Everyone Is Out Having Fun With Their BFF While I’m At Home Playing Farm Heroes

Right now, in my Facebook feed, there are about 269 posts from friends that read like this:

“I’m at Starbux with my BFF!”

(photo credit)

“Just got back from a weekend trip to Lake Tahoe with <insert name of mutual friend here>.”

“I’m so blessed to do life with <insert name of other mutual friend here>.”

They are are having fun, wearing cute clothes and their children are above average.

I’m sitting here in yoga pants and an old race t-shirt with a turkey on it and playing Farm Heroes and sometimes it feels like all my friends are out having fun without me. Today I’m not “doing life” with anyone except my immediate family and my dog Max, who keeps trying to get into the garbage. And by “doing life” together, I mean hollering at Max that he’s going to spend the rest of the day in the kennel if he doesn’t leave the garbage alone. In the background my kids may or may not be arguing and my husband is playing a video game. It’s not a bad life, but sometimes, I compare it to the pictures I see on social media and feel a little blue.

Do you ever feel bad about yourself after checking in on your social media accounts? Recently, I posted this on Facebook:  “I’m going to be vulnerable here for a minute and admit that sometimes Facebook makes me feel lonely. Does anyone else see photos or read statuses of people getting together with friends and going out for coffee/taking trips together/just hanging out and sometimes feel alone?”

The response I received was overwhelming. I had 21 “likes” and almost 30 comments of friends saying, “me too.”

Think about that for a minute. We all think everyone else has it better than we do.

Here’s the truth about social media:

  • We tend to post our best side.
  • It doesn’t reflect that most of life isn’t glamorous.
  • The unflattering picture never gets posted.
  • You might be comparing your worst day to someone else’s best day.
  • Someone else wishes they had your life.
  • At least half of your friends are having the same kind of day that you are having.

Do you struggle with social media comparisons? How do you deal with it? I’m slowly getting better!

4 thoughts on “Everyone Is Out Having Fun With Their BFF While I’m At Home Playing Farm Heroes

    1. I think social media magnifies things- it can make good communication better and poor communication worse! It’s a delicate balance to be sure.

  1. Being an old fuddy-duddy, I don’t really do Facebook much. Once in a while when there is an email telling me about some friend’s post, I’ll go there. But I’ve never liked the bragging about the minutia in people’s lives. These are things you would never call your friends and say. So why do people think they should say them on Facebook? It is really a mystery to me.

    And there is so much bragging about how great your kids are, so I can see where that would erode your confidence as a mom. There is enough of that in your actual encounters with friends that you don’t need it coming in written form as well!

    And, even without Facebook, I did feel really isolated as a mom. It is a 24/7 “stay at home” job, that’s for sure!

    1. It’s a completely new world, isn’t it? One thing I’ve been mulling over is what the “best practices” are for social media. I think I’ll write about it sometime soon.

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