I Woke Up Like This.
The attention you receive on social media has become a form of currency and social status. Having any sort of social media account that has a large following becomes an asset. Companies will pay money for an account that has already obtained a fan base and turn it into a marketing platform. Depending how many follows and likes an account has determines whether or not the account is legit and trustworthy.
When looking at anything online it is hard to tell what is real and what is fake. We often forget how much work actually goes into posting anything online. No one is perfect and no one natural looks flawless. When a Model or a celebrity post a picture anywhere it goes through countless people to ensure it is perfect and maintains or boosts their social status. The photo that they post has gone through editing software making their skin appear flawless and their body look skinny and curvy in all the right places. We go online and we see this picture of “perfection” and automatically start thinking that they just woke up that. This leads us to comparing ourselves to them. This can really affect ones self-esteem as this idea of perfection is display everywhere and is legit not attainable.
The way to practice self-care online is to try and see pictures that people post at a different angle (not literally). I try and think about all the effort that went into trying to make that photo look picture perfect. The makeup, the lighting, the clothes, the camera, the filter, the editing the list can go on, there can be a million things that go into a simply picture that we do not think about.
Another thing that I try to do but find extremely difficult is not compare myself to others, this is something is just second nature to me that when I look at a picture I automatically start comparing everything about that person to myself which is 100% wrong.
Having the mind set that everyone is beautiful is easy when talking about anyone but when it comes to yourself this can be a challenge. It’s always different when its personal, which is something I have learned the hard way. We must develop skills to protect our emotional and mental health online. Learning to not take things that are online so seriously can make a huge difference; learn to laugh things off, you don’t need to get defensive. Everyone always feels bigger behind a screen. Also picking and choosing who you want to follow and who follows you can help as it will filter what you get to see and who has permission to see your content. Sometimes it can be as easy as taking sometime away from the online world and just focusing on you. Self-care isn’t something that you only do when you feel overwhelmed online, self-care should be practiced all the time. Remember self-care is about you and what you need in order to feel good. Always do more of what you love and love what you do.
