Because of social media, people are feeling like they aren’t living their lives to the fullest. You see people your age traveling the world with seemingly no worries and start to feel inadequate. But the truth is, you shouldn’t.
First things first, you need to understand that no one is “meant to work a 9-5.” I saw this video from former Viner, Youtuber, and comedian, Cody Ko.
The video’s overall message is to not get caught up in the seemingly fabulous lives of people on social media because their lives are different from reality.
People always talk about how much money it costs to travel. In fact, there are companies who use this dilemma to market their too-good-to-be-true cheap flights, such as Secret Flying on Instagram.
I admit traveling doesn’t have to be insanely expensive. You can find some really great deals and packages. However, what people don’t talk about is all the money you won’t be making while you’re traveling. Think about it: How much money do you need to save to; not only spend, say, a year traveling; but to also be able to come back from that year and be in a financially comfortable place where you can recover from all the money you spent as well as didn’t make? You would need to save a lot of money. And the reality is, for people who have been full-time students for all of their young adult lives, you haven’t been able to work long enough that you’re able to take an entire year off from reality. It’s just not realistic.
People who are able to take extended periods of time off from reality to travel have financial help. This aid usual comes from their parents. However, some teens who have found early success on social media and therefore have an extraordinary income are also able to afford such a vacation. The key words in the last statement are extraordinary income- meaning it’s not the typical income seen by kids their age. People who have their parents help or have been able to make extreme amounts of money on social media are in very fortunate circumstances not seen by many. It’s important not to kick yourself for not being born to rich parents. It’s important not to kick yourself for not making copious amounts of money from doing stupid things like filming dead bodies for views. It’s important not to let social media make you lose sight of what reality actually is.
Wherever you are in life, whether you’re a full-time student, someone who was forced to leave school due to your mental illness, someone who’s working a 9-5 job so you can save up money to pay for school so you don’t graduate debt or someone who’s working a 9-5 job so you can pay for your own place to escape your toxic home environment, just know you’re doing great.
