Scales and Social Media

If you were to ask me right now what my weight was in high school I wouldn't be able to tell you. In fact I still have my high school drivers license but I am absolutely positive I just made up a weight for that section because I didn't know what mine was. If you were to ask me what my weight was before having Boston that is something I wouldn't be able to tell you either. I know I was a little bigger than I am now but I honestly didn't really ever weigh myself. I felt fine with how I looked so I didn't feel that it was something worth stressing over.

Right now I am stuck at a certain weight and I find myself, almost daily, checking to see if it has gone up or down. I know that it's not myself that I am comparing my progress or lack thereof to though, it is the people in my news-feed on my social media list.

I don't know about you but for me Instagram and Facebook have become my new "scale"... I start to feel insecure when I see that woman who has had four kids and still manages to have a perfectly decorated house and flawless hair. So, then I hop off the 'social media scale' and go on her diet trying to re-amp my house and put more effort into my hair. Then I scroll down and see the next girl with rock hard abs and no ounce of cellulite and next thing I know I am attempting her 'social media diet' and doing all the cardio I can while throwing away junk food. The worst for me is always when I see the mom post her perfectly well behaved, adorably dressed child's picture and my own baby has smeared ketchup on her face and her shirt. Mom's please tell me you have felt like this.

Social media is becoming a scale, for me at least, and it's the worst kind because it's not one where we are trying to better ourselves for ourselves but where we are trying to better ourselves to catch up to and beat others. My mom has told me since I was young that comparison is the thief of joy and it never really hit home until lately. You can have a great life, a happy life, a beautiful child, a supportive family... but as soon as you see someone post one tiny thing you may be missing it is easy to forget all of the good. 

The funniest part about Facebook and Instagram is that we all like to post our best moments. No one likes to read a gloomy status or see a selfie of a tear stained face so we sugarcoat our lives at times sharing a facade of only the best moments and filtering them to make them even more enviable. So, when you hop on the social media scale you aren't technically comparing yourself to their real life but their life that is filtered for the world. Their best with your worst... I am the guiltiest of this... I only post an adorable picture of Boston jumping on my bed when I make sure my bed is made.... which it only is about 5% of the time. A while back at about two in the morning I went to use the bathroom and Boston's dumb cat had thtown up on the floor, which I slipped on, and hit my head so hard on the bathroom counter... but, who wants to see a picture of that, right? So, later I shared a really sweet picture of her cuddling with the cat.

I think I needed to write this mostly for myself to hop off the 'social media scale' for a bit and focus on all of the great things I do have in my life. Those are just my ramblings for the day and a bit I personally need to improve on. If I change the numbers on the scale I wan't it to be done for the sole purpose of improving me and not comparing myself to anyone.... cause, ya know, nobody's life is nearly as picture perfect as they would like you to believe.

XO:
Ashlynn

REAL LIFE:

Social Media Life: