Throughout our days, we see hundreds and hundreds of pictures online. Most of the time its pictures that while they may seem inspiring at first, sometimes they aren't. A lot pictures we see actually make us feel worse about ourselves. Some pictures cause us to compare our lives to that of something that was never real in the first place. Take this picture for instance, one of the most beautiful photos of me doing "yoga". If I weren't me, I would look at this picture and think how peaceful and adventurous this person's life must be. How much better my life would be if I did things like yoga on top of a waterfall in the mountains. And while I must say that I definitely strive for peace + adventure in my everyday life, its not always the way it is. In fact, the day I took this picture was the first day I had an anxiety attack. I didn't even know what it was. My dad was visiting and I was actually really hungover and we went for a drive to this waterfall near the town I live in. I forgot my epi-pen (I'm allergic to wasps) so we had to go back to town and I hate car rides. The moment we started leaving town again, I was suddenly overcome by this overwhelming sensation of fear, this fear of impending doom. I felt like there was no way I wasn't dying. I did some pranayama to try to overcome my anxiety attack and it kind of worked, but not totally. Anyways, amongst the anxiety, I managed to do dancer's pose near the waterfall and my dad took a picture of it. So there you have it. A picture you might look at, compare your life to, and feel inadequate or boring in comparison. So no, I don't look at this picture and think of how peaceful and adventurous my life is. I look at this and see a picture of me being feeling very anxious about 50ft away from the car. Not all that peaceful or adventurous after all.
What I'm getting at is that things aren't always what they seem. Don't compare your life to the pictures you see online. Don't compare your life to other people. No one has a 'perfect' life. No one is happy all the time. And you're honestly just comparing your life to an ideal that doesn't exist. Next time you see a picture that inspires you, let it be just that: inspiration. There's no need to compare, label, or judge. Let the inspiration fuel you into making your own dreams a reality. So if by any chance, someone looked at this picture of me, anxious AF on top of a waterfall and it then inspired them to go do yoga or do something fun outside: mission accomplished. Maybe that person will go on to inspire someone else to do the same and so on and so on until everyone in the world is happy AF doing things they love doing. That's my goal. That's why I continue to post on social media. Despite the times I often feel like a hypocrite for feeling sad, angry, or anxious and encouraging others to be happy. We're all just doing the best we can. Day in and day out.
xo Jessica