Instagram Influencer Shares Healthy Reminder That Picture Perfect Lives Are Usually Filtered

Instagram envy. We all fall victim to it. And those picture perfect accounts you follow make it easy to feel like you’re not worthy as a person or parent. But, here’s the thing, everything is not always what it seems, especially on social media.

Popular online personality Casey Zaruba stresses this to her followers. While she often shares pretty pictures and aesthetic posts, her real life doesn’t always look that good.

“Someone messaged me earlier, discouraged because she couldn’t ‘keep up’ with the pretty photos on Instagram,” the influencer shares. “It’s so important for y’all to know that I take pretty pictures because it’s something I truly enjoy as a creative outlet, it is never to trick you into thinking we have it all together.”

Because here’s what you didn’t see while scrolling through your feed: A pregnant and hormonal mom who is stressed out, frustrated and long-overdue for a good night’s sleep.

“I bawled my eyes out yesterday for a good four hours because I was so overwhelmed with how bad my kids were being—one of my kids calling the other stupid, how messy my house was and just feeling extremely hormonal,” Zaruba shares.

Basically, what she’s trying to say is, social media gives you the highlight reels of someone’s life, not the bloopers.

“We are so far from perfect, and the thing is…that doesn’t even exist, so the person trying to portray that is a liar,” she says. “And at the end of the day, you have to know our homes, Instagram filters and curated feeds mean literally nothing in the eyes of God.”

She signs off her note thanking every follower who “invests into my family and life, prays for us and loves us. There really is so much good in the world, and you are part of it.”

Zaruba isn’t the first influencer to shed some light on the reality of social media. Recently, Canadian dad David, of Life With Benjamin, took a moment to remind his followers his “insta-perfect” life doesn’t tell the whole story.