Olivia Culpo Talks Real Life vs. “Reel” Life

Olivia Culpo just shared a really relatable perspective about mental health and social media. In a recent Instagram post, the model and former Miss Universe opened up and posted two photos. One was from when she was depressed, not sleeping, smoking, drinking, and not eating healthily. The other was more recent, and the two photos are obviously different. The underlying message here goes much deeper than physical appearances, however.

Olivia pointed out that “We’re all too familiar with the “highlight REEL” of Instagram so I wanted to get REAL and tell you it’s not always as amazing as it seems…We are all more alike than we think, navigating life with similar ups and downs; good times and bad. We never really know what someone is going through, so it’s unfair to judge/compare.”

 

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Looking at the difference between these two photos today, and thought it was important to share something with all of you. 2nd photo, a few months ago: I was depressed. I had no appetite, was drinking way too much, smoking, couldn’t sleep, and couldn’t eat. But I was still taking photos on social media and pretending everything was great. I was going through a difficult situation that left me mentally, emotionally, and spiritually bankrupt and it had taken its toll physically. The feeling of despair is a relatable one, so I feel a responsibility to anyone else going through something difficult to say that it’s ok to not be ok. 1st photo is from the other day, and I am looking healthier. I have my appetite back and am treating my body correctly. We’re all too familiar with the “highlight REEL” of Instagram so I wanted to get REAL and tell you it’s not always as amazing as it seems. I’m sharing this because 1. I want to emphasize what we already know: Instagram is everyone’s best version of themselves and their lives. It can trick us into thinking everything is perfect in other’s worlds. Which is NOT true. We are all more alike than we think, navigating life with similar ups and downs; good times and bad. We never really know what someone is going through, so it’s unfair to judge/compare. 2. I hope this helps others who might be going through a hard time and feeling like they need to “have it all together.” Social media can create a crazy amount of pressure to live up to an idealistic standard of “perfection” (which obviously doesn’t exist!). Hard times happen and the most important part is putting one foot in front of the other, knowing the moment will pass, and being patient with yourself. No filter is going to take away from the normal ups and downs of life that we all have. Our imperfections/hardships make us all perfectly relatable, taking this journey through life together. I think the more we understand how connected that makes all of us, the easier and more rewarding this life journey can be. Love you guys!!!!!!! ❤️❤️❤️

A post shared by Olivia Culpo (@oliviaculpo) on Jul 11, 2019 at 10:27am PDT

She said she felt compelled to be honest about this and let her followers know that it’s okay to not be perfect, and important not to get too caught up in the carefully tailored social media posts that usually only show people’s best sides. As social media has become an integral part of so many people’s communication mode with the outside world, we should all stop and remind ourselves that real life is much more complex than what meets the eye. This applies to everyone. We are all just human.