Beyond the Likes | Anonymous

Aristotle once said that “Happiness depends on ourselves.” And though you may be thinking, “Well, of course it does! Who else would it depend on?” In our society, I see more and more of happiness being defined by how well an individual can present themselves to the world. People see happiness as having what others wish they could have. This is only made worse with the rise of influencers. These idyllic social media personalities flaunt their unrealistic lives in our faces every chance they get, whether it be their multi million dollar New York City penthouse at the ripe age of 21, or spending their weekends yachting off the coast of France, and though this social media content often gets brushed off as everyone’s guilty pleasure to watch, it is actually a catalyst for toxic comparison and the debilitating, gut-punching illness that is FOMO, or “fear of missing out”. Don’t get me wrong, I myself enjoy catching up on the latest influencer wedding at a sprawling Lake Como mansion or looking up the outrageous cost of a dress I saw a Tiktoker wear, just for kicks and giggles. But I think the importance of it is to understand that people only post the best versions of themselves, the best days in their lives, an illusion of what the real human experience is. If everyone could understand that, I guarantee society would be much happier as a whole. The most important thing in life is not what you have, but who you have. It's all up to you to forge amazing relationships with friends and family, because in the end that's all that really matters. 

People are like Chameleons, if their environment is healthy and happy, they can be too. My best piece of advice that I’d like to put forward is to make your circle of friends the types of people you want to be. And no, nobody is perfect so don’t stress about that, but if your friends are treating you right and make you feel valued, you know you’ve got it right! I know this may sound obvious, but I have definitely been in a situation where the people I was choosing to spend my time with were making me very hard on myself, just as people are comparing themselves to social media personalities.. Thankfully, I moved past that time in my life and I know who my true friends are and I can focus more on being a good friend than worrying about if my friends are treating me nicely. With all of that being said, please stop focusing on what “trust-fund Barbie” posts on her instagram and go spend time with the people in your life that make you happy…because their love in fact, is not an illusion.