I hear so much talk lately of how social media - Instagram in particular - is a horrible thing that's making us feel dissatisfied with our lives. But you know what? That honestly sounds more like a symptom than the disease to me. Because if you look our society, you'll soon realize that our entire culture is built around making us feel dissatisfied with our lives. That sounds extreme, perhaps, but on some level it's true.
We live in a consumer culture that is constantly trying to convince us that we need things to improve our lives and be happier. Of course we're going to feel that way when we scroll through a feed of perfectly curated Instagram posts. The remedy isn't to get rid of Instagram (though I'm sure it can be helpful in some situations). It's to reevaluate our priorities and redefine success. When you think success equates to how much money you have, how many vacations you take, or how many cute outfits you can buy, you are bound to be dissatisfied, social media or not.
You know what I do when I come across a photo on Instagram of someone vacationing to some foreign location I'd love to go to? I look for the the joy and wonder in my own life. It's surprisingly easy to find it. Sometimes it looks like creating something (even, ironically, an Instagram post), because that makes me feel alive and happy. Sometimes it looks like texting a friend to go see a movie. Sometimes it simply looks like studying my surroundings and being amazed that life can be both ordinary and beautiful.
I'm not immune from the temptation to compare, trust me. But I don't think the best remedy is to pretend other people don't have the things we desire. It's far more effective, I think, to reevaluate why we desire those things and determine whether or not they are worth pursuing. And even when others have those things we want that are worth pursuing, we don't have to live in constant comparison if we recognize the beauty and uniqueness of the things we do have that someone else would gladly trade for.
Because you know what's more powerful than not being exposed to people who have (or pretend to have) "better" lives than us? Being exposed to them, and not envying them at all. Because we can see the value in our own imperfect - but wildly beautiful - lives.
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