I know the story. You’re sat at your computer or on your phone, you’re on Facebook and everyone you know seems to be on holiday in another country, getting married or engaged, announcing their pregnancy as if holding a press conference or just generally having an amazing time. Meanwhile you’re sat wondering how none of this stuff has fallen into your lap despite working your arse off!

In fact as I write this today, I have seen friends of mine on Facebook announce an engagement, arrive on their “holi-bobs” and launch a business. My day however has consisted of nothing more than work and food – how dull. As you can imagine, I’ve not shared any of that mediocrity on social media – and that’s entirely the point. When was the last time you tweeted “I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve had a normal day working and eating!” (Ok, admittedly I just have because a) #YOLO and b) I consider myself to be rather hilarious).

The point is that whether we want to admit it or not, social media is a mostly narcissistic environment. In fact the entire Eco-systems of these social networks is built upon peer approval, whether that’s a like, share or retweet. Naturally this only encourages people to post things that will generate such reactions from their peers either because it will make them feel good about themselves or improve their “exposure”. In fact some people will remove posts that haven’t been liked or shared enough within the first 10 minutes!

You then have to consider the lens through which you are looking at other peoples lives. You will only see the bits that others want you to see and likewise you will only share the same. On that basis stop using people’s news feeds as a measuring stick for your own success, you haven’t seen all the s**t that comes between those posts!