A world of two lives
The world has become a place centered around technology, creating incredible opportunities for everyone in it. Having the ability to spread your story across the world is one of those opportunities, and we take full advantage of it. Every post we make, every follower we get, is another opportunity for us to tell our story. Unfortunately, the story that most of us tell isn’t the real one. We live in a world of two lives: perceived life, and real life.
We create an alternate life, a life that we want everyone to think is the life we live. We take pictures that represent a small piece of our reality, doctor them, and post them for the world to see. We stand by waiting for approval from society in the form of likes and comments, excited to see how many people recognize our “incredible” life. This is our perceived life. And because almost everyone does this, you begin to judge others off of their perceived life. You see them on vacation, going out at night, owning fancy things, and believe that is what their life is like. You see their perceived life as their real life. And in almost every case, this is not the truth.
Everyone experiences hardship; everyone experiences tough times. To judge people based on their social media page is unrealistic and dangerous. When we judge people based off of something that isn’t real, it is easy to be tricked. We begin to think we know people, when really, all you know is what they want you to know. And when you judge people based off of their perceived life, you begin to judge yourself. You see your “friends” living what seems like an amazing life, and know the hard times you are going through. You believe that no one else is going through anything hard, and put yourself down because of it.
Comparing yourself to other people is one of the most dangerous things you can do. You don’t want the same things as them, so stop wasting time wishing you lived their life. There is often more to the picture than what you can see. Always remember, even though they don’t post about it, their life isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Quite frankly, everyone is going through some shit.
I encourage you to lessen the gap between your perceived life and real life. Live one life. Your real story is plenty worthy of being told, so don’t be scared to tell it. I encourage you to use your presence, on whatever platform it is, to impact others in a positive way and not chase likes. The amount of followers you have doesn’t define you. The amount of likes you receive doesn’t define you. But the life you live does. You get one real life to live. You can either spend it living it, or running away from it. The choice is yours.