I’m going to share with you the biggest truth about life. Well… it’s boring. That’s right. But it’s not really a bad thing. Everyone’s life, no matter how big or small, gets boring. I’ll go as far as to say that even Beyonce’s life is boring, but probably less so than others simply because she’s Queen B. But before you snort at me from behind a screen and decide this post is not really worth reading, let me explain why I think life is boring. And why I think it’s important to remember about that.
Whenever I scroll through social media, and believe me I do that a lot, it seems that at least 78% of the people I follow or am friends with online have perfect lives. They eat healthy breakfasts and go to the gym whilst I sit in bed until midday, smash their tasks at work and then have time and energy to go out in the evening with their neverending group of friends. In the meantime, they travel at least once a month, because why not. It leaves me feeling that my life sucks because the most exciting thing I ever do is decide what I want to watch on Netflix.
And that’s not all. Apart from all the people we know and stalk on social media, there are the ‘big’ people. Our role models. The icons of the high lifestyle. We’ve got vloggers, bloggers, actors, singers, models and quite possibly all the people you can think of who could start up a revolution thanks to their massive social following. We get so sucked into their perfect lives we forget about our own. The vision of what we could have suppresses the sight of what we already have, because once you start comparing your life to theirs, well, it doesn’t seem like much.
Let’s take into consideration an average day for, let’s say, Bob. He gets up in the morning, gets on the tube during the rush hour trying not to look at anyone (God forbid you look at anyone on the tube), works his ass off for a vast majority of the day, gets back on the tube during another rush hour only to get back home, order a takeaway and fall asleep in front of TV. It’s not the most Insta-worthy vision and certainly not something that would be considered ‘exciting’. But if we look at any big vlogger it seems that their average day consists of going out, meeting friends and being constantly busy with something the average Bob can only dream of finding time for. I mean, fair play to them, they work very hard for what they’ve got, but that’s not the point.
We’re all guilty of picking the perfect images for our social media to pretend our lives are amazing and everyone in the 100 miles radius should be jealous of it. No one in the right mind would share a photo of them being upset, their burnt dinner or shared a status about losing their job. We spend most of our days trying to impress people most of whom we don’t even care about. We base our worth on the number of likes and views letting it fuel our self-confidence for a mere day at max. And if we get fewer likes than that girl from primary school we’ve been competing with for however many years for a reason no one actually knows, then that tiny bit of self-worth goes tumbling down.
But the comforting truth about life is the fact that everyone’s lives are boring. Some may be less boring than others, but I promise you everyone gets bored. We get stuck in our routines of home-work-home and feel a lot more comfortable without a bra and in PJs. The only thing really getting in the way of us embracing this boredom of life is social media and the fake picture of perfection it presents. But once you realise that everyone is more or less bored with their lives, you can learn to accept it and seek comfort in it. This is why I love people who produce honest and raw content. The ones who are not afraid to show that they too make mistakes and their lives are far from perfect. Because no one does exciting things on an everyday basis, have you ever thought about that?
If you made it this far, then thank you for giving me these 5 minutes of your attention. I hope this post left you feeling a bit better about sitting in your PJs all day. We all do it. So go on and binge-watch another TV show because that’s what life is all about, really.
Until next time xx
What are your thoughts about it?
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Tags : boring life, learn to embrace the boredom of life, perfect life, perfectionism, social media, the truth about life
Appearances can often be deceptive. Social media provides people with a platform to make their lives look a lot more interesting and exciting than is actually the case in reality. Which brings me to my next point! Social media offers people an escape from reality – because it allows people to edit and select the best parts of their lives and present them to the world as the norm – when in fact nothing could be further from the truth!
Exactly! And by comparing their everyday lives to what others selectively put online people feel worse about themselves and in turn try and spruce up their online lives.
In reality, most people’s lives are dull and tedious. Life generally consists of daily routines that need to be maintained. For example, we get up, walk the dog, go to work, get home, walk the dog, hit the gym, cook dinner, watch a film, go to bed.
