Don't Let Social Media Steal Your Joy
It happens around this time every year. Your social media timeline gets flooded with nauseously happy couples and families sharing their "baecation" and wedding pics of love and coupledom. But what about the single folk? Or people sharing their good news of their amazing new job they will be staring, but we just got laid off? Or people are off spending the summer in some far away exotic destination, what about us that are slaving over-time at our job just to make ends meet? Social media constantly slaps us in the face with everyone else's joy, success, accomplishment and their latest luxury purchases. When you aren't feeling your proudest, seeing "everyone else" succeeding can be tough. We internalize their success as reminders of our failures. They have achieved this, why haven't or can't I? It's a question that many of us have asked ourselves at one time or another, yet probably haven't been able to answer. Until today.
They have managed to do x,y or z because that was meant for THEIR journey. At that exact time and in that exact way. They have managed to do x,y or z because they made x.y or z decisions and sacrifices.
I've seen people posting pictures of themselves court-side at the NBA finals with $1000 shoes and $2000 handbag, yet I know for a fact that their car is sitting in their driveway on flats with no gas and they don't have a single roll of toilet tissue in their house. (And I guess they would have gone to the store to get some...but then there's that flat tire and no gas situation I mentioned.) This woman that I described seemed perfectly content with how she allocated her money. However, someone scrolling her timeline may feel jealous of the perceived glamour lifestyle she portays, yet they wouldn't be willng to sacrifice toilet tissue to achieve it. Its a trade off.
I personally witness people go to great lengths, myself included, to satisfy or create a public perception. Knowing this, it's still impossible to scroll down your timeline occasionally and not think "he/she has it all" or "their life is perfect." This is your reminder to not believe the HYPE!
The people in your social media feed may very well have the perfect life - FOR THEM. Something else to remember, regardless of your circumstances, there is someone staring at your posts thinking that you have it all together and they wish that some aspect of their life were more like yours. Believe it or not. If you're single, married people may look at the amount of free time or travel that you are able to enjoy as something they wish for more of. If you're single, you may look at the married friend's pages and wish you would hurry up and find "the one." There is always a trade off. You yearn for that perfect hair, but what if you had to trade your perfect health? Moral of the story? Enjoy where you are today. You won't always be there. Things can happen as quickly as they can change. Comparison is truly the thief of joy. Honor your pace and enjoy the experiences of your journey, it was made special for YOU!
Be thankful and appreciative for all that YOU have AND all that you do NOT! Go troll your own timeline and see all that YOU have that is worthy of envy!
Reminder: Tune in Wednesday for Episode 36 of The Loni Swain Show Podcast! My guests Taccara & Kenyon Martin, Emotional Wellness Experts, will share tips for finding and maintaining lasting love, starting your healing and wholeness and thriving in marriage! Its available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, Anchor, CastBox, SoundCloud, and Stitcher.
XO <3
Loni