As someone who spends a lot of time on social media, I have to say that I often wish it didn’t exist. While I can’t seem to pry myself away from it, deep down I long for an existence that is more focused on being present and consumed with my own life rather than hundreds (or thousands, even) of others. I wonder what a more anonymous life would look like.

But, this is what we do nowadays. We post, we chat, we upload, we comment, we like (or unlike). And how often do we stop to ask ourselves: how much of this is real?

It’s crazy to me that we are so affected by the social media phenomenon while knowing, on some level, that it’s not an accurate picture of reality. On an intellectual level, it makes sense that we aren’t seeing it all given people don’t post pictures and videos and status updates of their unhappiness and failures. Yet, we still compare our real realities to these very doctored-up ones. I know I do. (P.S. Have you read Why Generation Y Yuppies are So Unhappy? You totally should).

It makes me wonder why exactly we do this. Why we share and compare so much. Why I am so easily convinced that other people have perfect children, blissful marriages, bigger houses, better things, and super successful careers while I sit over here, the odd (wo)man out, struggling to pay bills, nagging my husband unendingly about things that don’t matter, losing my patience with a child who will not sleep, and still trying to figure out what I want to do with my life.

But, really, I know I can’t be alone. Because, as they say, we are all fighting our own hard battle. And many of us are comparing our insides to other people’s outsides.

To that end, I want to say that I hope this blog offers a little more honesty than you find elsewhere. I know that I oftentimes see my writing as rose-colored words even when they are coming from a place of truth so I’d like to push myself to continue to share the hard stuff, as well.

To the truth!