No one is going to present this version of reality to the world where everyone gets to judge and comment.
On social media, people present the best versions of themselves, not the real versions! Above all else, one must remember that people who are active on social networks feel a need to prove something and to show other people that they are living a fulfilled life.
Personally, I think many people have an unquenchable thirst for recognition on social media. Everyone is seeking an audience – it’s that desire to be famous and popular which truly lies at the heart of the matter.
Well said! I agree with everything you mentioned, the pressure to prove to others on social media that you’re better than your friends and that somehow your life is so much more exciting can drive you insane. The desire for popularity very often comes from an overwhelming need to feel accepted and loved and many people think their self-value is based on the number of followers they have or the likes they got. It’s a very dangerous game because what happens to one’s self-esteem when all of a sudden they lose their online fame?
Precisely. Women, in particular, seem to measure their self-worth based on the amount of ‘likes’ that they get.
I don’t understand this at all. Social media resides in the virtual world not the real one. People present a curated version of themselves online and this is so self-evident when viewed from an objective standpoint.
Social media only seems to cheapen the core value of a woman – particularly on attention-seeking platforms like ‘Instagram’ and ‘Facebook’. It seems to me that any high value woman who is confident and secure – would feel neither the need nor desire to post any aspect of her life on social media. The same principle applies to a man.
There are positive aspects to social media, although I strongly believe that it is far more detrimental on the whole. Nothing is ever as good as it seems.
Furthermore, I tend to see to irony in everything. I can see no ‘SOCIAL’ in social media – because all your communications are taking place through a computer screen. Being social involves interacting with people face-to-face, developing true friendships. I would argue that ‘social media’ is more of an ‘enabler’ where people can arrange to meet up and organize social events. It certainly doesn’t fit the description of ‘social’, however!
I absolutely agree with that. However, in today’s world where everyone is trying and working hard to make a living, it can be very difficult to keep the social part of the life and meet up with friends. Many of my own friends are so busy it can take them days to reply and I am guilty of doing so as well. Many people, whilst working to make a living, forget to make a life. We’re not going to remember all those times we worked long hours without a break for years on end. What we’ll want to talk about are all those moments we made memories worth talking about. Social media definitely helps in keeping the memories alive since all people post is the times worth showing off.
I can definitely agree with the irony of it being ‘social’ as it’s more for keeping friendships afloat and making you feel better if you check up on your friends every now and then via a Facebook message due to lack of time to actually be social in real life.
I’d say that my life is pretty boring but I love it! I love spending my days at home studying and working. I’ve followed so many vloggers and bloggers for a long time and they always say in their vlogs that their lives aren’t like that all the time. It’s so important to try and not compare your life to anyone else’s as anyone can make their life look glamorous through social media 🙂 x
Anu | Based On blog
Preach it girl! I’ve spent so much time trying to figure out what my life was missing because I was comparing it to others’ and I was never happy with it. Now that I’ve accepted it’s not always excitement and fireworks in life I feel a lot better 🙂
This is so extremely true and I actually really needed to read it! Nothing is ever as perfect as it seems on social media and I always have to remind myself of that. Sometimes I feel exactly like Bob, it’s just home, work, gym, home, sleep and do it all over again. But you’re right, this is what the majority of people do and that’s okay! Although I wish I was going on fancy holidays and meeting friends every day, it’s perfectly okay to just be who I am x
Alice http://www.accordingtoalicex.com
Thank you! Boring parts don’t make it to social media which is important to remember. And it makes going on holidays and meeting friends so much more special if you don’t do it all the time!
Unless your a millionaire, you’re stuck in a routine. All of us are. This is reality. People on social media present a carefully crafted version of themselves which does not reflect reality. We all have to work, etc and life generally consists of duties, responsibilities and routines.
This does not make for exciting news and will not find it’s way on to social media platforms where everyone is trying to convince each other that they are leading super awesome lives. THEY ARE NOT. The hours don’t exist in the day for it. It’s that simple.
