While I almost have been too busy to take a moment for myself to reflect on this past year, there is one special topic I have been wanting to write a few words about for quite a time. Not only because I am studying media communication, but also because I do spend a lot too much time on the internet, I am critically, yet - considering some positive developments - favourably, observing, how the world wide web is changing and how we are all using it, how we participate in that huge virtual space.
What I really, really wanted to speak out about after all that time of observation in 2013 is one fact: what you see is hardly ever representing reality! The net is a wonderful place, indeed, and we all know about certain traps and dangers, too. But what I discovered as one of the greatest hazards, is that the oh so picturesque virtual world changes one's idea of reality, just like Walt Disney did about love or whatever emotions come with the cute, yet irrational movies.
With Pinterest and instagram and partly blogs, too, we are surrounded by perfectly styled, relaxed, beautiful, skinny, sporty and happy people all of the time. Surely, they all live in neatly decorated houses with their stepford neighborhoods and perfect kids. Their weddings are beyond marvelous and it goes without saying that they all do get their happily ever afters. But you know what? They don't. And please do not get me wrong - I am not as pessimistic as I may seem now, it's only that I discovered how much I changed throughout the year just by having those wrong conceptions of other people whom I don't even know personally, in mind. And that is when you start comparing your life, your budget or even your wardrobe to others. Comparison is the key to an unsatisfied life and will lead you nowhere else than to a frustrated version of yourself that you'll most likely never love and accept fully.
Now, what was my intention about this post and which message do I wanna spread? In the first place, I needed to accept the fact that the glamorous and happy-go-lucky pictures online do not represent people's lives - they're more like snapshots of happy occasions and the way they - we all - want to represent ourselves to the outside world. And with that lesson still to be learned, I wanted to, on the one hand let this past year go and on the other hand, tell ya'll that people might suffer much more than you could ever know, much more than you could ever tell by their pictures, blogs or social media profiles. Sometimes, they need these happy images to even remind themselves of the blessed life they have.
Happy, happy new year to all of you and a big thank you for being such an honest and lovely community on Stereotypically Me!
Love, Julie.
Toller Beitrag und ich stimme dir voll und ganz zu: Man sollte mit dem zufrieden sein, was man hat und sich nicht mit anderen vergleichen, damit macht man nur sich selbst unglücklich. xx Julia
ReplyDelete