Throughout the day I think about how productive I am going to be after school, that today will finally be the day I complete all of my goals. But, by the end of the night, I end up doing the same thing. I do a few assignments and then settle in my bed to scroll through TikTok, thinking about all of the things I could have done differently. I could have been more productive. I could have woken up earlier. I could have had an amazing routine just like the influencers on social media show me they have every day without fail.

When I find videos like this they always start their day extremely early. Most of the time they have worked out, planned their day, eaten breakfast, and done some studying before 9 am. It’s insane. They get everything done too quickly with a seemingly huge list of things to do all while continuing to stay organized, clean, well-rested, and have an active social life as if it is no big deal.

These videos are what my friends, classmates, and myself create our goals based on. We know that others show us they do it, so that must mean we can do the same just as easily as it seems they do it, but that isn’t always the case. Between sports, jobs, and differing classes it’s not realistic for us all to have this amazing and aesthetic lifestyle. Even when we try our best, there simply aren’t enough hours in the day to complete your checklist without days of imperfection. This is especially true when most videos we see are of people not even in high school, a schedule incomparable to our own.

Of course these videos serve as good motivation for some people and can be very useful for planning, just not when you only see the perfection. All that does is make it impossible to think anything other than that you just aren’t perfect enough to achieve even when that’s definitely not the case.

Even when you find yourself having a day that you just need to lighten your load and relax, that is totally normal despite what is shown on social media. Don’t think back on your day for what you should have done, instead think about what you can improve that is still realistic to you. Remember to not be so hard on yourself because of these high expectations you are being shown.