We Never Enjoy the Life We Have

The rise of social media has been (rightfully) blamed for many things, but one thing that cannot be pinned to it is our constantly looking elsewhere rather than being in the now. Humans have been doing this for eons. Only now all of this is public. And it has made us miserable.

After all, the phrase “The grass is always greener…” predates every website by decades. Like many things, the Internet didn’t invent this facet of human nature, but instead simply brought it into the light.

At one time or another, we’ve all had the feeling that we’re being left out, that we were forgotten or, worse, excluded. Now, those fears are often validated by a Facebook post or an Instagram photo. We see that and think, “I wish I were there. Why didn’t they invite me?” However, more often than not, if we were there, many of us would be thinking, “I wish I were chilling at home right now.”

We always want the opposite of whatever it is we have, if only because we’re not entirely sure what we want.

I’ve been experiencing this myself lately. I worked for a decade to secure my current job, but I’ve recently been missing my old gig, even though this job is better in almost every way and the only way I would go back is if it were the only way to prevent my daughter from starving. But I still think about it.