Flaws and All

When I'm upset about something or having a bad day, my (bad) tendency is to run to social media. I've thought about why that is and I think I've got it figured out: the internet is like another world. When my world isn't the way I want it, the internet is my escape route. Fact of Natalie: I hate crying and I hate being upset. I'm not very emotional (for a girl), so, to me, crying and letting any kind of pain get the better of me are signs of weakness. When the pain piles up, I'll do almost anything to push it away, to avoid letting it affect me.

Social media, especially, has a way of making life look a lot better than it is. Nobody (or almost nobody) posts about their failures, worries, or faults. We post about our achievements, good days, and fun times and when we get that, "like," we feel good because people like what we said or did. In this way, I think social media is very flawed. It gives us a false sense of happiness and popularity and creates a false impressionof of all of us. If I compare my life in the real world to someone's life on their Facebook timeline, I'm bound to end up depressed or discontent. The more I think about it, the less I like social media. It provides an false escape from your real-world problems, which only draws them out. But it also creates an distorted impression of us- one that leaves out the flaws.

Perhaps I'm being too hard on social media. Now that I think about it, this is not the fault of social media; it's our fault. We create the false impression. We hide the flaws. And we don't just do this on social media, we do it all the time. We concentrate so hard on making the right impression and looking good, covering up our struggles. Why? Our struggles are ugly, embarrassing sin. If people saw that, they wouldn't like us, right? Our struggles are also reality. Hiding that reality away- putting our sin out of sight- doesn't make it change; it only makes your sin harder to deal with. So, if that's not the right impression, what is? What kind of impression should I try to make? The answer is this: don't try to make an impression. To me, the most genuine people are those who don't try to cover up their flaws. It's easy to be open and honest with them because they're open and honest with you. They're real. They reflect God's unconditional love, accepting us, flaws and all. And that's the kind of person I want to be.