When my cousin and I get together for the Fourth of July weekend every year, we always want to take photos. We would drive around, taking photos in the beautiful scenery around my family's lake house in Michigan. The rural fields spread about before us and the greenery shocked me. I'm so used to the stark brown that surrounds the roads and homes in Southern California. In fact, when I visited recently and saw so much green (we had a rainy winter in SoCal), it seemed like a different place. We're finally drought free (but that's another story)!

What started as an innocent activity has transformed into something that consumes many young girls. We have this need to project our lives on social media. It's like we're constantly shouting into this void when the reality is that no one really cares about the açaí bowl you had for breakfast. Yeah, that hit a little too close to home for me too.

Something newer that I think has definitely transferred from Youtube to my Instagram feed (on my feed for sure, I don't know about yours) is this idea of creating vlogs or videos edited with some EDM song playing in the background. These Instagram videos have become more popular, not just with influencers but with everyday people. A video diary application called One Second Everyday has made it even easier to share videos of your life.

Last year, I became obsessed with watching artistic videos on Youtube and Instagram, even going so far as to become inspired to create my own. I was inspired by a YouTuber named Indy Blue who creates beautiful travel vlogs from the many countries she has been to. Each year, she creates a new one filled with all her travels. I watched them so many times that their beauty began to wear off and I looked at my own life, wondering where all of my world travelings was. Indy seemed so carefree, so fun to be around. And that's the problem with comparing your life to videos you see online. You never see the whole picture (or video, in this case).

I created some of my own videos for fun. I posted two of my own creations. One chronicled my time in high school sampling small, random moments that meant a lot to me. The other was more influencer-styled, with pretty scenery and Jay Alvarez/Alexis Ren type footage such as going on boats or riding horses on the beach. My footage for the second one was taken over the summer before I went to college, and it made me seem so traveled and so carefree. Just like Indy. However, I knew it wasn't real. I had responsibilities. This entire summer, I'll be working. No time for fun vlogs. But sometimes, that's just life. There's give and take. Not everything is going to be picture perfect, and that's okay.