Unposed, unplanned, candid. How often do we actually let our real lives shine through the little square windows of Instagram?

    Not often, I’d bet.

    Life isn’t always filled with the smiles, perfect hair, and exciting events displayed on Instagram. It’s true for everyone, no matter how perfect someone may seem through the lens of their phone camera.

    Life is messy and imperfect, but it’s also filled with irreplaceable moments that we won’t see if we’re so absorbed with living up to the standard of someone else’s seemingly perfect pictures.

     Living behind a screen isn’t the best life you can live. Be who you are, not a carbon copy of the people on your screen.

    I’d bet that 90 percent of the pictures posted aren’t the slightest bit accurate as a glimpse of peoples’ lives. No one has a perfect life. Everyone has problems and insecurities, and struggles and flaws, no matter how perfect they or their life may look.

   The best moments can’t be captured with a camera and a pose. The best moments are unplanned and spontaneous.

    Stop searching for moments to put in a square on Instagram. Seek the moments that make you laugh until you cry and fill your energy up. Surround yourself with friends that build you up and make you a better person.

    Friends that make us let our guard down and be ourselves help us grow. When we let people be people and just laugh, we can let go of the standard of perfection and be playful for once.

    When we’re not focused on our appearances of put-togethered-ness and perfect makeup and untouched hair and facades of too-mature-for-that, we can open our eyes to see the moments waiting to be embraced.

    It’s easy to lose sight of real life when you’re continually comparing your trips, appearances, and even your daily life with other people’s posed, not-a-hair-out-of-place photos. Let’s stop being jealous of the little edited squares we scroll through and start looking up from our screens to embrace the imperfect, seemingly mundane moments of our own lives. Let’s let life be how it should be: unplanned.