Life is nothing but an Instagram story
It’s gone before you realise it. You were busy keeping a tab of who was watching you and who wasn’t, but in the end it didn’t really matter. You tried so hard to capture and etch that moment forever but, alas, the stroke of the clock pushed and buried it into the archives. Gone, forgotten or at best remembered as a highlight.
Relax, I’m talking about my Insta story. Sounds eerily similar to life itself, isn’t it? Many of us gloss over our lives with so much of razzmatazz just so we can impress others and attract eyeballs at times, quite similar to the way we spend a lot of time picking the right filter and GIF to embellish our Instagram story. What we forget is that this too shall pass before we know it. We at times forget about authenticity, we forget who we really are. In life, we are elated to receive validation from people we barely meet or know personally, just as we are excited to receive a clap or lit emoji on our story from someone we haven’t met since months or even years.
However, there are also some of us who are authentic to the core. They capture their life, its beauty, its rough edges the way they are #nofilter #authentic. The ironical thing is that they end up grabbing more eyeballs than the ones who kept glossing over their lives. What is it about authenticity or #nofilter that people shy away from it despite knowing that it’s the most recommended route? What is it that makes people apprehensive about embracing who they really are? Well the answer is: ‘Fear’. The fear of being judged, the fear of other people’s opinion about them. They forget that someone else’s perception about them is not their reality.
Having said that, there is absolutely nothing wrong in embellishing your life or Insta story. After all, we all have the right to present our life in the most beautiful way but then this process probably shouldn’t consume us to a point where we are so moved from our reality that our real self seems a distant imitation of our portrayed self. Can we start portraying the best version of ‘who we are’? Wouldn’t that be a winwin situation? It’ll give us gratification and at the same time inspire us to actually be the best version of ourselves and not some phony imitation of a person who barely resembles us.
Isn’t that what life too is about? It’s about finding who we truly are. We explore, experiment and perhaps finally find our true calling. Once we find out who we truly are, there’s no stopping us and we push our envelope for the better. Just as today we have bookstagrammers, food bloggers, fashion bloggers, travelgrammers who’ve found their niche and doubled down on their efforts, since then. It’s all about looking within and then expressing out a true reflection of that.
Today marketers claim that Insta stories are far more crucial than posts to send out a message. Companies across all sectors realise that and have taken to it very judiciously. What made an Insta story such a critical aspect of marketing and communication is its pulsating edginess. It’s almost like the life of that person or company unfolding at that time. It is dynamic, real and temporary much like life itself.
A lot of people forget the importance of hashtags and boomerangs in their Insta story and also in life. In life, your hashtag sums up your creed, your motto at that point in time. Defining it helps people with a common creed connect with you and amplify your voice and reach. Also, in life, what goes around often comes around pretty much like a boomerang in your Insta story. Yes, karma is like a boomerang — a continuous loop. It can be whacky, it can be cool and if done well, it can make for a great story both literally and figuratively.
Your Insta story is actually a snapshot of your life at that moment. Make sure you’re living in that moment and you’re consumed in the beauty of it, rather than striving to capture the moment. It is only when we realise this that we start posting and living to express and not impress.
Karan Verma is a prolific writer and public speaker. He has just come out with new novel ‘Dhruv: Love Story of an Alchemist’.