InstaPerfect

Happy Summer! Sometimes, when I see someone’s ever-so perfectly curated-filtered Instagram posts and stories I am disheartened. Well, all the time if I am being honest. I want to tap on the glass and say, “will the real you please stand up?”  I wonder if they are depressed, insecure, or if they are aware of the “humblebrag” of the post. 

Does this post look familiar? Poor Danny Trejo! The post is not inspirational, instead, it becomes a “whoa! look at me!”  I look at the post, I think, “Is that for real? Or “what message are they trying to say?”  But then, clickbait happens. I hit the rest of the button, and see a perfect “Instagrid” with beautiful filters smiles, stars, duckfaces, skins, glows, and poses. I’m sucked in. 

100 years from now our great-great-grandchildren are going to find our pictures and posts. They will wonder why we have dog ears and mouths on all our pictures and why we were making duck lips. We are actually feeding the machine in our future brains setting us up for different standards. We try to post the perfect pose, sporting the perfect smile without noticing that we just missed the sunset with our family and the conversation they were trying to have with us. 

 When we document our reality we know that we come with bumps, bruises, acne, and fears. We also come with dashed dreams, failures, scars, and failures. We experience loss as well as wins. We also need to process grief and sadness. So oftentimes, our social media only shows the beautiful photoshopped side of us that is barely recognizable. Wouldn’t it be nice to look back and say, “I survived that stuff?”

I’d like to start seeing more real social media life. I hope you do too. You know the stuff. Where we are self-deprecating and wearing our lunch on our new t-shirts. When I smile and you can see the salad on my tooth from lunch and everyone is kind of pointing at me, yet, I think I know what’s going on, but I really don’t. Life without a filter. We learn from our mistakes and we feel real feelings. When we are allowed to feel real feelings it helps us to experience life to the full. Our brains will love that and will start catching on that it is ok to look “normal,” especially in this post-Covid life. Isn’t nice to see people smile again? Let’s start posting our real Instagram story. It would be really refreshing to see people with real smiles, not “airbrushed” faces.

Oh, well - just a thought. I help people find their strengths and lean hard on them, definitely not perfection!  In 6 months, I will help you achieve your goals, get focused, and living with more integrity. Get on a call with me to find out more.