Self-imposed pressure

So I sit here in front of my mac attempting to write a blog post for the first time in nine weeks as we have only just got wifi wondering; what to write, what pictures to include, how to start my 2016 blogging style off, and then out of pretty much nowhere a topic came to me. That ridiculous pressure I felt to get this post 'perfect', was exactly that, ridiculous.

(Please enjoy this unrelated picture of Cambridge)

It seems like since the explosion of social media we have felt an extreme amount of pressure placed on us by our own worst enemies, ourselves. I know putting pressure on yourself is nothing new, Even the cave men felt pressure to go hunt the best thing they could, but I honestly believe that there was a time where we could embrace our inner self, (maybe the eighties?) but now the private and public have become worryingly blurred. There is this costant pressure we place on ourselves to act in a certain way and report to the internet accordingly. This can stem from things like what we eat to what we buy (and then upload an image with a good filter to the internet for final judgement). People have got very rich from advertising products to us so we then impose this type of pressure on ourselves clever right?

We put pressure on ourselves to be happy, to write the best blog posts, have the best clothes, have the perfect looking houses, even have the nicest shelf's (#shelfiegoals!) this list is honestly endless. And as I type this, and as you read this, I am sure you realise how stupid this all sounds that we actively go out our ways to ‘manipulate’ what we do to get the best images and social media updates. We can now quantify everything we do, ‘well x picture got y amount of likes/views, so that's when I must be the best looking/ happiest’ ect. And often all of this has the opposite effect, we are less happy, less wealth, and feel more stressed!

I’m not saying that any of this is inherently wrong (if it sometimes pushes us to achieve what we really want out of life then surely it can only be seen as a positive) or that we should start the revolution and delete all our social media, because I know that is completely impossible. I’m just saying as you scroll through Instagram and read peoples statuses take it with a pinch of salt and remember that its ok to not constantly update the internet about what you are doing. Its okay to miss out on that new beauty product because you are saving for a house, like its okay to be home alone on a Saturday night watching Arrow (yes my latest Amazon Prime watch), like it is okay to go out drinking with your girlfriends. Basically, stop for a minute and embrace your inner you, whatever and however 'unpopular' or 'mainstream' that may be.



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