Living my best, authentic life
Yep, this is one of those ‘I’m logging out of Facebook and Instagram for a while posts.’ “Why you, Alejandro?” You ask. Well, there are a couple of reasons that I list below. You can keep on reading or go on with more important things in your life. After all, this is more of a personal exercise, one that happens to be public, and for a reason.
I’m deactivating because:
1. I need fewer distractions in my life.
2. I need to spend more time taking care of my needs.
3. I need to do a better job appreciating myself, my life and my surroundings.
I think I’ve gotten to a point where looking at everyone else’s lives has made me very judgemental of my own. I am tired of consciously and subconsciously comparing myself to others, of never being satisfied with what I have or don’t have.
“But Alejandro, your life looks awesome!” And, yes, it does. However, we all know that what we put out in the world is half the story. We share our victories but repress our losses. We propagate our beliefs but are hesitant of displaying our fears. We publicize glamour but hide the rawness that we, more often than not, experience in our daily lives.
I shall be clear; there is entirely nothing wrong with sharing our lives with others. Going against it is going against human nature. There’s also nothing wrong with living joy, anger, sadness or laughter through other people’s stories. However, what’s wrong is that we take all those stories as guidelines of what we ought to do or have next.
Facebook and Instagram are not recipe books for success, though we believe otherwise. We can’t all have six packs, or the perfect wedding, or the most beautiful children (be human, canine, or feline). We can’t all be in Forbes 30 Under 30 or in the latest issue of our respective alumni magazine. These are great goals and aspirations, albeit not for everyone. And because they aren’t for everyone, we ought not to feel like our lives are incomplete, or lackluster, or boring for not resembling that which we’re presented with every scroll.
I left a city I adore, friends that are worth trillions, and someone whom I love very very much partly because I was afraid I was being ‘left behind’ or not ‘moving forward’ fast enough. I saw, or rather, Facebook and Instagram showed me that friends and acquaintances were doing and achieving incredible things. I felt proud of them, of course. But, at the same time, I panicked. I panicked because my life wasn’t at all what theirs was. My situation, though incredibly privileged, didn’t look like theirs and I wanted what they had.
I made a difficult choice that I know will ultimately benefit me. However, I often wonder if I rushed such decision due to social media pressure. Whether I did rush it or not, here I am, taking a break from social media and re-learning how to appreciate my life for all it is: victories and losses, beliefs and fears, glamour and rawness. Once I ‘double-tap’ my own life, I’ll be back online, happy to see what you’re up to and happier to feel that what I’m doing, regardless of how conventional or unconventional it may be, is absolutely perfect as is.
