The topic I am about to share has been on my mind for quite some time. Have you scrolled through your social media timeline and noticed the celebratory posts regarding someone’s accomplishment? The person may have received a job promotion, a better job, a new man, new baby, new house etc. How did seeing those posts make you feel? Did it make you think back on what you are doing with your life? Did you start to count your “short comings”? I am not going to lie and say I did not compare my life to another person’s social media post. For instance, when I saw someone get a new job and post about it, I would be happy for them but at the same time I would question myself on what I am doing with my life. I used to be the one who measured my life based on what someone else was doing. When someone entered into a new relationship, I would be like, “dang, why am I still single or I would be like I wish I could have someone to call my own”. It got to the point where I blocked people from my timeline who I felt had a better life than me.
There are many people who I talked to who shared the same sentiment as I did. Our issue was using social media to validate our success in life. Using social media to measure yourself is a detrimental thing to do. My friend shared that she became depressed when watching other’s success. I can admit, that I also became depressed.
I want you to understand that the people you see posting on social media is on a different journey than what you are on. What you see them accomplishing and the moves they are making are not for you at this time. The person who you see posting their wonderful news probably had to put in work that was not shared on their social media. You do not know what they went through to get to where they’re at. It is OK to look at someone’s success and use it as motivation but when you use it to put yourself down is a problem.
One of the things that helped me was keeping a gratitude journal. I would write down everything that I am grateful for at this time. Whenever I started to feel like crap, the gratitude journal served as an uplifting mood booster. I also started to have faith and trust the timing of my life..which I will write about in my next post.
P.S: This is a step on the journey I am still going through.
What are some things you are grateful for? How do you overcome the social media woes? Share them in the comment section below.
