There are days when I’ll sign into Facebook, Instagram or Twitter and take a good look at what other people are up to. Every picture I stumble across is beautiful. The person and their environment looks breathtaking. I’ll read friends’ happy, humorous, adventurous posts. Their pictures all look so perfect. Why isn’t my life like theirs? 

There are children being born, happy engagements, beautiful weddings, and carefree people partying. They all look so fun and interesting. My life isn’t that interesting, though. Seeing all these pictures almost makes me feel like I’m standing in place. 

It’s important to remember, though, that people don’t post their worst moments on social media. The pictures you’re seeing? They’re staged and have probably have been taken 20 different times in a million different poses. How many times did those people actually try to get that gorgeous picture? A lot. That photo that made Instagram just happened to be the perfect one.

Those inspirational quotes are oftentimes more for the person who posted than for other people. Yes, those life events are real, but who actually shares every single detail, good and bad, that lead up to the life event? The reality is that social media isn’t real. Some of it is honestly what’s going on in other people’s lives, but most of it is exaggerated, so there’s no reason to compare ourselves against it. 

I talk to the people in my life about what’s really going on. The real people, not my social media followers. The followers on social media will only get get quips, silly jokes, a witty attitude, a fun life. They don’t see anything other than what I expect them to see. I believe that most of us can say the same about our social media presence.

You’ll post what you want other people to see. You’ll post in a way that only shows the good side of you. That’s why I’m done letting social media make me feel like I’m not good enough. I’m not going to look at friends’ pages and make myself envious of their lives anymore. People’s lives may be good or even great, but on social media, they aren’t real.

If you were to see some of the people you follow on social media, would their lives be exactly the way you think? No, they wouldn’t. Just like you and I, everyone on social media has good days and bad days. So don’t base your life on social media. Embrace your real life and move forward. Don’t let social media make you feel inadequate.