Perception

One of my favorite memes to pass through Facebook stated: The problem is you are comparing your behind the scenes to someone else’s highlight reel. How true! None of us are exempt. I have perceptions of other’s lives based on their posts just as others have a perception of my life through my posts.

It’s easy to allow social media posts to influence how we feel about ourselves and our life situations. But we need to keep it in perspective. We don’t know the truth behind the pictures, the reality behind their words or their struggles behind the memes.

Here is my perfect example. I recently went to Anna Maria Island on the west coast of Florida. I was on the beach at sunset. I was taking photographs, as well as a 15 second video of the water as the sun set. It was beautiful! I posted the recording on my accounts and titled it “15 seconds of calm”. The responses were positive, it received likes and hearts and there was even a comment “It looks like gold is falling on the water!”. Lovely. What was not seen was the dead fish that littered the shoreline because the west coast of Florida is experiencing it’s worst red tide event EVER. You don’t see the carcasses, you don’t smell the odor emanating from the shore and you can’t tell the normally blue-green water is now the color of sewage. Perception.

Next time you’re perusing Facebook and you feel a little unworthy, discouraged, self-conscious, depressed or less than, keep this example in mind. You just don’t know the full story. Much love!