Reposted with permission from 42nd Chance -  - by Alexa Ercolano

Hello, hello – I’m back from the land of Facebooklessness, and I come bearing lessons.

Lesson #1: There is a world outside of social networking. A big, wide world. And although this seems obvious, it’s easily forgotten. During my time without Facebook, I was standing with both feet planted on the ground. I was present. I wasn’t constantly on my phone checking my notifications or scrolling through my News Feed – I was at the coffeeshop with a friend; I was paying attention in class; I was focused at work. Instead of reading about what other people were up to in their own worlds, I was busy living in mine.
Pro Tip: Try to limit the time you spend on Facebook. It’s good to catch up with the people you care about, but make an effort to keep mindless Facebook browsing in check. You got things to do, after all – ain’t nobody got time for that!

Lesson #2: You can control who you see on Facebook. It sounds silly but it’s true, and it can be empowering to exercise this. Without any access to potentially triggering profiles, I did a lot less comparing to other peoples’ lives and appearances. Which was a huge weight off my shoulders, as that’s one of the biggest problems with my Facebook usage.
Pro Tip: Defriend or hide triggering or negative profiles from your News Feed so you don’t expose yourself to unnecessary negativity. Edit your friends into separate lists like family, close friends, and colleagues to streamline your News Feed so that you see only the updates that are important to you.

Lesson #3: Don’t compare your behind-the-scenes to someone else’s highlight reel. The truth is, most people post about the good things that are going on in their lives. Which is awesome, yay for them! But that also means you shouldn’t feel bad about yourself if you see that Suzy Q has a new job, is engaged, and has an adorable new puppy while you’re taking a gap year off from college and living alone with your cat (helloo, my name’s Alexa, nice to meet you). OBVIOUSLY people are going to post about the good stuff – Suzy may have a terrible commute to work or her new puppy isn’t house training very well, you just don’t read about it on Facebook.
Pro Tip: Nobody is living the Perfect Life – everyone has their ups and downs, just like you. Practice not only being happy for other people but also being happy for yourself. You’re doing just fine, kiddo.