Last week, we got wind of a 19-year old who was quitting social media for all the right reasons. Essena O’Neill quickly went viral when she confessed to hundreds of thousands of her followers that the image she had been sharing were not an accurate depiction of who she really was.

Check out the full story here…

Essena was tired of living an unauthentic life and pretending to be someone she was not, to please others and gain social media fame. Now she wants everyone to see the side of social media not many talk about, and why we should stop focusing so much on the followers, likes, and attention.

Most importantly, Essena emphasizes that contrary to what so many of us believe, none of the social media attention we crave can make us as happy as having a genuine personal connection.

What a beautiful reminder and wake up call for us all to check in and evaluate how authentically we are approaching social media.

It is important to ask ourselves if we are sharing what we are sharing because it makes us happy, or because we want to acheive some sort of external perception?

We salute you Essena, thank you for your honesty and vulnerability.