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The Unbearable Weight of Appearing Happy and Successful 24/7

Smile, and the world smiles with you. Really? For how long? I mean, how long does one go on smiling? Till the cheeks hurt?

Our virtual lives are all about posturing, aren't they? Open any social media app and all you see are smiling, glowing pictures of happy, successful people.

Enjoying dinner at The Taj/Oberoi/Grand

Living it up in Maldives/Paris/Bangkok/Singapore

Soaking Vitamin Sea in Goa

Killing it at so-and-so conference/meet/seminar

Delivering the key-note address at that so-important meet

Conducting a Ted-Ex talk 

Achieved the top salesman/person of the year award 

Proud mother/parent of an achiever progeny

Cooking up a Michelin-star chef type meal

Running the full/half marathon


You get my drift? Success, achievement, conquest, living it up, enjoying, indulging....that's all Facebook and Instagram profiles are for.

What about the bad days?

When you sit staring out of the window, wondering who will take care of you in your old age?

When you feel life has passed you by?

When even the act of getting up from bed seems like an herculean task? 


When you don't want to meet anyone, talk or even brush your teeth?

When in a crowd of people, you feel isolated?

How you felt when everyone just looked through you in that gathering?


Should we have some social media app for putting up our losing/failing stories? You know, something like BadDays or MyPoorLife? Where we can put up the following:

How we raved and ranted, and tore our hair out when the maid didn't turn up for three days at a stretch?

When we haven't talked to someone close for days at end, and feel lonely and miserable?

When the dal gets burnt, milk spills, you forget to turn off the stove and gas has leaked everywhere?

How we missed our child's sports day and he/she sulks for the next two days?

When our child gets called out for bullying or cheating in class?

How we avoid each other despite living in the same house?

When we put off calling our parents fearing what they expect from us now? Taking them to a doctor's appointment across the city? Helping with the paperwork for pension? Sorting the mortgage papers of their house?

Let's get real, for a change. You are human, quit pretending to be superhuman. You don't always have to "Have it all, Do it all."

Normalize failing, quitting, resigning, complaining, giving up.


#Failing #Posturing #Fakelives #Fakingitonsocialmedia #FalsePositivity

Comments

  1. Anonymous24 March 2023 at 01:21

    This 1 resonates with me. Have no energy to do anything and feeling like a failure as I am in search for job and constantly getting ghosted.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nandinimalakar2112@gmail.com21 July 2023 at 10:07

    This is so heartfelt and true....every word resonates, we should not get affected by the glitz and glam of social media, beneath the shining exterior, there's a different story in every family. You have summed it up so beautifully 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

    ReplyDelete

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