The Girl behind the Instagram

Okay we all have bad days, there’s no denying it whatsoever. But apart from the rare occasion when someone actually decides to express this online, you would genuinely think that social media is full of the happiest people ever. That my friend, is a load of crap. People are not happy 100% of the time, not even 50% of the time…. and they are definitely not overly ecstatic about everything. ( which Instagram would lead you to believe).  People, online famous or not, probably only really share about 20% of their lives online-  And of that 20% you are probably only getting a 10% realistic view. It’s what they want you to see. It is their internet personality. Now there is nothing wrong with that whatsoever and the world isn’t asking to hear all your dirty laundry.

People however, do lose perspective, even I do. Sometimes I’ll browse through Instagrams and find myself filling up with envy that ‘this girl has a perfect life’.. ‘she gets to travel everywhere’ . But then I think about my Instagram and think actually.. ‘This picture is such a lie.. I look like I am having an amazing time here’ When in fact I’d probably just had an argument with my mum after she couldn’t get the damn picture in focus  after 15 attempts and this one was the best of the bunch.. Not to mention the ‘moment’  was lost ages ago. Oh and yeah I’m actually feeling pretty shit about my weight because I gained almost 2 stone in America #fabdayoutwithmama ….Okay, major exaggeration there.

There are several types of photos on my Instagram:
‘Obligatory.. I think I actually look quite nice selfie’
‘Photos which represent days out based around me getting a decent seasonal photo of myself’

‘The I am majorly reminiscing photo’ ( Literally doing this on instagram right now as some sort of 6 month recap on my contiki’)

‘I should post a photo shouldn’t I?!?’

‘This is literally an awful moment.. I feel like death and I so do not want to be here.. but this is a nice photo’

‘I think a nice quote will look good here.. Its something which I truly believe in and its a sly way of putting ‘feelings’ out there ‘

‘the genuine this is the best moment ever. I am actually as happy as this photo  would leave you to believe’

and then finally,

Sometimes the photo which never gets taken is my favourite. I kind of wish I had a photo of it but I didn’t take one.. I was actually in the moment. And although there is no evidence of something happening. I know it did, I know how it felt and no one can ever take that away from me.

Needless to say.. Things are not all that they seem and we shouldn’t ever compare ourselves to online ‘characters’ because… do we really even know them? Do we really even know our real friends that well either. People don’t share all the bad things that happen to them, but bad things happen to all people. No one has a perfect life, not even that girl with 1.5 million followers on Instagram.

I will say one thing. Around 80% of the photos posted at the time of my travels are accurate representations of how happy I was.  I cannot even begin to explain how travel changed everything about my life. But that’s for another post.

Kate xxx

instagram” @katevictoriaphotography
Snapchat: kategoesglobal