#Gettingreal

I call it the Instagram syndrome.  I hate to admit it, but I’ve been getting it a lot lately. Instagram seems to have this power to glorify everything. Filters can be used to hide a blemish while cropping the picture can be used to cut out the aspects of the picture that aren’t picture perfect.  As a result, you end up stalking other people’s “perfect” Instagram accounts and becoming envious of their “perfect” lives.

But in reality, your Instagram account seems to leave out a picture of the 3 meltdowns you had in one day due to the stress of schoolwork, a picture of the empty box of oreos you ate after you found out about a failing grade, or a snap of you bawling to your friends over a stupid boy. We only post pictures of the pretty things in life (I am very guilty of this) and then make them look even prettier by using filters and editing apps.  

The important thing is to realize that this is not reality. No one’s life is perfect and although Instagram, Facebook, Twitter may make it seem that way; there is a lot of behind the scenes pictures that were not posted for a reason. Everyone is always so caught up in creating a persona on social media that we forget to express our real feelings. It’s impossible to be “on” 24/7.

Picture Via

Last semester, October was rough for me. My friend and I were both terribly homesick and we would feed off one another. Looking back part of what contributed to my homesickness was the need to constantly compare my college experience with all of my friends. Everyone creates college Facebook albums and while I was sitting in the library on the verge of tears, I would always seem to end up skimming these albums and look at all the fun everyone else was having. I found myself wishing I had gone to a bigger state school where I was closer to home or a school where the academics may not have been as rigorous.

But after looking back and skimming my college album, I realized I was just as guilty. You look through my college album and it looks like activity after activity. I’ll be the first to tell you that it’s a complete lie. Just like Instagram, its missing 90% of my college experience and only highlights the exciting/ fun events. It leaves out the 7+ hours spent in the library or a picture of me sitting in a classroom cramming for a midterm the next day.

For instance, this was a picture that was left off of all social media, well because as you can see, I was caught having a bit of a panic attack on a snow day. I had a ton of work and everyone was outside playing in the snow, and as much as I wanted to be with them I was stuck inside writing a paper. #gettingreal

It’s important to realize the power social media has. It represents you and with all the photo editing apps and now I realize that you can practically make every picture perfect. But it’s okay to post a picture where you might have a big blemish on your face, because that’s completely normal. So in the words of the old Miley Cyrus, “nobody’s perfect” so there is no reason to strive to make it appear that way. 

Post your own photo and tag me in it and hashtag it “#gettingreal” ! I’ll be posting mine today to show everyone the real person behind the colorful instgram and blog. The girl that has meltdowns on a weekly basis (sometimes in the middle of our hallway), the girl that constantly strives to be a perfectionist, the girl that has major anxiety problems, the girl that has frizzy hair and has bitten nails most of the time.  Show everyone the real you, no filters needed!

Disclaimer: Looking back on this post I was in a weird mood and stressed about schoolwork (shocker!).  However I truly do love love love my school and everything it has to offer. I have made life long friends here and I truly wouldn’t change one thing about my college experience. I thought about not posting this, but I think it still has an important message. It’s important to be real, and let others see you be real! No one is bubbly all the time and as much as we would like to portray a flawless image on Instagram or on twitter, that’s just not life. So be careful next time you find yourself wishing you were someone else or somewhere else because of a silly instgram account. I promise there’s a lot of behind the scenes pictures that were not posted for a reason.

Always remember, 

xoxo

Shan