“Look at how amazing my life is, I’m super ripped, have the best diet, awesome friends and have LITERALLY never seen a cloud in my life. Oh and my pets are just soooo adorable.”
This is life according to Instagram, where everyone is beautiful and the world is shown through rose tinted (Valencia filtered) glasses.
And that is cool because there really isn’t anything wrong in showing off a bit of what makes us #happyinlife — in fact it’s great.
But we all know that life isn’t just cocktails, sunshine, afternoon tea and yoga** (my god I nearly forgot to mention yoga).
In the same way it is important to share the things in life that make you smile, we really think that showing the mundane, or even shitty side to life can be good too.
Why? Because we are drilled to say everything is fine, not to make a fuss and to ‘keep calm and carry on’ as every single poster, tea tray and mug in the world told us to do a couple of years ago.
We’re not encouraged to speak about how we truly feel, especially so if we aren’t feeling good. That is unless what we aren’t feeling good about, is the weather, then it’s pretty much your duty to mention it. I think it might even be compulsory when you’re at a checkout, in a lift or starting a conversation.
Living in a world where people don’t want to talk about how they feel, but then seeing a version of life through social media which even Walt Disney would think is too happy ever after, will leave most of us thinking that we’re missing out on everything.
Why isn’t our life great all the time?
Well, no one’s life is perfect. But that is alright, we all have good and bad times and it’s okay not to be okay, and we think it is okay to share the tough times.
So that is what we want you to do, to bring a bit of reality to social media and let people know how you’re really feeling. Let’s create a culture where people can speak openly about how they are feeling, be it good or bad. Let’s create a place where everyone feels comfortable in asking someone else ‘Are you okay?’ especially if it looks like they are struggling.
Lots of us, somewhere between 25% and 30% will experience a mental health problem this year. If you’re the one going through that right now, or have already being there, you know it sucks.
But for a lot of us, if someone asked if we were okay, showed they cared and really listened to what we had to say it would make a huge difference.
Speaking about the things in life that make us feel crap is just as important as sharing what makes us happy.
Much like the multiple pictures we take before we get the perfect one to share online, mental health can remain hidden away. Deleted or stored on our camera roll.
If someone can’t speak out and get the help they need, then it will only make things worse. So let’s try and change this and show the stuff we normally keep hidden.
We want people to join us in sharing a picture of the everyday, the average, the mundane, even the rubbish.
Using #myunfilteredlife & #powerofokay tag See Me Scotland on instagram, twitter or facebook, take a picture of yourself, or whatever is around you, showing the reality of life. Then tag three friends or followers & ask them to do the same.
It’s all part of our Power of Okay campaign. We want to see a change in the way people talk and think about mental health, to help end the stigma around it. We think a good place to start online is by getting people talking.
Life isn’t perfect, but you know what, no one’s is, so ask someone today ‘are you okay?’ Because we know that for many people what’s on the surface isn’t the real picture.
** I’ve heard yoga is really good, might be worth a try after you take your #myunfilteredlife picture, or not, whatever you want.
