In my opinion, the development of the Internet has brought a previously impossible opportunity into the lives of anybody who chooses to grasp it. 

It is now possible to broadcast your message out to the world and for some, this is can turn into a lucrative stream of income.

I often wonder how engaged I would be if I was not purposely creating an audience online. Would I want my day to day events, posted and exposed enough for people to comment on? Even when I am posting I think twice about whether it is relevant to what I am building towards. So in effect as open as I may appear to be there are many aspects of my life that I consider private and will never post or I will only allude to them.  
Is this truly in the spirit of being authentic?

Social media platforms, Instagram in particular, give the user the opportunity to present a 'picture-perfect' moment. Recently an 'Instafamous' felt compelled to reveal the truth about what lengths she went to to create the perfect picture and even those who have achieved hard-earned status have been called out for clearly doctoring their pictures. 

Is this what we expect? Is it fair to perpetuate and untrue version of ourselves for validation of strangers who will spend no more than a few seconds engaging with us?  

Anything that is too real often is banned or receives such a negative reaction that I wonder how it is we got so confused. Pictures of women breastfeeding their babies, cancer survivors showing their scars post surgery, people with 'real' shaped bodies are judged as unacceptable and offensive. 

Occasionally something slips through and goes viral. A moment of bravery where the point of exasperation is reached. After all, what is there to loose? A closed account? 

Being real in an unreal world is heroic and it opens the door for others to follow. Even though the door is open for everybody to speak so many are still afraid, but if they see that their unfiltered truth is appreciated because somebody else has pressed send despite their fears they will know they are not alone. 

Love Yourself! 

Cx

Thanks for reading.  

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