You’re scrolling through your Instagram feed. Images of your friends and their lives are everywhere. Strangers you have never met. Celebrities and influencers are posting their latest travel adventures. And you can’t help but compare your life to theirs. You also can’t stop comparing yourself to these people who seemingly have it all together. The perfect life. The “perfect” body and on-trend clothes.
And if you are feeling like complete crap about yourself after the fact, you aren’t alone. Comparison is the thief of joy after all. But not only does social media influence our mental health but it can actually increase perfectionism in our lives.
Perfectionism is what it sounds like – the very idea that everything has to be perfect. There can never be mistakes or slip-ups or else surely, it means you are a failure. That isn’t the case, at all. But, we are conditioned to believe that anything less than picture perfect. So when we are hit with a never-ending display of all the ways perfectionism is displayed on social media, it can actually increase the chase for it in our own lives.
Here are just a few ways that social media influences the idea of perfectionism.
The Chase For That “Lifestyles of The Rich And The Famous,”
Realistically, we all know that we don’t live the lives of social media influencers and celebrities. How do social media influencers really afford that, anyways? That could probably be a whole different blog post!
At any rate, we see these lives displayed and it can make us feel as if we aren’t doing enough. We already know we aren’t making enough money and feel like we’re just getting by. But then you add in these constant images of people traveling, going, and doing cool things constantly, and it can just make us feel even worse. And so we chase after the idea that someday, that could be us too. This lends itself to the idea that the only way to ever get that is to never mess up.
Perfect Lives On Display Is Not Reality
On the surface, we all understand that social media distorts reality. But, when you are inundated with constant images of perfect lives, you start to believe that the perfect life really is out there. What this causes is that the lives of other people are clearly perfect and going so well. Looking at your own life, you can’t help but feel frustrated that you aren’t achieving that, too.
This fuels perfectionism because you end up chasing after an ideal that doesn’t really exist. Despite what social media showcases, the perfect life does not exist. Having more money does not solve all of life’s problems. But in our heads, that idea of a perfect life is always just out of our reach.
How To Cope With Perfectionism
Perfectionism isn’t a mental health disorder like anxiety or depression. However, it can be an offshoot of anxiety. Regardless of what is causing perfectionism tendencies to manifest themselves, it is absolutely possible to deal with it.
One of the best tips we can give is to try and ground yourself in your life. What is your reality? Your situation? Try not to focus on the lives of other people. There is a 100% chance that the lives they are displaying online are not actually that perfect. Remember, that people trying to make their lives seem better than they are have been occurring for centuries. That is nothing new. The only difference now is that it is in a highly visible manner.
If you are suffering from anxiety and or perfectionism, anxiety treatment can help you learn to deal with these challenging situations. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us for help.
