160/ BEYOND THE INSTAGRAM

Social media can be very misleading sometimes. Take the day that these pictures were taken for example. My friends and I planned on going to a fair that was happening down the street from my house. We went out to dinner beforehand, the dinner wasn't the best and we were sitting on the patio even though it was cold outside and we were all freezing. But of course we had to take Snaps of us sipping sangria like we were having the time of our lives. After dinner we headed to the fair where Laura and I took these pictures. We went in with the intention of staying for awhile, grabbing some treats and going on some rides but it just didn't work out. The fair, of course, was child sized and the probability of us even fitting on the rides was slim to none. We did, however, buy a bucket of donuts. After we ate our donuts and snapped some pictures, we went home.

We still had a really good time and we were laughing about everything as it happened but a lightbulb sort of went off in my head after. If you were to view any of my social media from that day it would have looked like we were having the time of our lives even though almost nothing went right behind the scenes. I try to display my most authentic self on my social media accounts but sometimes I slip up and I don't realize what I'm doing. There's often a thin line between reality and what we put out there in the social world. Even if you try your best to be conscious about what you're putting out there, it isn't always 100% real. It's almost impossible to be 100% real.

I try my best to post pictures of me without makeup or of Snapchats of me doing mundane things, but it's still just a highlights reel. Even though I'm fairly confident in myself and my sometimes boring life, I would never post pictures of me at my worst. Yes, I'll post filterless makeup free pictures, but only when my skin or hair is cooperating that day. Yes, I'll post pictures of my bedroom and videos of my friends being goofy, but that's after I cleaned up my space or chose the exact right moment to hit record. I would never post raw pictures of me at my worst. You'll never see a sleepless night or a picture during or after a breakdown on any of my social media. (Tweets and the odd Tumblr post are the exception)

I'm not writing this to expose myself or anybody else - I'm just writing this to tell people to take everything with a grain of salt. Like most things in life, you don't really know the whole story. Social media has a way of making things look flawless, fun and sometimes it can make the person on the other end (the person viewing these posts) feel like they're missing out. That feeling is totally understandable, it's something that everyone goes through now and then, but it's important to take a step back and to remember that there's more than meets the eye.

JACKET/ Michel Studio (similar) TOP/ Forever 21+ (similar) SKIRT/ JCPenney (similar)

HANDBAG/ Rebecca Minkoff SHOES/ Nike (similar)

Photos by Laura Kidd