smile
I was scrolling through Twitter and I saw the phrase, "Just because someone smiles a lot, it doesn't mean that their life is perfect."
I've found myself falling for this never-ending loop of thought as I'm sucked into this world that depends on outer appearance and your social media presence. Posed digital smiles mean that your life is perfect and that nothing could be better. We breed a type of envy through our online presence and let others perceive us as perfect little angels, conquering life. We might be conquering life, but that definitely doesn't mean that we've won every single battle. I smile a lot and am optimistic about the life that I hold, but I definitely have not been impervious to the dips in life that have inevitably dragged me down. I've had many dark thoughts, I've had existential crises, I've doubted myself as a person, I've questioned my validity as an existent being, I've asked myself why I'm living... I've asked myself many things and been through many struggles. But I'm realizing that not everyone thinks that when they see me because they see the Frances that's always smiling for pictures and posting only about the happy things in her life. My blog is the only way that I can repel that kind of perception. My blog is the place where my raw and unfiltered self can flourish and express that life is as imperfect as it gets and no matter how perfect we may seem online, that's never the case. Even the people who seem to have zero care in the world are worried about something in some way, shape, or form. Something troubles them at night and something claws at their mind, threatening to erode the wall that they've built for themselves.
Smile. Don't reserve them and save them for a better moment. You have an endless supply of smiles - don't be selfish with them. Show off those teeth, blind some eyes, spread the infectious symptom of life that is a smile. Life isn't perfect and it never will be. Something will always be "wrong" and become the chink in what we may consider an otherwise flawless life. But it doesn't hurt to smile through it all. It makes it more bearable and much happier. If I didn't smile through my hardest times, I would have to seriously consider how I was able to get through them.
Smile. No matter what.