THE CONSTANT URGE TO IMPRESS OTHERS

A friend of mine bought an expensive SUV last year. At the time, I had asked him whether it was really necessary for him to spend so much on a car that he wouldn’t use that often. For which he said that everybody would be so impressed by his expensive SUV. For a year or so, all his posts on social media were filled up the pictures of the car at different places.

 

A year later now, when  I asked him about his car, he said that the maintenance and running costs are very expensive and that he is regretting his decision of buying an SUV. It has become a liability in his life. He further said that he should have opted for a smaller car that would have been more suitable to his city lifestyle.

 

Similarly, another friend of mine bought a flat couple of years ago at an expensive location in Bangalore. Although not big enough for comfort, it was very expensive because of its locality. I had told him that he should buy a bigger home which was just a bit further from the newly bought flat and it would have been more comfortable. The area was also good too. But, he said that its location is not as posh as the one he had chosen and everyone will be impressed by the one which he bought. Today, he doesn’t have enough space to keep his household things and regretting his earlier decision.

 

In both the above cases, my friends took a wrong decision in the influence of impressing others. We often do the same mistakes too. We have this constant urge of impressing others even at the cost of our necessity and comfort. We all subconsciously have this eager to get attention and impress others.  We crave for the approval of others even when we make the best decision for ourselves.

 

I often see this urge to impress others more on social media. People try to evaluate themselves based on the number of likes and followers. They pretend to be someone else that they are not just because of fear of not getting many likes. But is it really worth it to get more likes for what you are not than be your true self?

 

Time and again, many of my friends ask me that although I travel a lot and take a lot of pictures of beautiful places, why I don’t share these things on social media. To them I say, I travel because I love it and not to impress anybody. The photos are for my memories. I evaluate my tours based on the new experiences that I gained through them and never worried about thinking about what can I post about them. Call me old fashioned but, this how I am.

 

I don’t care about the lives of random people on the internet. What’s important to me is the lives of the people present in my life. You may be wondering why I even have social media accounts. It’s just to stay in touch with those whom I have lost contact along the way. Everybody else is in my contact list.

 

Be your true self. Your life doesn’t get better by posting on social media. The likes and followers in the virtual world will not change anything in your real one. No matter how good or bad, sing, dance, draw, write, ride, drive, travel, or perhaps spend time with your loved ones. Do more of what makes you happy.

 

Wish you happiness and peace.

 

Until next time... Ciao...