finding a balance.

A few months ago I wrote about some thoughts on blogging, and I've been having some of those same thoughts again. And when I have thoughts, I have to write about them out. At BYU I minored in Communications, and that opened my eyes to the world of social media. At that point all I really had was Facebook and a little tiny blog, and this was back when the blogging world was still this small, underground thing, with only a handful of really popular blogs. Fashion blogging wasn't quite the concept it is today just yet.

Fast forward a few years, and suddenly you can't get social media out of your face — facebook, twitter, vine, instagram, blogger, foursquare, tinder...it's everywhere. And I completely understand why they pull you in — we live in a society where privacy doesn't exist anymore. It's interesting to know the thoughts swirling through other people's heads, we love knowing that we can connect to famous people through a photo app, it's nice reconnecting with people you haven't talked to since high school over messages. I get it. And I'm not knocking it at all. Quite a few bloggers have helped me figure things out. It's helpful to read about the lives of people who might be having or have had very similar experiences as me.

Here's my issue: at what point do we start using social media in a way that makes us feel inferior, in a way that makes us feel like our lives aren't as fun, aren't as interesting, aren't as wealthy, aren't as creative? That's something I've been struggling with. It's easy to scroll through my Instagram account and think, "Hm. Why doesn't my hair do that? You're, like, ten years younger than me. How are you married? If only I could afford those shoes..." It's a pretty vicious cycle. {We all do this, right? Or is it just me?}

Don't get me wrong, it's fun to blog. I do it because I love to write, I love to throw my thoughts out there, I love connecting with people who feel the same. Developing relationships is something that's always been very important to me. Writing has always been the way I process my life. For some people, it's painting. For some it's music. But at what point does blogging become a competition? I've definitely come across a few of those blogs that try so hard to be a copycat of blog A or blog B. My friend Amanda sent out a tweet the other day saying, "I think when you stop blogging, the world rewards you with either a real writing job or a lot less pressure to make your life interesting." I think there's some truth to that.

I guess what I'm saying is, I wish that there was less of a need to compete through social media. I wish there wasn't a need to make our lives look ridiculously perfect. I've always been drawn to people who don't try to hide the problems, because real life is not perfect, and we all know that. I love reading about the bad days, the challenges, the imperfections. Because it reminds me that we all have those. I think if there was more honesty in the world, there would be fewer feelings of inferiority, of thinking, "Why can't my life be like that?"

I know this is long, and if you've checked out of it, I get it. No worries. Like I said, writing helps me process thoughts. This is just something that's been on my mind for a while. What do we do about it? I'd love to hear thoughts! This post isn't really offering a solution, I'm simply asking the question.

P.S. Hopefully this post doesn't come across as mopey. I promise, I'm happy, life is so, so good. :)

P.P.S. The photo of Marilyn has nothing to do with this post, it's just always been a favorite of mine. That, to me, is what happiness can look like.