Sunday, May 27, 2018

Romanticized stories

This morning I unfollowed several accounts on Instagram, mostly from travelers with well-curated photos. I love Instagram. It is one of my sanity keepers. The beautiful, creative photos give me joy, make me forget whatever negative feelings I was going through even though only momentarily sometimes. This morning though, looking at those travelers’ photos felt suffocating. The photos were oh so lovely but looking at them made me feel disconnected with reality. It made me feel like I was a recipient of a capitalist brainwashing movement about what life should be. Clicking that unfollow button gave me a breath of fresh air.


I have nothing against people who post travel photos. In fact, we have one family account where we share some of our travel photos. And I’d still like to follow travelers who have ‘authentic feeds’ or those who make me feel connected to them just by following their journey around the globe. Such kind of people are the reason why I enjoy Instagram, where I’d feel I am traveling with them, learn from their experience and where I don’t have to deal with toxic political posts. The account I unfollowed were those that by just looking at their feed you’d know they spent so much time editing the photos and that the main motive was to earn money, where it seemed like you are leafing through a magazine that earns so much from telling you what you should be doing or buying.

The internet has transformed our life in various ways. Information are now easily accessible but so as propaganda. It has become difficult to identify truth from lies. Friends or family gathered together where each one is on their mobile phone has become a normal scenario. Each day we receive an influx of information that at the end of the day some of us may feel mentally exhausted but our knowledge bank is left empty.

And then there are these so-called ‘successful people’ who have interesting stories to tell. There is this single mom who left a lucrative corporate job to pursue a different career she is passionate about, there’s that dude who let go of a scholarship many of us can only dream of to paint, there’s that lady who sold everything, left a promising job in fashion to travel the world. Many of us are inspired by these kinds of stories. We become empowered to also face our fears, to follow our heart to succeed. But sometimes, these stories just like the well-curated Instagram accounts are so romanticized and well-crafted we are left in awe with the best part, the tip of the iceberg but in truth much of the not-so-pretty details are left untold.

That lady who is living a nomadic life is telling us we should leave everything behind and follow our desire to travel without telling us how to save for our retirement because hers is already secured by millions of inheritance from her parents. That single mom is telling us to leave a good corporate career path to follow our passion because if she can do it while raising her child alone then by all means we can too! What she failed to tell us is that she has a wide network and connections gathered from years of work at the corporate sector which helped her navigate her new career path, something many of us don’t have. That dude who left a promising life in the academe to pursue his passion in art is telling us that not all that glistens is gold, that we should always follow our heart but failed to tell us that while he can use that angle to create his brand and glorify his profile, we don’t have the same support system, skills and connections that he has to succeed if we opt to let go of once in a lifetime opportunities.

Stories carry the soul and legacy of every generation to the other. Stories help us endure the most difficult of times. Stories are inspiring, empowering, provoking. As they say, ‘a pen is mightier than a sword’. But some stories mislead us into the wrong path. Some make us question our choices, our capacity, our life. Some stories are so romanticized they make us believe we are nothing, that we are living in mediocrity, that we are superficial because we don’t have the audacity to do great things.

What many fail to appreciate is that they are already living inside one great story that is their destiny. Their stories are full of hardships and simple triumphs but when told through the lens of a storyteller, their story of genuine love, strength and endurance would inspire a thousand others. Their stories are so authentic that they would see nothing but raw, unglamorous life. But when you ask them to tell it, only then they’d learn to see their life with new eyes, only then they’d realize that theirs is an authentic, unique story worthy to be told.

These are the stories I want to follow; stories that are not romanticized; stories that are pure and true they make me feel connected with the rest of humanity.

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