Why I Stopped Looking At Other People’s Progress Pictures (and maybe you should too)

We’ve all seen it.

Everybody including their dog is on social media these days showing off their “progress” picture (almost daily) with some motivational quote that reads somewhere along the lines of, “What’s your excuse?”

We’re constantly bombarded with it.

The thing is, very few people actually look like that when they’re just walking around in their every day lives.

Want some proof?

Here’s my 3-second “transformation”

Both pictures were taken literally seconds apart.
On the left is me exhaling. The picture on the right is me inhaling.

Big difference, right?

The proper lighting, angle, your posture, whether you’ve eaten that day, maybe adding a filter or two can can change the way your body looks completely.

Let’s be honest here, most people look more like the picture on the left.

But because the six-pack “progress” picture is what gets circulated in social media (go check your Facebook or Instagram right now and you’ll find one within seconds), it creates this awful body stereotype that you feel like you have to live up to.

It makes people feel like if they’re not close to looking like the aforementioned picture, then they must be doing something wrong.

It makes people feel like they’re not active enough when they see their friends’ hiking or surfing picture.

Someone might always post pictures of the green smoothies they drink or the fancy looking salad they had for lunch and yet they might spend the rest of their day eating Nutella sandwiches.

It creates more harm than good.

According to this survey, women spend an average of 16 minutes on each selfie-session, three times a day. The number for men can’t be that far off.

That’s 48 minutes a day and a mind blowing five hours and 36 minutes every week. Just to look for that perfect shot!

Bottom line, just don’t believe all the hype that you see online. Spend less time on social media and more in real life, where everyone’s life is far from the picture-perfect Instagram-filtered world that’s portrayed on your screen.

Just focus on YOUR personal journey. We’re all trying here.

Try to make one good decision at a time and if you mess up, pick yourself back up and do better the next day.

Focus on progress, not perfection.

Don’t compare your behind the scenes to someone else’s highlight reel.

As always, if this was helpful, share it with a friend who could benefit from it as well!