A Non-Instagram Life

I've been noticing something happening a lot lately. Phone in hand, Instagram on screen, I hear people say, 

"Why can't I look like that."

"Oh my, she's literally perfect."

"She has the perfect family."

And such. I even say it sometimes too, when I see a picture of a particularly beautiful girl or cute outfit, or, or, or, or...

I wonder why my life doesn't look as happy as the photo on Instagram/Pinterest/Facebook. I wonder what people do to make their lives so perfect. I see their pictures and I wonder what I'm doing wrong: why don't I feel that happy/beautiful/confident all the time like they do?

Then I take a second to think and I ask myself: 

What in the world am I doing comparing my LIFE to a PICTURE?

My camera, which is a pretty nice DSLR, can capture a snapshot in approximately five hundredths of a second, and I think that is someone's life? I see a snapshot of perfect curls, a beautiful smile, impeccable make-up and somehow convince myself that that is the life they are living.

Well, note to self:

"Their life does not look like it does on Instagram/Pinterest/Facebook. And neither does yours."

At any given time, you most likely will NOT find me in a newly-sewn dress with my hair curled, or a newly-sewn skirt, holding an umbrella, looking contemplatively out toward a romantically stormy sky.

Wanna know why? Because we document the times that are happy for us. The good things we do or that happen to us. We live in a very individualistic and independent society where asking for help or appearing dependent on someone or something else is frowned upon. Unless we need the attention, why would we post our struggles or our doubts or our moments of weakness?

 I don't do a self-portrait of myself right after I've cried, with my mascara streaming, red eyes, and hair in a frizzy mess. I take pictures of myself and document moments in my life when I'm happy or feel pretty.

Believe me when I say it: I DON'T ALWAYS LOOK LIKE THIS.

In fact, I hardly EVER do.

But there are lots of times that I wear my blue silky pajama pants and force a smile

or when I don't even force a smile

or when I get scared

or when I just slick my hair back with a head band because I just don't care

or when I tie a purple bandanna with the knot on top instead of a headband

or when I'm happy, but I still just don't look so good.

 Lots of days, I don't do my hair. I wear sweatshirts a lot. I don't cook delicious and healthy meals. I don't do really exciting stuff. I don't wake up looking all nice and pretty. I sometimes feel sad and lonely. 

But some days, I do my hair, or cook a nice meal, or do something exciting. And those are the days when I take pictures. And that's okay! Just as long as I remind myself that the situation is similar for most of the people in the world.

Basically, my point is that people aren't perfect. This especially includes me. I'm going to try to remember that the next time I see what looks like a picture of a "perfectly" happy person with "perfect" hair and a "perfect" body and a "perfect" smile and a "perfect" life.

So here's to the Non-Intagram Life, because with one exception, NO ONE IS PERFECT, even if their Instagram makes them look like it:

Perfection is a myth, and that's okay.

xoxo CPTVPT