I find it fascinating that in this age, we get to see how others live their life. Though it’s not the big picture of their life, you could peek at their picture perfect life from many shared on social media. While I was growing up, I don’t think people around me were that obsessed about showing and flaunting their daily life. Life was much more mysterious and closed but now, we somehow take strangers peeking into one of the most intimate moments in our life. As much as I find that concept rather disturbing but the pretty pictures and aesthetic of this content still lures me to peek and sometimes tempt me to share these. Maybe this is the year when I’ll stop checking them out as I often feel bad knowing that my daily routine is pretty mediocre. I certainly work out and I am pretty strict about it but what makes it different is that I don’t wake up from a nice house or a penthouse. These comparisons used to bother me up until now, I realized that I am pretty fine as a person. I don’t think anything is wrong but there’s only room for improvements to my daily habit so that I become a better person than yesterday or my past self.
My obsession over that kind of content has quite an advantage and disadvantage. It all boils down to how I start seeing it over time when I start having envy and turning into a motivational approach. When I saw people have aesthetic set up, I used to wonder, why can’t I be like them? But as I grow older, I just see it as a motivation that I can live my life without having to filter anything. I suppose, I just get more comfortable being myself more than I used to. I began to love the kind of aesthetic that I have. I think by embracing our self and its quirkiness that is also what separates us from others —It is what makes us unique and human. However, the disadvantage of it would be the time I spent on nurturing the jealousy in me that sort of wastes time. In any way, envy isn’t great and it only consumes us when it’s not controlled. I suppose, my hypercompetitive self thrives in comparison but it’s something that has changed. I do not let envy dictate what I do anymore nor the comparison that anyone put on me. I do what I have to do and what I want to do.
However, these daily content can be pretty motivational too as I get to see certain people do their job and activity. I am also mostly checking out the people that have the job I wanted or the people with the same job. Some of you might think that daily routines are mundane but these creators can make mundane things into something aesthetic and pique people’s interest. That just speaks to the volume that great things sometimes come from anything mundane. Just like I learned that stone can be invaluable but when it is shaped in a certain way, repackaged, and rebranded, it would have even more value.
At the same time, I noticed that these days I am also disinterested in checking instagram, tiktok, and even anything hip that everyone is up to. Although for trend research purposes, once in a blue moon I would hop on these and check out what everyone's buzzing about. Years ago, I would get into these apps almost daily and realize how shit my life is, whereas it’s actually not bad at all. After a while of not being on instagram, just yesterday for example, I saw a girl posting about quitting corporate life, 9-5 in the US and choosing to move to the rural side and work at a coffee shop as she finds it exhausting and wanting some novelty after depression and break up. The comment section was pretty horrendous. It all ranges from “ privileged”, “ having a sugar daddy”, and that she should not even share it. Maybe she kinda does and maybe she doesn’t. The comments were also mentioning how she could live with low wages and that responsibility may catch up to her sooner. I suppose since even $3000 isn’t enough to live in some states in the US lately, I can imagine these people outrage. But maybe she has parents and she’s OK living with them. Since on the side, she’s doing social media, I am sure she’s making from it too as side income, so I don’t think that’s bad at all. I find that people find it odd when someone is resenting 9-5 and has their own way to make a living. Inherently, these days web2 is filled with outrage and cancellation that it’s not worth the time to even check there. It has become even more toxic than I remembered. That is also why I don’t spend much time on it anymore. I am perhaps being biased on my judgment but these days I just check youtube, reddit, and well, 4chan on the side and some small tech forums. I don’t take reddit and 4 chan seriously but it’s pretty nice to channel my inner troll once in a while. At the same time, I don’t really have strategies to limit everything. I just make sure that my life is filled with boundless activity that keeps me from being bored because boredom means time for checking out the thing that would only fill my brain with less important information.
Well again, social media isn’t everything. Whatever you see online may not be everything even more these days. As a late zoomer, we can’t help but grow up among these and some of us learned a little too late that we have to be kind even to ourselves and everything we see could only be the surface. Even for me, I was late to it and only in recent years, I learned that the world is full of curated lives. My important lesson is that whenever my life doesn’t go the way it is planned, never go on social media that thrives on comparison.
In the end, you get to choose who you become and I personally choose to develop myself better than yesterday. And I am trying my best to find the balance between everything in my life even sometimes I experience failure in my attempt to do so.
 | 𝘔𝘢𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘢 & 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘳 . 𝘈 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨, 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯! 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘱𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘈 𝘳𝘦-𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘰. |
Love it Mac! just last week I went through a health situation quite exhausting, I felt really bad, I posted during the week, but the reality was that, I swear! I felt like I was dying, at that moment I don't know what was activated in me, but I started to analyze some things you say in this post.
I decided to stop spending so much time on social networks, (although I really only follow Korean artists on instagram and really only use that social network and twitter I use it very little) the thing is that I realized what you say, social networks encourage us to feel envy for what others have and not to focus on our own life and live for us.
I wish at your age I would have had such deep thoughts, at that time I only lived the day to day exploitation work in the hospital, nothing to worry about my physical health and less for the mental, so I admire you, because you focus on what you like and I encourage you, no matter what others say, you stand firm in doing what you want.
I tell you this from a person who lived most of his life just to work and help others, but in the end he got nothing, only diseases, what really matters in life is to be happy with ourselves.
Greetings @macchiata 🤗💞.
I hug you, I keep learning from you every time I read you.
I am sure that if you were given a lot of time to explore things on your own, you'd come up to such conclusion as well. Please take rest when you think that life is too much. These days, life gets harder not because you're not doing enough but the environment around us are factors too. Things just get more expensive, more stressful, and the culture is all about comparison. Having more sanity these days is a real challenge. That's why, just take your time and enjoy life as is 😊. I hope you're feeling much better.
I've been feeling much better these days @macchiata, thanks for the get well wishes. I know I will be totally healthy soon 🙏🏼. It was necessary to go through that to move forward 🤗.
Choosing the path on how we will become is one of the most important thing in this world. No matter how messy our life is sometimes, we mustn't forget this priviledge that we have.
Doing this one will open a lot of doors for us especially if we will focus in our selves than to compare it on people we see around us or in social medias.
Sometimes we just can't help it especially if we grow up in an environment where we are always being compared to another person. And like you said, by not comparing ourselves we can open doors to opportunities.
We have to that. Life with a lot of comparison is just too messy.
Being so exposed to social media naturally impacts our perception of the world and even ourselves, the content we consume can inspire as well as demotivate, I have also had moments where comparisons and self-critical thoughts arise in my mind about "why am I not at that point in my life too?", and "Am I trying hard enough to achieve the things I want?". I try to use social media as a source of inspiration and growth by following accounts that interest me and increase some knowledge, but lately I'm considering taking a break from it, at the end of the day I try to remember that what we see on the screen is only a small part of a person's life and that it's okay the path we are following, there is no need to get frustrated!
Much like you, I also follow the accounts that are mostly giving me inspiration to grow and motivate me though at times, my feed recommended those account that only light up a bit of jealousy in me. Thanks for leaving this thoughtful comments and sharing your experience with it.
Hi @macchiata! Very interesting your approach. To a large extent I try to stay away from social networks, I consider them highly harmful, if we don't know how to control what we see and attend through them.
That's true, I think it's what largely drives me to hive as well that we get to control the feed that we see unlike other social network that basically spoon feed us with the things that perhaps irrelevant to our interest and life.
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