You are enough in yourself. Never forget that. Your self-respect comes before everything and nothing is ever as it seems!
Totally loved this post! That’s one of the downsides of social media is that we don’t know much of a post is manufactured or real.
Exactly! I’m so glad you liked it <3
I cannot tell you the amount of friends I have who’s lives look like a dream on social media and then I’ll meet up with them for a catch-up coffee and everything’s really falling to crap or they’re unhappy in their “perfect” relationship or “perfect” job. No one is as happy as they say they are on social media, it’s all a show for (like you said) people they rarely see or care about. I’m content in my boring life and who cares 🙂
Alice Xx
Yes, girl! The last sentence should be a quote and be put on all stationary.
I think everyone has boring days/periods in their lives regardless of what they may show on Instagram or on camera. I mean, everyone has to eat, do their laundry, most people enjoy sitting watching TV from time to time, yet we don’t show these aspects of our lives to people on the internet because they’re, well, boring and thus don’t bring any value or entertainment to our audiences. I really enjoyed reading this post, it is very well written and covers a topic that many of us may not have otherwise thought about!
That’s so right! Still, sometimes when we entertain our audience it may feel others feel like their lives are not as exciting because we all show this cool stuff online. But then no one would really put a photo of their laundry up on Instagram. I do follow a couple of accounts that do have very real and honest captions under their perfect photos which I think makes it so much more real. Thank you for your comment! I like to make people think about different things 😀
This post is definitely accurate. Some days I feel like a million bucks because I’ve got so much done and other days I think I have become part of my couch while watching Netflix. XOXO.
http://www.deltahoteljuliet.com
Don’t we all haha 😀 especially now that Friends is on there
This was a great post! When you said life is boring, I was confused, because most of the time, I don’t think my life is boring at all! By the end of the post, I found myself completely relating to you agreeing with what you had to say. xx
Melina | http://www.ivefoundwaldo.com
Tricked you! Haha I didn’t mean that life is boring in general, it just consists of some boring things people never talk about. I’m happy you liked it!
This post is so true and real. I often feel like my life is boring compared to others especially people on social media. Everyone seems to have these perfect, amazing lives on social media. I often don’t get up until I can be bothered, I don’t get most of my tasks done and I often look a mess and can’t be bothered to get ready. But I guess it’s a life I love and enjoy so I’ll take it over a high maintenance life x
Brooke
brooke-pearson.co.uk
What a great comment! I relate to this so much. I often feel like I should be up by 6am and by 9am I should already have gone to the gym, wrote 10 posts, applied for 15 jobs and ate a beautifully presented avocado on toast if I want to be productive. When in reality I’m not productive at all in the mornings, not because I don’t want to, I just work better later in the day. And don’t worry, if I don’t have to very often I can’t even be bothered to wash my hair. It’s still my life though and just because it’s not all insta-worthy it doesn’t mean it’s not good.
I definitely agree with you! Though sometimes it’s really hard not to be envious of someone’s life even though you know it’s not perfect like they make out!
Francesca | everythingchessie.co.uk 🌿
I agree, I’m guilty of doing so as well! Especially the big bloggers/vloggers, it can make me so jealous sometimes. It’s just good to remind yourself that they get bored too.
This is honestly such a real post, I completely agree with you as I lie here in bed recovering from a migraine. It hard looking at other loving some kind of luxurious lifestyle on social media but honestly I know half of them are really in the same boat as me, it’s just pointless to post a picture of a boring day! Lol . I personally need to start keeping active it’s so important to not fall into a lazy pattern- great post xx
Oh no, I hope you feel better soon! Migraines are horrible. You’ve said it perfectly <3
Totally agree with you. Great Post. Life is not as interesting and beautiful, we make it appear online. What we see online is an edited and glorifed version of what actually happens.
That’s why its better to just be comfortable in what you are doing and enjoy life without getting jealous of anybody.
So true! I used to chase the idea of a perfect exciting lifestyle all people I follow seem to have but I’ve realised that it’s really not that much different from mine.