I have a love/hate relationship with social media. Sometimes I really love it, for example this past weekend I received some great birthday greetings, and it really made me feel special and loved and I’m so grateful for that. But day to day it has the ability to take me from feeling good to subpar.
If I’m having not the best day and check out my social media feed it can often start an inner dialogue where I find myself comparing my business with similar businesses. I can find myself thinking, “Should I create a product, should I change up my website or what if I opened a studio?” Seriously all of this chatter can make me go from having a pretty solid day to finding myself in a bad mood.
I think this is one thing we might all be able about to relate to, comparing ourselves to what we see on social media. Lately I have been having many conversations with my clients who have shared with me that not only is social media a huge time suck, but they often feel worse about themselves after spending time on it. They see all of the pretty pictures of food and wonder why they can’t cook like that or see women in outfits looking flawless and feel less confident in their bodies. Sometimes even all of the positive quotes make them wonder why they aren’t having the best day ever.
I truly believe that social media can be a fun outlet but it is something to be careful with since it can really affect our health. Our health is more than just the food we put into our body, it is also the way we feel about ourselves.
If we are trying to eat healthier, which takes a lot of self-love, guidance and support yet we see so many beautiful pictures of home cooked meals it can make us feel like we will never get to the place where we enjoy cooking and or eating healthy food.
What I try and remember is that everyone is really only sharing the best version of themselves. I have seriously blocked most of the people who only use social media to complain (who needs any negative energy in their lives?) so I get why most of us only want to share the best of us.
It is really hard and you may feel vulnerable opening up and sharing your personal lives when you are not feeling your best. This is something that I struggle with. I want to be as open and transparent with all of you, but I also like to keep some of my personal life private. But I do have my moments and I have carefully chosen to not share because it is hard for me to share with people who are not close with me that I’m having one of those days.
I think that this has been a little bit of a disservice to my readers and clients. I don’t ever want any of you to think that I’m having the perfect day or life because it is not true and I wouldn’t want any of you to aspire to that. If you are friends with me on Instagram and Facebook I’ve been trying to be more open about my not so good moments to help you feel like you are not alone.
What we all need to remember is that everyone is painting the most amazing picture of themselves either in their business or personal lives so they can feel better and if we don’t know them we have no idea what their real story is.
To help you change the inner dialogue in your mind here are some things I do when I start to feel myself comparing.
Getting Real With Myself
I first try and take a deep breath and ask myself if I really want what is making me envious. The conversation I have with myself goes a little something like this… and yes I do talk to myself and it really helps! “Katie do you really want to create a product?” I really think about this for a few minutes and if the answer is no I say out loud “but Katie you don’t want to create a product.” I have found when I take a moment to get real with my inner desires it brings honesty and truth to the moment.
The same can be said if you are trying to add more moment to your day. Perhaps you have made it to a yoga class this week yet you see people on social media people working out every single day. You might find yourself asking “why can’t I do more yoga this week?”, which only makes you feel worse. Instead try having a conversation more like this, “thank you body for moving in yoga, it felt so good to move and I’m thankful for that.” See if this helps!
Give Ourselves A Break
Just remember we can always do more, be more, make more but is doing more really going to make you happier or even make that big of a difference in how you feel on a daily basis. This is what I like to call, give ourselves a break moment. Instead of feeling like you should do more I encourage you again to take a deep breath and thank yourself for what you have been able to do to nourish your body. Remember how you felt when you are honest with yourself, remember how your body felt after you took a yoga class and remember that we are all just doing the best we can every single day in all areas of our life.
Social Media Detox
I also encourage you to do a little social media detox. You can de-friend people or unsubscribe from their news feed if you feel uncomfortable deleting them. I also suggest setting a timer so you are not spending too much time on social media. Perhaps you only check it once a day instead of every hour, or every minute after you post a picture to see how many likes you have. Maybe you even go an entire day or weekend not checking your phone. This is not easy but whenever I do put my phone away it helps me enjoy my weekends more.
What is one thing that you can do this week to help you stop comparing yourself to others? Share with us below what that thing is and how your body feels after.
Big Hugs & Health,
Katie
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