things aren’t always as they seem…

It’s all about perspective, isn’t it? 

Social Media has now made it so that everyone out there on the internet, both friends, family and strangers alike can see the most glamorized version of our lives, they can see what we choose to portray. What results in turn is that everything gets somewhat sugar coated, people only see the pretty colorful pictures, the moments that are perfectly captured on Instagram/Facebook/Twitter , they don’t see the tears, they don’t see the frustrations, they don’t see the hardships.

 

This is something that I’m realizing now more than ever. Every time I catch up with a friend, talk with a family member, or mention something about my time in Barcelona people think it was a fairytale, like a dream. They recall the perfectly edited pictures I’ve posted, the beautiful images, videos and adventures I shared on Facebook. They think it was a year of adventure, a year of happiness, a year of perfection. And while yes, it was pretty wonderful, there were also times that weren’t good (in fact they were pretty bad). There were moments where I looked up the next plane I could possibly take home, there were moments in which I thought there was no possible way I could keep going, no possible way I could survive living abroad, it just wasn’t for me. There were nights in which I cried myself to sleep, panic attacks galore. But people don’t see these moments, people only see the good ones, the picture perfect moments that we choose to show them and in turn they think it’s all picture perfect.

 

however, things aren’t always as they seem….

 

I used to look through Instagram, seeing people’s incredible photographs and details of their new lives and experiences traveling, and I’d envy them. “Wow, look how lucky they are. I’d love to do that some day”. And then I did, and boy was I happy… but then I became one of them, one of those girls who portrayed the picture perfect moments. Have I posted one too many LOOK AT ME, LOOK AT MY LIFE! pictures on my social media accounts, of course I have (haven’t we all) ? Have I flaunted a new life that isn’t all that it seems?

 

I’m tired of glamorizing my life from a distance, and that’s in part why I created this blog. I wanted to share all the pieces and parts of living abroad, both the good and the bad, because there’s a surplus of both. While I don’t want to seem ungrateful for being fortunate enough to have the experience of living abroad, I want to be realistic. Because the reality is … it isn’t all what it seems to be. The thing is, no one has truly got this whole life thing figured out (even if they try and pretend that they do).. all we do is wake up each morning, put one foot in front of the other… and do our best.