me. While it might be true regarding a few things, it isn’t for others. I’m not trying to constantly describe a life I don’t live, but actually talk about things I worry, details that make my life what it is and how I deal with situations that come across. I’m here to tell you my story and what it means being the lead in it.
We tend to focus too much of our attention in pictures, images, visuals and, more often than not, forget to read what’s below those images. I have a lot of friends that say they don’t read my blog, and it’s fair, but if they only look at the pictures, they won’t be getting a sense of who I am or what I’m becoming or even want to become. Of course it feels good to have likes in well-curated pictures, but it feels even better when someone comments and says they are going through the same struggles, doubts or emotions you are. The feeling you get when you connect with someone on the other side of the device is so much better and worth it!
So, while it’s great to picture what people’s lives are, never make yourself feel bad because you are not in Tulum or Bangkok right now, we have no idea what that person’s life really is and what’s behind that image. Always take the opportunity to be real to someone, tell them your story, tell them you’re going through a rough patch, you never know what the response might be!