Social Media

As YouTube and Instagram grow, so does people's aspirations and ambitions.

In my father's youth he saw nothing that wasn't right in front of him, he didn't see the lives of those constantly in the sun or in faraway places (yogi's I'm looking at you!). It sounds cliché but he lived in the moment as a child should- not constantly wondering about where he might be in the future.

My adolescence however, consisted of watching YouTube and posting to social media sites in which you see the handful of people who made social media there job. It seems the perfect career! You get paid to live your life and document it which leads you being able to do better stuff that more people are interested in.

For a while I would watch and be envious of these people and there lives, until one day I realised I'd wasted the whole day just refreshing social media... when I put it so plainly like this I am embarrassed!! But I finally saw that I was watching other people live their lives instead of living mine; I watched people do things instead of doing those things? That doesn't make sense now but I think it came from self doubt and fear and a dashing of laziness. I didn't believe that I'd ever be able to do these things but I have come to realise even if I can't, I can enjoy the things accessible to me now, to find satisfaction in my 'now'. I could be envious of these people but I am me and there is no escaping that so I need to embrace me. The people we see on social media only show us what we want to see, not the days where they don't get out of their pyjamas or when they aren't too keen on being themselves, so we shouldn't be so hard on ourselves.

What I think I'm trying to say is that social media- as great as it is for many things- has given my generation an impossible task... to be ok with what we have. We see better all of the time so we constantly want better. It has it's perks, I mean why should we settle for average? I don't want to either BUT can we ever get to a place where we are truly happy with our situation when there will always be someone behind a screen who seems to have it better?

What am I proposing?

I am going to take some of the time I use on social media and use it to live my life, maybe try something new and expand my knowledge or even just take some 'me' time and try to love my present.

Social media opened us up to the whole world, gives us unlimited knowledge and a chance to be heard. But it takes us away from the world, away from knowledge in books and our elders and away from ourselves.

Live your life until love is found, or loves gonna get you down.

Taken from a song by Mika (the long lost talent and all round ray of sunshine). I was singing in my head on the bus as I always do and Lollipop was on repeat on my mind mp3... just me?

Now this is coming from a girl who has never been IN love although of course I love many beings, but all too often I see grand gestures of romance knocked around such as 'you complete me' 'my better half' and my personal favourite 'I would be nothing without you'. Love in the romantic sense is a double edged sword; I've heard it is the best feeling there is and the world is nothing without it. Despite my scepticism I do believe love is one of the best things a human can do, however to claim that you are nothing or incomplete without another person is such an unhealthy  way to see yourself. I like to think that I am a full human being who could enjoy her life until it's end with my friends and family and no 'significant other'.

*now is when you grab the sick bucket* 

Of course the ideal plan would be to fall in love and live happily ever after (thanks Disney) but I would never want to look for this person or feel as though I  am lost without them because i hope they would be an addition of me, an extension rather than a missing piece.

So when I  was singing to myself and actually listened to the lyric in the title, it made so much sense! I completely believe that love is a product of circumstance and just happens, so if you're going through a break up you haven't missed your one chance and if you're as single as me I promise we'll be just dandy as we are :) 

Love can be found anywhere, you don't need to wait around.