Drew Barrymore posted a raw photo of herself crying to make an important point about social media—and life
It can be all-too-easy to forget that the “Insta perfect” lives we see on other people’s feeds are often highly-curated highlight reels—and are in no way a true representation of life in its entirety. Actress and makeup mogul Drew Barrymore is posting a series of before-and-after photos to her Instagram page to remind us that we should never compare ourselves to the shiny images we see on social media. In her initial post, shared on Thursday, December 20th, Barrymore posted a photo of herself looking made-up and glam, and then juxtaposed it with a picture of herself makeup-free and crying.
"Sure, I can be this with two hours of hair and makeup and amazing photography and lighting," she wrote. "[...] What I can’t hide is that some days are difficult and not so pretty... (swipe for photo #2 and I realize I am lucky with solvable problems and my gratitude is never ending. But sometimes life can just get to you and take you down for a minute! But we cry and then pick ourselves up and put one foot in front of the other). Can anyone relate?"
Barrymore followed up the post with two more before-and-afters (in what has become a series she’s calling, “#TheWayItLooksToUs”). One post addresses body image, and the other explores the idea of a “perfect” romantic ending.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BroKJo2Hphc
https://www.instagram.com/p/BrpqbNvHUIx
Thank you, Drew, because as much as we’d like to say we “know better” than to compare ourselves to the “perfection” on our social media feeds, the reality is these reminders are both helpful and therapeutic. So let’s all go a little easier on ourselves today (and always), and remember that Instagram is not reality.
