Why I stopped taking people's Social Media Pictures seriously

Pictures are indeed deceitful, and I've stopped taking them too seriously. In very many occasions in the past, after I've beaten myself because I felt I wasn't doing enough or wasn't as fine as my friends on social media or even after I felt I wasn't good enough for some girl because of her pictures I saw on the gram, I would come to realize after a physical Meetup that they're nothing close to the pictures they put up in the social media space.

I've come to realize that they're also struggling like myself and they have their own issues too. The flawlessness portrayed by these pictures is all a sham. The reason why these pictures look the way the way they do is because they were thoroughly edited and because sometimes these people use filters.

Picture editing and filters can really do a lot. They can make the ugliest of persons look really beautiful. They can make short people look tall, they make thin people look slim. Girls often times take advantage of this to even modify their looks especially by making their bodies look curvy and even increase the size of their butt.

Initially, I found this fraudulent and annoying, but later on I had to adjust my thoughts and reasoning. I came to see the world from a more pragmatic and realistic perspective. I had come to terms with the fact that the world, especially from the social media front, is sort of a business and people try as much as they can to portray themselves in the most presentable and sellable way as possible. It's just a way to attract friends as it's only natural that humans are attracted to beautiful things.

Some time ago, I was supposed to organize a Meetup with a friend which I had not seen for long. She was a childhood friend but we lost contact after our secondary school education. We later met again on Facebook and began chatting and catching up.

I checked her profile and saw her pictures, they were really beautiful. She had changed so much. She was now a digital marketer and food vendor. She looked so hot and classy.

Her pictures were amazing so I kept on checking them out and feeding my eyes. With what I saw, I concluded she was a multimillionaire as she was always in expensive places and in expensive cars.
In the pictures I saw, she was either in one very fancy hotel, a beach or by the pool side sipping cocktail juice, or she was in a fancy restaurant eating buffet.

Her skin glowed, they were spotless and and without blemishes. She was now looking plump and had a massive backside. She even had one of the latest iPhones. I saw a picture of her with it standing in front of a mirror.

I got a bit intimidated and oppressed, I began thinking about my life. Back then in school I was one of the smartest and she was one of the persons that looked up to me. I began thinking about how and where I had gotten it wrong. I felt I wasn't doing enough, I felt I was far behind. Pictures of some other old friends I had seen on the gram was similar, they looked all fine and rich. I felt I was the only one lagging behind.

So when they talked about meeting up, I'd come up with one excuse or the other, then I'll eventually change the topic. I was shy and intimidated.

Some months later, I went to one of the local markets in the town to get groceries.
As I passed the section for cheap fairly used clothes, I saw some girl sweating and haggling over the price of these clothes. Her voice was striking but because of the bustling nature of this market, I couldn't just stop to find out who she was. I could only see her back as she was facing the clothe seller.

After I was done shopping, I made my way to the park to board a vehicle home. The park was also bustling too. There were just a few vehicles around, a big bus and a few small taxi cars. I could see people fighting and struggling to get into the big bus as it was much more cheaper than the small taxis. It was mainly boarded by poor traders and it was always very stuffy. I really didn't like those big buses and since I could afford the small taxis, I always used them.

While I was about entering one of the taxis that I had stopped, I saw the girl I had seen earlier at the market struggling to make her way into the bus before it would gets full. Since her voice was striking, I was curious and wanted to know who she was so I left the car and went close to the bus so I could see her face clearly.

As I went close to the bus, I was shocked to find out that this girl was the same girl I had seen on Facebook and on the gram, My long lost friend. She looked different as she was thinner and had pimples all over her face.

I approached her and called her attention. She was happy to see me and didn't even express any kind of shock. I asked her where she was going, she said she was trying to get home and needed to join the bus before it filled up. I told her that she didn't have to struggle for the bus as I follow her on social media and I knew she could afford to hire any taxi she wanted.

She smiled and shook her head. still smiling, she said to me "Forget all what you see on Instagram, all those things na packaging"( they're not what they seem).

Thanks for stopping by.