Last week I reconnected with a former client. We follow each other on social media and he had just recently posted pictures from a beautiful holiday abroad so I was checking in how it had been.Turns out the pictures have been the complete opposite of his current well-being. Frankly, that happens to me often. I see posts of people, friends, acquaintances and sometimes I know, sometimes I question how their real life looks like.

How terrible must it be to post something beautiful while at the same time you run around with a heavy heart, a broken relationship, a job you hate or a current account so heavy in debt you almost stop looking at it.

You can leave the world with “smoke and mirrors” but you can’t lie to yourself in the long run. It tears you apart until the pressure grows so big it erupts. Like those air filled beach balls, you can press under water and the deeper you push the more the pressure grow for them to come up.

Very often the solution to your problem is closer than the perception in your head allows it to be. Accept that possibility lies in uncertainty. Second, you need to take action. Make that phone call, have that conversation, look at other opportunities, start to explore what else life has to offer rather than being paralyzed by your current state of being in fear or sadness.

My humble suggestions and wish for your holiday season is this:

Don’t fill every day with action you believe the world needs to see in your posts. Take a walk for yourself in the early hours, slow down and check the status of the beach ball. Is it pushed heavily under water, does it flow gently on the surface or does it even joyfully play around curious for the next game that life has to offer.

Then make a mental post for yourself and take action when you are back.