WHY YOU THINK EVERYONE IS HAVING A BETTER SUMMER THAN YOU

Summer after freshman year seems like it's going to be amazing. It's finally late May, you've met all these people, and you can finally hang with your hometown besties again, and you have a whole three months to do whatever you want. Binge your Netflix favorites, go to concerts, carnivals, whatever comes your way! Here I am two months later, and the truth is I'm bored. I haven't seen most of my friends, one of my best friends stayed on campus for the summer at her school, and I'm not doing much. I'm taking my two classes and working part-time, but it seems like there isn't much going on. And for a while it felt like I was the only person feeling this way; but the truth is, I'm not. When I got home from school, I quickly realized the only way I knew what my friends were doing was by checking social media. While some of my sorority sisters live in Illinois, not more than an hour away, I truly only know what they're up to if I check Snapchat. So-and-so is at the lake, so-and-so is tanning on vacay, and what am I doing? Staring enviously at my phone screen, wondering why I'm not doing the same. But it's important to realize that what you're seeing people post isn't what they're doing all summer, it's the highlight of their summer. Instagram is probably the worst thing to scroll through if you're afraid of catching FOMO. You'll see tons of beach pictures, "reunited!" shots, and tons and TONS of people who went back to campus for the weekend. When you step back and think about it, you're not seeing the summary of that person's entire break. They're not partying and hanging out with friends on the lake every single day (unless they are, and that's a very very small percentage of people). Most people are also taking a class, most people are also working. But Becky isn't going to post a picture of her folding shirts at her retail job 3 days a week. And a screenshot of that online course that Kristen is taking is not going to make a cute Insta pic. Everyone is doing something boring-but-productive this summer. Because that's the responsible thing to do. What I'm trying to say is, your summer may seem boring. You probably get jealous every time you see a vacation picture, a study abroad post, or a fun weekend on campus that you feel like you're missing out on because of whatever you're stuck doing. But there are more people than you think who feel the exact same way. ​Social media is what we love to use to brag about what we're doing, and then be envious about what we're not doing that others are. We love to make our lives seem interesting. When you start feeling this way, just put your phone down. Close your laptop screen. Channel your energy into something productive that you can be proud of when it's August and you're finally back in your normal routine. Because the good news is that summer doesn't last forever. xo Kate